The Vale of Humility

The vale of humility is indeed dark and gloomy in appearance. But no sooner do you step into that holy vale than you are met by the guards of the heavenly watchtower. They come running to your aid to wash the wounds that have torn your soul or body when you ventured suddenly from the false mountains of this world down the dreadful scarp of humility. They take you to have a little rest, after which they invite you to tour the watchtower. This watchtower stands at the top of the long vale. You can survey all the details of this holy vale through a telescope given by the guards. On its slopes there are honeycombs for passers-by to eat. Meanwhile, Grace watches them all the time to rest assured that their wounds are healed. Her bandages absorb pain and turn wounds into brilliant marks.

Wonder fills you: How does this valley look so dark and depressing without the heavenly telescope, as if death and ruin fill every corner of it? At close inspection it is full of honeycomb and of merciful healing. There is in this vale a hidden light, which illumines the interior before the exterior of man. You marvel at the mystery of this vale!

The guards ask you to lift the telescope a bit. You see what lies beyond the vale and what awaits you there at the end of the journey. When you raise the telescope you see the Mount of Transfiguration far off with its transcendent light. There the Lord opens his arms to embrace those who reach the end of the vale. On his hands, the blood shines with a resplendent light that illuminates the whole mount. Its light is mystically reflected upon the dark vale, and when that light falls upon the wounds of those walking along, they also shine as the moon reflects the rays of the sun across the darkness of space.

Now joy and peace overtake you. Now you burn with desire to storm the darkness of this holy vale. The secret of this joyful contrition, the brilliant wounds and the bitterness that hides the honeycomb have all been unveiled to you.

The truth is that the location of this holy vale – the vale of contrition, wounds, and bitterness – is nowhere else than in the heart of man. The guards of the watchtower that stands at the beginning of the vale are none other than the fathers. They have experienced contrition with its bitterness. They have described its ruggedness as well as its worth. The telescope is nothing other that the proper, practical discipline of humility offered in love and honor of the Crucified. The honeycomb is the pleasure gleaned from partaking of the Lord’s sufferings. The bleeding wounds are hurt feelings of indignity, and these fall into three types: the superficial, which man enacts upon himself; the deeper wounds and bruises caused by other people; and the deadly fissures in the walls of the heart caused by the chastisement of God. These fissures are made to bleed out all the selfish, earthly blood that superficial or deep wounds cannot draw out of us.

As for the divine rays shining from the wounds of the Lord and reflected upon the wounds and fractures of humility, they are the partial communion in the glory of God that is promised in surety. They shall reach their highest brilliance when our Lord appears “as he is” (1 Jn 3.2).

– Matthew the Poor, Orthodox Prayer Life: The Interior Way, pp 149-150.