The nun sanctified by the virtues of her state
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| 1 " Humilitas primum locum tenet, in quantum expellit superbiam cui Deus resistit." 2. 2, q. 161, a. 5. 2"Qui sine humilitate virtutes congregat, quasi in ventum pulverem portat." In Ps. pœnit. iii. 3 Spec. Exempt, dist. 9, ex. 199.
" Unless," says St. Augustine, " humility shall have preceded, shall be continued, and shall have followed, pride will wrest the whole from our hands." 1 Yes, the rapacious grasp of pride shall tear from us every good work which is not preceded, accompanied, and followed by humility. This sublime virtue was but little known, but little loved, and greatly abhorred on earth, where pride, the cause of the ruin of Adam and of his posterity, enjoyed universal sway. Therefore the Son of God came down from heaven to teach it to men by his example as well as by his preaching. To instruct them in humility he came upon earth in the likeness of flesh and in the form of a servant. He emptied himself, says the Apostle, taking the form of a servant 2 1 " Nisi humilitas praecesserit, et comitetur, et consecuta fuerit, totum extorquet de manu superbia." Epist. 118, E. B. 2 " Semetipsum exinanivit, formam servi accipiens." Phil. ii. 7. 1 " Despectum, et novissimum virorum." Is. liii. 3. 2 " Exemplum enim dedi vobis, ut, quemadmodum ego feci vobis, ita et vos faciatis." John, xiii. 15. 3 " Hæc medicina si superbiam non curat, quid earn curet, nescio." Serm. 77, E. B. 4 " Ea est prima humilitas, secunda humilitas, tertia humilitas; et quoties interrogates, hoc dicerem." Epist. 118, E. B. 5 " Abominatio Domini est omnis arrogans." Prov. xvi. 5. 6 "Quid autem habes, quod non accepisti?" i Cor. iv. 7. He wished to be treated as the most contemptible of men. Despised, says the Prophet Isaias, and the most abject of men. 1 Behold him in Bethlehem, born in a stable and laid in a manger; in Nazareth, poor, unknown, and employed in the humble occupation of assisting a poor artisan. Look at him in Jerusalem, scourged as a slave, buffeted as the vilest of men, crowned with thorns as a mock king, and in the end suffering as a malefactor the ignominious death of the cross. And with all his humiliations before your eyes hearken to his advice: I have given you an example, that as I have done so you do also. 2 As if he said: My children, I have embraced so much ignominy that you may not refuse abjection. Speaking of the humiliations of the Son of God, St. Augustine says: "If this medicine cure not your pride, I know not what will heal it." 3 Hence in one of his epistles to Dioscorus he tells his friends that it is principally by humility a man is made the disciple of Jesus, and that the soul is prepared for a union with God. " The first," says the saint, " is humility; the second, humility; the third, humility, and as often as you would ask I should answer, humility." 4 The proud are objects of hatred and abomination before God. Every proud man, says the Holy Ghost, is an abomination to the Lord." 5 Yes; for the proud man is a robber, and is blind; he is a liar, and the truth is not in him. He is a robber, because he appropriates to himself what belongs to God. What hast thou that thou hast not received?6 Would it not be the extreme of folly in a brute animal (were it gifted with reason) to glory in the gilded trappings of which it knows it may be stripped at the beck of its master ? The proud man is blind, as we learn from the Apocalypse of St. John. Thou sayest I am rich, and knowest not that thou art wretched and blind.1 And what has man of his own but nothingness and sin ? Even the little good that he does, when examined with rigor, will appear full of imperfection. "All our justice," says St. Bernard, "if rigorously judged, will be found to be injustice." 2 Lastly, the proud man is a liar, and the truth is not in him. For all his advantages, whether of nature such as health, talent, beauty, and the like; or of grace such as good desires, a docile heart, and an enlightened mind, are all the gifts of God. By the grace of God, says St. Paul, I am what l am 3 The same apostle tells us that of ourselves we are not capable of even a good thought. Not that we. are sufficient to think anything of ourselves as of ourselves. 4 Woe to the proud religious ! Into a haughty soul the Spirit of God cannot enter; over all its actions the devil exercises the most arbitrary despotism. "With the proud religious," says St. Joseph Calasanctius, " Satan sports himself as with a toy." Cesarius relates 5 that when a demoniac was once brought to a certain monastery, the abbot asked the evil spirit whether he would depart at the command of a certain young monk who was reputed a saint. "No," replied the demon, "I am not afraid of him, because he is proud." 1 " Nescis quia tu es miser . . . et cæcus. " Apoc. iii. 17. 2 " Si districte judicetur, injusta invenietur omnis justitia nostra. " In fest. Omn. Sanct. s. I. 3"Gratia autem Dei sum id quod sum." i Cor. xv. 10. 4"Non quod sufficientes simus cogitare aliquid anobis." 2 Cor. iii. 5. 5 Dial. 1. 4. c. 5. To preserve his servants from pride, the Lord sometimes permits them to be afflicted with the shameful solicitations of the flesh; to their repeated prayers to be delivered from the suggestions of Satan and of their own corruption he appears deaf, and leaves them to combat with the temptation. It was thus he treated St. Paul; and, says the saint, lest the greatness of the revelations should exalt me, there was given to me a sting of the flesh, an angel of Satan to buffet me. For which thing thrice I besought the Lord that it might depart from me, and , he said 104 to me, My grace is sufficient for thee? " 1 To keep him humble," says St. Jerome, "the Almighty refused to deliver the apostle from the molestation of the flesh by which he was tormented." Moreover, to teach them humility, the Lord sometimes permits the elect to fall into sin. Thus, David acknowledges that he sinned because he had not been humble. Before I was humbled, I offended. 2 " God," says St. Augustine, " sits on high ; you humble yourself, and he descends to you; you exalt yourself, and he flies from you." 3 The royal prophet says that the Lord looketh at the low, and the high he knoweth afar off. 4 He regards the humble with an affectionate eye, but the proud he beholds only at a distance. As we cannot recognize a person whom we see from afar, so the Lord appears to tell the proud, in the words of the Psalmist, that he knows them not. 1 " Datus est mihi stimulus carnis mere, angelus Satanæ qui me colaphizhet propter quod ter Dominum rogavi ut discederet a me, et dixit mihi: Sufficit tibi gratia mea." 2 Cor. xii. 7. 2 " Priusquam humiliarer, ego deliqui." Ps. cxviii. 67. 3 " Altus est Deus: erigis te, et fugit a te; humilias te, et descendit ad te." .Serm 177, App. E. B. 4"Excelsus Dominus, et humilia respicit, et alta a longe cognoscit. Ps. cxxxvii. 6. There was in a certain monastery a religious who had the insolence to say to one of her companions: "You and I wear, indeed, the same habit, and sit at the same table; but though my equal in religion, you are not fit to be a servant in my fathers house." Oh, how poor and naked before the Lord was this haughty nun ! The proud are hateful before God; he cannot bear them. As soon as the angels yielded to pride, he banished them from paradise and sent them into hell, far distant from his presence. The words of God must be fulfilled: Whosoever, says the Lord, shall exalt himself, shall be humbled.1 St. Peter Damian relates 2 that a certain proud man had resolved to assert his right to an estate by single combat; before the time appointed for the duel he went to Mass, and hearing in the church the above-mentioned words of the Gospel: Whosoever shall exalt himself, shall be humbled, he exclaimed: This cannot be true: for had I humbled myself I should have lost my property and my character. But when he came to the combat, his sacrilegious tongue was cut across by the sword of his antagonist, and he instantly fell dead on the ground. God, says St. James, resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. 3 The Lord has promised to hear the prayers of all. Everyone that asketh, receiveth. 4 The proud he hears not; according to the Apostle, he resists their petitions. But to the humble he is liberal beyond measure: He giveth grace to the humble. To them he opens his hands, and grants whatsoever they ask or desire. Humble thyself to God, says the Holy Ghost, and wait for his hands. 5 Humble your soul before the Lord, and expect from his hands whatever you seek from him. "Give me, O Lord," exclaims St. Augustine, "the treasure of humility."6 Humility is a treasure, because upon the humble the Lord pours every blessing in abundance. A heart full of self cannot be replenished with the gifts of God. To receive the divine favors, the soul must be first emptied by the knowledge of her own nothingness. 1 "Qui autem se exaltabitur, humiliabitur." Matt, xxiii. 12. 2 Op. 34 de Var. mir. Narrat. c. 4. 3 " Deus superbis resistit; humilibus autem dat gratiam." James iv. 6. 4" Omnis enim qui petit, accipit." Luke, xi. 10. 5 " Humiliare Deo, et exsperta manus ejus." Ecclus. xiii. 9. 6 " Domine, concede mihi thesaurum humilitatis." Medit. c. I. Thou sendest forth, says David, springs in the vales: between the midst of the hills the waters shall pass. 1 God makes the waters of his graces abound in the valleys, that is, in humble souls; but not on the mountains; the emblems of the proud and the haughty. In the midst of these, his graces pass, but remain not upon them. Because, says Mary, he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid. . . . He that is mighty hath done great things to me.2 The Lord looking upon my humility, and my sense of nothingness, hath bestowed great favors upon me. St. Teresa relates of herself, that the greatest graces that she received from God were infused into her soul when she humbled herself most before the Lord in prayer. The prayer of him that humbleth himself shall pierce the clouds, and he will not depart till the Most High behold. 3 The humble obtain from God whatever they ask: they need not be afraid of being confounded, or of being left without consolation. Let not, says David, the humble be turned away with confusion. 4 Hence, St. Joseph Calasanctius used to say: "If you wish to be a saint, be humble; if you wish to be a very great saint, be most humble." To St. Francis Borgia, while a secular, a holy man once said: "If you desire to be a saint, never let a day pass without thinking of your miseries." 1 " Qui emittis fontes in convallibus; inter medium montium pertransibunt aquæ" Ps. ciii. 10. 2 " Quia respexit humilitatem ancillae suae, . . . fecit mihi magna, qui potens est." Luke, \. 48, 49. 3 " Oratio humiliantis se nubes pertransibit ; . . . et non discedet, donee Altissimus aspiciat." Ecclus. xxxv. 21. 4 " Ne avertatur humilis, factus confusus." Ps. Ixxiii. 21. 105 Hence the saint spent every day the first two hours of prayer in the study of his own nothingness, and in sentiments of self-contempt. St. Gregory says " that pride is the most evident mark of the reprobate; but humility is, on the contrary, the most evident mark of the elect." Seeing the world covered with the toils of the devil, St. Anthony, with ; sigh, exclaimed: "Who can escape so many snares!" 2 "Anthony," replied a strange voice, "it is only humility that passes through them with security: the humble man is not in danger of being caught by them." In a word, unless we are like infants, not in years but in humility, we shall never attain salvation. Unless you become as little children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven3 In the life of St. Palemon it is related that a certain monk who walked on burning coals said to his companions: Which of you can tread on red-hot fire without being burnt. The saint reproved him for his vanity, but the unhappy man did not amend. Puffed up with pride, he afterwards fell into sin, and died without repentance. To the humble who are despised and persecuted on earth is promised the glory of God’s kingdom. Blessed are ye when they shall revile and persecute you, for your reward is very great in heaven 4 The humble shall be happy in this life as well as in the next. Learn of me, says Jesus, because I am meek and humble of heart; and you shall find rest to your souls. 5 1 " Evidentissimum reproborum signum superbia est; at contra, humilitas electorum." Mor. 1. 34, c. 22. 2 Vita Patr. 1. 3, n. 129. 3 " Nisi efficiamini sicut parvuli, non intrabitis in regnum cœlorum." Matt, xviii. 3. 4 " Beati estis cum maledixerint vobis, et persecuti vos fuerint, . . . quoniam merces vestra copiosa est in coelis." Matt. v. 11. 5 " Discite a me quia mitis sum et humilis corde, et invenietis requiem animabus vestris." Matt. xi. 29. The proud never enjoy peace, because they never receive the respect or attention which a vain opinion of their own greatness makes them regard as their due. When loaded with honors, they are not content; either because they see others still more exalted; or, because they desire some unattainable dignity, the absence of which is to them a source of torture, not to be removed by the gratification arising from all the honors that they enjoy. Great, indeed, was the glory of Aman, in the court of Assuerus, where he sat at the monarchs table. But, because Mardochai would not salute him, he was unhappy. And whereas I have all these things, I think I have nothing so long as I see Mardochai, the Jew, sitting before the king s gate. 1 Being the result of constraint and of human respect, the honor shown to the great does not give true joy. " True glory," says St. Jerome, " like a shadow, follows virtue: it flies from all who grasp at it, and seeks after those who despise it." 2 The humble man is always content, because whatever respect is paid to him he deems to be above his merits, and whatever contempt may be offered to him he regards as far short of what is due to his sins. In humiliation he exclaims with holy Job: I have sinned, and indeed I have offended, and I have not received what I have deserved. 3 Previously to a long journey which he was obliged to make, St. Francis Borgia was advised to dispatch a courier, who would secure accommodation for his master at the hotels where he intended to stop. "I never," replied the saint, " fail to send my courier before me. But do you know who he is? My courier is the thought of hell, which my sins have merited; this thought makes every lodging appear to me a palace in comparison of the dungeon to which I deserve to be condemned." 1 " Et cum hæc omnia habeam, nihil me habere puto, quamdiu videro Mardochaeum Judæum sedentem ante fores regias." Esth. v. 13. 2 " Virtutem quasi umbra sequitur, et, appetitores sui deserens, appetit contemptores." Ep. ad Eustoch. 3 Peccavi, et vere deliqui, et, ut eram dignus, non recepi." Job. xxxiii. 27. Prayer. O my God, after having committed so many sins, how is it possible that such an excess of pride should still reign in my soul ? I now see that my faults have not only rendered me ungrateful to Thee, but have also made me proud. Cast me not away from thy face, 1 as I have deserved. Have pity on me: enlighten my soul, and make me feel what I am and what I merit. How many, for fewer sins than I have committed, are now in hell, and have no hope of pardon ! I know that Thou dost offer me pardon if I wish for it. Yes, Lord, I desire it : my Redeemer, pardon me all my sins of pride, by which I have not only despised my neighbour, but have also despised Thee, my Sovereign Good. With St. Catharine of Genoa I will say : " My God, no more sins ! no more sins." I have sinned enough. I desire never more to abuse Thy patience. I love Thee, O my God, and I desire to spend the remainder of my life only in loving and in pleasing Thee. My Jesus, assist me. The stronger my present desire to belong entirely to Thee, the more violently will the powers of hell tempt me to sin. Assist me, O Lord, and leave me not in my own hands. Most holy Virgin Mary, thou knowest that in thee I have placed all my hopes ; do not cease to assist me by thy prayers, which God never rejects. 1 " Ne projicias me a facie tua." 106 II. The Humility of the Intellect or of the Judgment. After having maturely considered the great advantages of humility, let us now examine what must be done for its attainment. There are two sorts of humility : the humility of the intellect, and the humility of the will or of the heart. Here we shall speak of the former, without which the latter cannot be acquired. Humility of the intellect consists in thinking lowly of ourselves; in esteeming ourselves to he vile and miserable creatures, such as we really are. "Humility," says St. Bernard, " is a virtue which, by the knowledge of himself, makes a man contemptible in his own estimation."1 Humility is truth, as St. Teresa has well said, 2 and therefore the Lord greatly loves the humble, because they love the truth. It is too true that we are nothing; that we are ignorant, blind, and unable to do any good. Of our own we have nothing but sin, which renders us worse than nothing; and of ourselves we can do nothing but evil. Whatever good we have or per form belongs to God and comes from his hands. This truth the humble man keeps continually before his eyes; he therefore appropriates to himself only what is evil, deems himself worthy of all sorts of contempt, and cannot bear to hear others attribute to him what he does not deserve. On the contrary, he delights in seeing himself despised and treated according to his deserts; and thus renders his soul most pleasing to God. " A Christian," says St. Gregory, " becomes estimable before God in proportion as he is despicable in his own eyes." 3 Hence, speaking of nuns, St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi used to say, that the two foundations of religious perfection are the love of God and the contempt of self. " Because," says the saint, " the nun who will have humbled herself most upon earth shall see God most clearly in heaven." 1 " Humilitas est virtus qua homo, verissima sui cognitione, sibi ipsi vilescit." De Grad. hum. c. I. 2 Interior Castle, dem. 6. ch. 10. 3 " Tanto fit quisque Deo pretiosior, quanto vilior sibi." Mor. I. 18, C. 22. It is necessary, then, to pray continually in the words of St. Augustine: "May I know myself; may I know Thee, O my God, that thus I may love thee and despise myself." 1 Make me, O Lord, understand what I am and what Thou art. Thou art the source of every good: I am misery itself. Of myself I have nothing, I know nothing, I can do nothing but evil. It is only the humble that truly honor God. He, says the Holy Ghost, is honoured by the humble 2 Yes, it is only the humble that can give glory to the Lord, for they alone acknowledge him to be the supreme and only good. If, then, you desire to honor God, keep continually in view all your miseries; confess in the sincerity of your soul, that of yourself you are only nothingness and sinfulness, and that whatsoever you possess belongs to God. And convinced of your own wretchedness, consider yourself deserving only of contempt and punishment; and offer yourself to accept all the chastisements with which God will visit you. As a sequence of these principles we give here the following rules: I. Be careful never to boast of anything. Far different from yours was the conduct of the saints. It is my continual practice to exhort all to read, for their spiritual reading, the lives of the saints. The great labors and exertions of the saints for God’s glory will humble our pride, and make us ashamed of the little we do or have done for him. But how is it possible that we should glory in anything, when we know that all the virtues that we possess are the gifts of God. " Who," says St. Bernard, "could abstain from laughing, if the clouds boasted of having begotten rain." 3 Whoever glories in any good action deserves to be treated with similar derision. 1 " Noverim te, noverim me." Solil. 1. 2, c. I. 2 " Ab humilibus honoratur." Ecclus. iii. 21. 3 " Si glorietur nubes, quod imbres genuerint, quis non irrideat ?" In Cant. s. 13. Father M. Avila relates that a certain rich nobleman who had married a peasant, to prevent her from being puffed up with pride at seeing herself attended by servants and dressed in rich apparel, caused the miserable garment which she wore before her marriage to be preserved and to be kept continually before her eyes. You should imitate his example. When you perceive that you have performed a good work or acquired any virtue, look back to your former state; remember what you were, and conclude that all the good that you possess is but an alms from the Almighty. "Whosoever," says St. Augustine, " reckons up to Thee, O Lord, his own merits, what else does he reckon up but Thy gifts." 1 Whenever St. Teresa performed a good work, or saw an act of virtue performed by others, she immediately burst out into the praises of God, and referred the whole to him as to its author. Hence the saint justly observes, that it is not incompatible with humility to acknowledge the special graces that God has given more abundantly to us than to others. Such an acknowledgment, continues the saint, is not pride; on the contrary, by making us feel that we are more unworthy, and at the same time more favoured, than others, it assists our humility and stimulates our gratitude. The saint adds, that a Christian who does not reflect with gratitude on the sublime graces that he has received, will never resolve to do great things for God. 2 But in contemplating the gifts that God has bestowed upon us we must always distinguish between what belongs to him and what belongs to us. St. Paul scrupled not to assert that for the glory of the Lord Jesus he had done more than all the other apostles. I have he says, labored more abundantly than all they. 3 1" Quisquis tibi enumerat merita sua, quid tibi enumerat, nisi munera tua?" Conf. 1. 9, c. 13. 107 2 Life, ch. 10. 3 " Abundantius illis omnibus laboravi." i Cor. xv. 10. But he immediately confessed that his labors were not his own works, but the fruit of the divine grace by which he was assisted: Yet not I, but the grace of God with me. 1 II. Since without the divine aid you can do nothing, be careful never to confide in your own strength; but after the example of St. Philip Neri, endeavor to live in continual and utter distrust of yourself. Like St. Peter, who protested that not even death would induce him to deny his master, 2 the proud man trusts in his own courage, and therefore yields to temptation. Because he confided in himself, the apostle had no sooner entered the house of the high-priest than he denied Jesus Christ, Be careful never to place confidence in your own resolutions or in your present good dispositions; but put your whole trust in God, saying with St. Paul: I can do all things in him who strengtheneth me 3 If you cast away all self-confidence, and place all your hopes in the Lord, you may then expect to do great things for God. They that hope in the Lord, says the prophet Isaias, shall renew their strength."4 Yes, the humble, who trust in the Lord, shall renew their strength; distrusting themselves, they shall lay aside their own weakness and put on the strength of God. Hence, St. Joseph Calasanctius used to say, that " whoever desires to be the instrument of God in great undertakings, should seek to be the lowest of all." Strive to imitate the conduct of St. Catharine of Sienna, who, when tempted to vainglory, would make an act of humility, and when tempted to despair, would make an act of confidence in God. Enraged at her conduct, the devil began one day to curse her and the person who taught her this mode of resisting his temptations; and added, that he " knew not how to attack her." 1 " Non ego autem, sed gratia Dei mecum." i Cor. xv. 10. 2 " Etiamsi oportuerit me mori tecum. non te negabo." Matt. xxvi. 35. 3 " Omnia possum in eo qui me confortat." Phil. iv. 13. 4 " Qui autem sperant in Domino, mutabunt fortitudinem." Is. xl. 31 When, therefore, Satan tells you that you are in no danger of falling, tremble; and reflect that, should God abandon you for a moment, you are lost. When he tempts you to despair, exclaim in the loving words of David: In thee, O Lord, have I hoped : let me never be confounded.1 In Thee, O Lord, I have placed all my hopes; I trust that I shall not be confounded, deprived of Thy grace, and made the slave of hell. III. Should you be so unfortunate as to commit a fault, take care not to give way to diffidence, but humble your soul; repent, and with a stronger sense of your own weakness, throw yourself into the arms of the Lord. To be angry with ourselves after having committed a fault, is not an act of humility, but of pride, which makes us wonder how we could have fallen into such a defect. Yes, it is pride and a delusion of the devil, who seeks to draw us away from the path of perfection, to cast us into despair of advancing in virtue, and thus precipitate us into more grievous sins. After a fault we should redouble our confidence in God, and thus take occasion from our infidelity to place still greater hopes in his mercy. To them that love God, says St. Paul, all things work together unto good. 2" Yes," adds the Gloss, -even sins." 3 The Lord once said to St. Gertrude: -When a persons hands are stained he washes them, and they become cleaner than before they were soiled."4 sometimes permits his servants, and particularly those 1 "In te, Domine, speravi; non confundar in æternum." Ps. xxx. 2. 2 " Omnia cooperantur in bonum." Rom. viii. 28. 3 " Etiam peccata." 4 Insin. 1. 3, c. 78. |