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To you however, my daughter, I would teach a deeper humility, for
that of which I have been speaking is almost more truly to be
called worldly wisdom than humility.
There are some persons who dare not or will not think about the
graces with which God has endowed them, fearing lest they should
become self-complacent and vain-glorious; but they are quite
wrong. For if, as the Angelic Doctor says, the real way of
attaining to the Love of God is by a careful consideration of all
His benefits given to us, then the better we realise these the
more we shall love Him; and inasmuch as individual gifts are more
acceptable than general gifts, so they ought to be more specially
dwelt upon.
Of a truth, nothing so tends to humble us before the Mercy of
God as the multitude of His gifts to us; just as nothing so tends
to humble us before His Justice as the multitude of our misdeeds.
Let us consider what He has done for us, and what we have done
contrary to His Will, and as we review our sins in detail, so let
us review His Grace in the same. There is no fear that a
perception of what He has given you will puff you up, so long as
you keep steadily in mind that whatever is good in you is not of
yourself.
Do mules cease to be clumsy, stinking beasts because they are
used to carry the dainty treasures and perfumes of a prince? "What
hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now, if thou didst receive
it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it?" (1) On
the contrary, a lively appreciation of the grace given to you
should make you humble, for appreciation begets gratitude. But if,
when realising the gifts God has given you, any vanity should
beset you, the infallible remedy is to turn to the thought of all
our ingratitude, imperfection, and weakness.
Any one who will calmly consider what he has done without God,
cannot fail to realise that what he does with God is no merit of
his own; and so we may rejoice in that which is good in us, and
take pleasure in the fact, but we shall give all the glory to God
Alone, Who Alone is its Author.
It was in this spirit that the Blessed Virgin confessed that
God had done "great things" to her; (2) only that she might humble
herself and exalt Him. "My soul doth magnify the Lord," she said,
by reason of the gifts He had given her.
We are very apt to speak of ourselves as nought, as weakness
itself, as the offscouring of the earth; but we should be very
much vexed to be taken at our word and generally considered what
we call ourselves. On the contrary, we often make-believe to run
away and hide ourselves, merely to be followed and sought out; we
pretend to take the lowest place, with the full intention of being
honourably called to come up higher.
But true humility does not affect to be humble, and is not
given to make a display in lowly words. It seeks not only to
conceal other virtues, but above all it seeks and desires to
conceal itself; and if it were lawful to tell lies, or feign or
give scandal, humility would perhaps sometimes affect a cloak of
pride in order to hide itself utterly.
Take my advice, my daughter, and either use no professions of
humility, or else use them with a real mind corresponding to your
outward expressions; never cast down your eyes without humbling
your heart; and do not pretend to wish to be last and least,
unless you really and sincerely mean it.
I would make this so general a rule as to have no exception;
only courtesy sometimes requires us to put forward those who
obviously would not put themselves forward, but this is not
deceitful or mock humility; and so with respect to certain
expressions of regard which do not seem strictly true, but which
are not dishonest, because the speaker really intends to give
honour and respect to him to whom they are addressed; and even
though the actual words may be somewhat excessive, there is no
harm in them if they are the ordinary forms of society, though
truly I wish that all our expressions were as nearly as possible
regulated by real heart feeling in all truthfulness and
simplicity.
A really humble man would rather that some one else called him
worthless and good-for-nothing, than say so of himself; at all
events, if such things are said, he does not contradict them, but
acquiesces contentedly, for it is his own opinion. We meet people
who tell us that they leave mental prayer to those who are more
perfect, not feeling themselves worthy of it; that they dare not
communicate frequently, because they do not feel fit to do so;
that they fear to bring discredit on religion if they profess it,
through their weakness and frailty; while others decline to use
their talents in the service of God and their neighbour, because,
forsooth, they know their weakness, and are afraid of becoming
proud if they do any good thing,--lest while helping others they
might destroy themselves. But all this is unreal, and not merely a
spurious but a vicious humility, which tacitly and secretly
condemns God's gifts, and makes a pretext of lowliness while
really exalting self-love, self-sufficiency, indolence, and evil
tempers.
"Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God; ask it either in the depth
or in the height above." (3) So spake the prophet to King Ahaz;
but he answered, "I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord."
Unhappy man! he affects to show exceeding reverence to God, and
under a pretence of humility refuses to seek the grace offered by
the Divine Goodness.
Could he not see that when God wills to grant us a favour, it
is mere pride to reject it, that God's gifts must needs be
accepted, and that true humility lies in obedience and the most
literal compliance with His Will! Well then, God's Will is that we
should be perfect, uniting ourselves to Him, and imitating Him to
the utmost of our powers. The proud man who trusts in himself may
well undertake nothing, but the humble man is all the braver that
he knows his own helplessness, and his courage waxes in proportion
to his low opinion of himself, because all his trust is in God,
Who delights to show forth His Power in our weakness, His Mercy in
our misery.
The safest course is humbly and piously to venture upon
whatever may be considered profitable for us by those who
undertake our spiritual guidance. Nothing can be more foolish than
to fancy we know that of which we are really ignorant; to affect
knowledge while conscious that we are ignorant is intolerable
vanity.
For my part, I would rather not put forward that which I really
do know, while on the other hand neither would I affect ignorance.
When Charity requires it, you should readily and kindly impart to
your neighbour not only that which is necessary for his
instruction, but also what is profitable for his consolation. The
same humility which conceals graces with a view to their
preservation is ready to bring them forth at the bidding of
Charity, with a view to their increase and perfection; therein
reminding me of that tree in the Isles of Tylos, (4) which closes
its beautiful carnation blossoms at night, only opening them to
the rising sun, so that the natives say they go to sleep. Just so
humility hides our earthly virtues and perfections, only expanding
them at the call of Charity, which is not an earthly, but a
heavenly, not a mere moral, but a divine virtue; the true sun of
all virtues, which should all be ruled by it, so that any humility
which controverts charity is unquestionably false.
I would not affect either folly or wisdom; for just as humility
deters me from pretending to be wise, so simplicity and
straightforwardness deter me from pretending to be foolish; and
just as vanity is opposed to humility, so all affectation and
pretence are opposed to honesty and simplicity. If certain eminent
servants of God have feigned folly in order to be despised by the
world, we may marvel, but not imitate them; for they had special
and extraordinary reasons for doing extraordinary things, and
cannot be used as a rule for such as we are.
When David (5) danced more than was customary before the Ark of
the Covenant, it was not with the intention of affecting folly,
but simply as expressing the unbounded and extraordinary gladness
of his heart. Michal his wife reproached him with his actions as
folly, but he did not mind being "vile and base in his own sight,"
but declared himself willing to be despised for God's Sake. And
so, if you should be despised for acts of genuine devotion,
humility will enable you to rejoice in so blessed a contempt, the
cause of which does not lie with you.
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