The book ends with a six page, fifteen tenet Humility Code. It is a convicting prescription for repentance. Snippets:
We don't live for happiness, we live for holiness.
Humility reminds you that you are not the center of the universe, but you serve a larger order.
Pride is the central vice.
No external conflict is as consequential or as dramatic as the inner campaign against your own deficiencies.
Everybody needs redemptive assistance from the outside - from God, family, friends, ancestors, rules, traditions, institutions, and exemplars.
We are all ultimately saved by grace.
There's an Lenten prayer in Brooks' cannon.
Most merciful God,
We confess that we have sinned against you
in thought, word and deed,
by what we have done,
and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart;
we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
I dutifully recite those lines. When will I own them?
Suppress, excuse and sugar coat. Wipe off that Ash Wednesday stain. Restore my self-esteem. I'm not that bad.
No, I must own the broken parts, the sin. The thoughts, words and deeds. Things done. Things left undone. Sins against God and neighbor.
Break the dam of my denial. Allow grace to flow. Only in confessing, admitting - owning those ashes - is God's grace fully released upon us.
Have mercy on us and forgive us;
that we may delight in your will,
and walk in your ways,
to the glory of your Name.
Amen.
Amen.
(from Morning Prayer II, Confession of Sin, Book of Common Prayer)
