O you holy and humble men of heart, bless you the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
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Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
“If therefore,” he adds, “I, your Lord and master, have washed your feet, you also must wash one another’s feet. I have, in fact, given you an example, so that you may do as I have done.” This, blessed Peter, is what you did not ascertain when you did not want the Lord to wash your feet. This is what he promised to you that you would come to know afterwards, when your Lord and master terrified you into submission so that you let him wash your feet. We have learned humility from the Highest; let us do offer to one another, and with humility, what he the highest did in his humility. This is a great example of humility. And do this to one another, even in the outward gesture, when they treat one another with hospitality; for this exercise of humility is generally prevalent and finds effective expression in the very deed that makes it discernible. It is for this that the apostle, when he commends to us the ideal of the widow, emphasizes this quality: “She practices hospitality by washing t...
We are taught to have humbleness of heart both by this present verse and also by the statement in the Gospel: "Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest for your souls" (Matt. 11:29). But this humbleness of heart is the same thing as is elsewhere called poverty in spirit, so that we are not to be lifted up in pride or seek after glory by a pretended humility, but rather that we abase ourselves with our whole heart. Up to this point we have mentioned but briefly a few things from Theodotion's edition, since the confession and the praises of the three youths are passages not contained in the Hebrew. But from this point on we shall follow the authentic Hebrew itself.
