The sixth degree of humility is "that a monk be content with the poorest and worst of everything,
and that in every occupation assigned him
he consider himself a bad and worthless workman."
It is simply a difficult saying here: we are to not only accept the worst part of any division but to be content with the lowest of possibilities.
Benedict does not venture into Christology here but one could say that if Christ is the "ideal of the monk", as argued by the Benedictine Abbot Blessed Marmion Columba, then this degree of humility is to fix to one's memory the icon of the Incarnation whereby the Lord God became a mortal man among the poorest and most destitute of families from a backwater region of an unfree nation. His first night was spent in the cold within an animal feeding trough. And this lowliness of the First Christmas was just the beginning for our Celestial Messiah and King of the Universe.
If we are to become Christ-like, then why do we refuse to share His condition upon the Earth that He willed for Himself? Are we that presumptuous?
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