Humility
“He that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” — St. Luke 14:11
TWELFTH DAY.
Do not think you have made any progress in perfection until you regard yourself as the last of all, and desire that all others should be preferred to you, because it belongs to those who are great in the eyes of God to be little in their own. — St. Teresa.
St. Teresa, meditating on the singular favors she received from God, made it an occasion to humble herself profoundly. “They are the supports which prove my weakness,” she said. “A house that is not solid has all the more need of stays to support it.”
There was no virtue that was not to be found in St. Vincent de Paul, although he studied to hide them all. According to himself, he was so poor in spiritual gifts that he deserved the title of miserable, which was the name he chose.
Prayer.
My God, I desire but the title of miserable and of sinner, since there is nothing in me but sin and misery. Alas! In which of my works cast Thou discover anything but faults? I am lost if Thou dost not treat me according to Thy mercy.