From Searching For and Maintaining Peace, Fr. Jacques Philippe
ST. TERESA OF AVILA (1515-1582)
Genuine and False Humility
Let us beware also, my daughters, of certain forms of humility that are suggested by the devil.
He throws us into the most lively disquietude by depicting the gravity of our sins. This is one of the areas where he troubles souls in many ways….
Everything these souls do seems to be surrounded by danger; all their good deeds, as good as they may be, seem unuseful to them. Such discouragement causes them to give up, they feel powerless to accomplish any good, because they imagine that everything that is praiseworthy in others is bad in themselves.
Humility, as great as it may be, does not disquiet, trouble or agitate the soul; it is rather accompanied by peace, joy and repose.
Without doubt, awareness of misery clearly shows the soul that it merits hell and plunges it into affliction; it appears to the soul that all other creatures must view it with horror, and justly so; the soul does not dare, in a manner of speaking, ask for mercy.
But when humility is genuine, this pain fills the soul with such
sweetness and contentment that the soul would not like to be deprived of it; it does not trouble the soul and hardly constricts it; rather, on the contrary, it enlarges it and makes it better able to serve God.
This has nothing in common with the other type of pain, which upsets all things, agitates everything, completely disturbs the soul and is full of anger.
In my opinion, the devil would like us to believe that we possess humility and, if he could, he would like to cause us, in exchange, to lose all confidence in God.
ST. MARIE OF THE INCARNATION (1566-1618)
Abandonment to God’s Will
If we could, with a single interior glance, see all the goodness and mercy that exists in God’s designs for each one of us, even in what we call disgraces, pains and afflictions, our happiness would consist in throwing ourselves into the arms of the Divine Will, with the abandon of a young child that throws himself into the arms of his mother.
We would behave, in all things, with the intention of pleasing God and then we would maintain ourselves in a holy repose, fully convinced that God is our Father and that He desires our salvation more than we ourselves desire it.
Be quick to admit when you’re wrong. Don’t waste a minute holding on to your pride. Okay, so I’ve been terrible at this one. I just hate to be wrong! But what a silly way to live – and to love. So if you’re wrong? Just say so and get it over with. It’s not as bad as it might first sound. -Lisa Jacobson, 100 Ways to Love Your Husband https://amzn.to/2NsZyII (afflink)
A short sermon on loving our neighbor & not being scandalous to them. True love. For more please visit http://www.audiosancto.org & remember to say 3 Hail Marys for the priest…
Need some good book suggestions? Visit….
This post may have affiliate links. Thank you kindly for your support.
amzn_assoc_placement = “adunit0”;
amzn_assoc_search_bar = “true”;
amzn_assoc_tracking_id = “meaofgra-20”;
amzn_assoc_ad_mode = “manual”;
amzn_assoc_ad_type = “smart”;
amzn_assoc_marketplace = “amazon”;
amzn_assoc_region = “US”;
amzn_assoc_title = “My Amazon Picks”;
amzn_assoc_linkid = “631530e1c5072f1c3b940d04a68095b0”;
amzn_assoc_asins = “0895551330,0818909064,B000I5MZ6E,0898705959”;
//z-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/onejs?MarketPlace=US
A comforting read, thank you!