Hence we must always pray with St. Augustine, "O, Lord, may I know Thee, may I know myself!" St. Francis of Assisi used to say continually to the Lord, "Who are Thou, and who am I?" The more they know God, the better they see their own poverty and defects. The proud, because they are bereft of light, have but little knowledge of their own vileness.
Have we anything that God has not bestowed upon us, or that he cannot take away whenever he pleases?
If we know taht we are poor and full of faults in the sight of God, let us at least humble ourselves and confess our miseries. St. Francis Borgia spent every day the first two hours of prayer in endeavoring to know and despise himself.
"God," says St. James, "resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble." (James 4:6)
What a shame, says St. Gregory, to see the teachers of humility become by their example teachers of pride! "Amen, I say unto you, they have received their reward." (Mt 6:2) "Three sorts my soul hateth, and I am greatly grieved at their life: a poor man that is proud; a rich man that is a liar; and an old man that is a fool." (Ecclesiasticus 25:3-4)
The Practice of Humility
1. To Have a Horror of Pride
It is necessary to entertain a fear of the vice of pride. A priest, particularly, in order to preserve chastity, stands in need of special aid from God. "Pride," says the wise man, "is a sign of approaching ruin. The spirit is lifted up before the fall." (Prov 16:18)
Ask certain persons why they always fall back into the same impurities; pride shall answer for them, that it is the cause of their relapses. They are full of self-esteem, and there the Lord chastises them by permitting them to remain immersed in their abominations. "God gave them up to the desires of their heart, unto uncleanness, to dishonor their own bodies among themselves." (Rom 1:24)
The devil has no fear of the proud. St. Joseph Calasanctius used to say that the devil treats a proud priest as a play-toy; that is, he throws him up and pulls him down as he pleases.
The Lord permits even saints to be tormented by temptations against purity, and after they pray to be freed from them, he leaves them as he left St. Paul, to combat with temptations. "And lest the greatness of the revelations should exalt me, there was given me a sting of my flesh, an angel of Satan, to buffet me." (2 Cor. 12:7)
To humble the pride of the people of Egypt, the Lord sent not bears and lions, but frogs to molest them. What do I mean? God permits us to be annoyed by certain little expressions, by certain little aversions, by certain trifles, that we may know our miseries and may humble ourselves.
2. Not to Glory in the Good That We Do
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| "My soul magnifies the Lord!" |
How many priests have fallen into precipices because they were not humble! Montanus wrought miracles, and he afterwards through ambition became a heresiarch. Brother Justin, a Franciscan, attained the highest degree of contemplation, and he afterwards died an apostate from religion, and was lost.
A proud spiritual man is the worst of robbers; because he usurps not earthly goods, but the glory of God. Hence, St. Francis was accustomed to say, "Lord! If Thou givest any good, watch over it; otherwise I will steal it from Thee!" Thus we priests must pray and say with St. Paul, "By the grace of God I am what I am." (1 Cor 15:10)
We are useless servants, because however much we do for a God who merits infinite love and has suffered so much for the love of us, it is all nothing. To all that we do for God we are bound by our obligation and by gratitude; particularly as all that we do is his work more than it is ours. Who would not laugh at the clouds, if they boasted of the rain that the send down? This is the language of St. Bernard. He then adds that we ought to praise, not so much the saints for the works that they perform, as God who operates through them.
When St. Teresa performed any good work, or saw a good act done by others, she began to priase God for it, saying that it was entirely his work.
St. Joseph Calasanctius used to say, that the more God favors a soul by special graces, the more she ought to humble herself that she may not lose all. All is lost by every little consent to self-esteem.
Let us read the lives of the saints, and pride shall depart from us: there we shall find the great things that they have done, at the sight of which we shall feel ashamed of the little we have done.
3. We Must Distrust Ourselves
"Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it." (Ps 126:1) Some saints, with very moderate learning, have converted entire nations. St. Ignatius of Loyola, because his words came from a heart that was humble and enamored with God, produced such an effect on the hearers that they instantly went to confession. But, on the other hand, many learned theologians, with all the science and eloquence, preach without converting a single soul. Such preachers, because they are puffed up with their learning, resemble unfruitful mothers.
"Knowledge puffeth up." (1 Cor 8:1) It is, as Cardinal Bellarmine wrote to one of his nephews, difficult for a man of learning to be humble, not to despise others, not to censure their acts, not to be full of his own opinions; he will hardly submit willingly to the judgment and correction of others.
"Shall the axe boast itself against him that cutteth with it?" (Isaias 10:15) "Without Me, you can do nothing." (Jn 15:5) St. Augustine writes, "The Lord does not say, without Me you can do but little, but he says, without Me you can do nothing.""Let us," says St. John Chrysostom, "call ourselves useless servants, that we may be made useful."
"Nothing," says St. Leo, "is difficult to the humble." "They that hope in the Lord shall renew their strength" (Isaias 40:31) St. Joseph Calasanctius used to say that the man who wishes that God should make him do great things must labor to be the most humble of all. Jesus Christ did not wish to select men of power and learning for the conversion of the world, but poor, ignorant fishermen, because they were humble and distrustful in their own strength.
Hence, Our Lord sometimes permits us to fall or to relapse into a defect, that thus we may learn to distrust ourselves, and to confide only in the divine aid. Hence, David said: "It is good for me that Thou has humbled me." (Ps. 118:71)
4. To Accept Humiliations
"Many," says St. Ambrose in a letter to Constance, "have the appearance of humility, but not the virtue of humility." [There are] many who would wish to be esteemed humble, but are unwilling to suffer humiliation. He who is truly humble has a low opinion of himself, and wishes others to think of him as he thinks of himself. The truly humble man, when treated with contempt, humbles himself still more, and acknowledges that he justly deserves the humiliation.
St. Gregory says that as pride is a sign of reprobation, so humility is a mark of predestination. And St. James has written, "that God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble."
"Amen, amen, I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." (John 12:24)
