Confidence.
“Have confidence.” — St. Mark 6:50.
SEVENTH DAY.
He who relies upon himself alone makes a great mistake. A Superior, for example, or a preacher, or a confessor, confiding in his own wisdom, his own knowledge or talent, will find that, to show how insufficient he is of himself, God will withdraw His assistance, and will let him act for himself. As a consequence, with all his pains, the result of his labors will be very small. With many who do not succeed in their undertakings, this is often the cause. — St. Vincent de Paul.
We see that those saints whom Our Lord made use of for the sanctification of souls had the lowest opinion of themselves. St. Vincent Ferrer said of himself: “I am like a corpse full of worms, and ought to be an object of horror to everyone. And what augments my malice is that every day I grow worse.” St. Dominic was persuaded that his sins ought to bring down the judgment of God wherever he dwelt. St. Vincent de Paul often said to God: “Lord, I will ruin everything if Thou dost not regulate all my words and all my actions.” St. Francis Xavier regarded himself as the most wicked of all men.
St. Jane Frances said, upon an occasion when a religious did not wish to accept the position of Superior to which she had been elevated: “If a dry and barren stick of wood could humble and abase itself before God, and were then chosen for Superior, the Divine Majesty would give this stick sufficient intelligence rather than permit it to govern illy.”
Prayer.
My God, I am in Thy eyes but a vase full of evil. Deign to regulate my mind and my heart, all my words and all my works. Without Thy grace I can do no good, only evil. Thou wilt give it to me, because I will humble myself and will not cease to ask it of Thee.