300. Fifteenth Wednesday of Ordinary Time

Meditations no. 280 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

True virtue is impossible without humility.

There is no greater road to travel than the way of love, but only the humble can travel it. These words of St Augustine are an excellent commentary on the passage of the Gospel from today’s Mass: At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes; yea, Father, for such was your gracious will.”

Humility is not the most important virtue, but without it the others cannot exist. Do not forget, my children, that humility is such an important virtue that, if it is lacking, there can be no virtue. I will repeat again that, in the interior life, humility is the salt which seasons all the foods. For even though a particular act may seem virtuous, it cannot be, if it is the consequence of pride, of vanity, or of stupidity, or if we do it thinking about ourselves, putting ourselves before the service of God, the good of souls and the glory of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

When our attention turns to ourselves and we dwell on whether others are going to praise or criticize us, we are doing ourselves very great harm. God alone should interest us, and for his sake, all those who belong to Opus Dei and all the souls in the world without exception. So, away with self! It is a hindrance.

To a certain extent all virtue can be seen as an expression of humility, in line with our Father’s teaching: Prayer is the humility of the man who acknowledges his profound wretchedness and the greatness of God. He addresses and adores God as one who expects everything from Him and nothing from himself.

Faith is the humility of the mind which renounces its own judgement and surrenders to the verdict and authority of the Church.

Obedience is the humility of the will which subjects itself to another’s will, for God’s sake.

Chastity is the humility of the flesh, which subjects itself to the spirit.

Exterior mortification is the humility of the senses.

Penance is the humility of all the passions, immolated to the Lord.

Humility is truth on the road of the ascetic struggle.

We must be on our guard against any form of pride that tries to disguise itself as humility. In the words of St Jerome: It is one thing to be virtuous, and quite another to appear to be virtuous. There is no worse pride than that which hides under the appearance of humility. Our Father gives us a reliable test to recognize it: Are you truly humble? Can you mortify your self-love, for the sake of charity? Can you accept those humiliations which God asks of you, in unimportant things which don’t obscure the truth? What is it that makes charity sluggish? Quite simply, pride. So, ask our Lord to grant you humility, because if pride is not taken in hand promptly, with the passage of time it only gets worse.

True humility does not limit one’s character.

To be humble does not mean to go around dirty and unkempt. It does not mean being indifferent to all that happens around us and constantly failing to exercise our rights. Much less does it mean to go around proclaiming silly things about ourselves. There can be no humility if we are theatrical or if we are hypocrites, because humility is truth.

In spite of the limitless goodness of God our Lord, he will not be able to sanctify us or save us without our consent and without our will. And without him, neither will we accomplish anything worthwhile. Just as you can see fields producing different kinds of fruit, so you see souls produce different fruits of holiness - although in truth, no one is good but God alone: he is the one who makes the field fertile, he is the one who gives the seed the possibility of multiplying. And he is the one who confers on an apparently withered twig the power to take root. He it is who has blessed human nature with his grace, thus enabling it to act in a Christian way, and to be happy struggling in the hope of that future life which is everlasting happiness and love. My children, humility is knowing that neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

Humility, then. Humility which is the fruit of knowing God and knowing ourselves. Self-knowledge enables us to know the good things God has done in us but which do not belong to us. We belong to the Lord; all the good we have is his. As our Founder wrote: It is not a lack of humility to be aware of the progress of your soul - That way you can thank God for it.

-But don’t forget that you are a poor fellow, wearing a good suit… on loan.

Humility also enables us to see our defects and shortcomings: not simply the limitations of our condition as creatures, but the failings for which we are personally responsible, so that we can say with the Psalmist: Against you, you only, have I sinned, and done that which is evil in your sight. In fact, we become aware not only of the evil done, but also of our disordered passions which would lead us to commit sin if we did not have the continuous help of God’s grace.

As I wrote you many years ago, even the spoiled fruit, the dead twigs and the fallen leaves, when buried at the foot of the tree, can strengthen the tree that bore them. How could our mistakes and our errors, in a word, our sins - which we do not want, which we abhor - have done us any good? They have, because contrition followed, and we were ashamed and anxious to do better, and cooperate with God’s grace. Through humility, what was dead is converted into life. What was going to cause sterility and failure, turns into victory and an abundance of fruit.

Humility is needed if grace is to make us grow and be effective.

“Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart…” The humility of Jesus!… What a lesson for you who are a poor earthenware vessel. He - always merciful - has raised you up, and made the light of the sun of grace shine upon your baseness, which has now been freely exalted. And you, how often you have covered your pride under a cloak of dignity or justice… ! And how many chances to learn from the Master you have wasted by not knowing how to supernaturalize them! St Bernard exhorts us not to allow such a precious example to go for nothing.

Only through humility can we produce lasting fruits. I read in an old spiritual book, our Founder told us, that trees that have very high, upstanding branches do not have much fruit. On the other hand, trees with low, fallen branches, are full of rich, delicious fruit. And the closer they are to the ground, the more abundant the fruit is. My children, ask for humility which is such a precious virtue. Why are we so foolish? We are always so convinced that our way is the best and always sure that we are right. The soul soaks up vanity and pride like a lump of sugar soaking up water. If you want to be happy, be humble. Reject the deceitful insinuations of the devil when he suggests that you are so wonderful. You and I have understood that, unfortunately, we amount to very little. But when we take our Lord into account, it’s another story. We owe him everything.

And our Father went on: I am certain that the Holy Spirit will sometimes let you see that you are producing good fruit, as a pledge of the reward that is in store for your loyalty. That is the moment to say: “Lord, it is indeed certain that in spite of my wretchedness, you have managed to grow fruit in the midst of so great a wilderness. Thank you. Deo gratias!” (Thanks be to God!)

But at other moments it might be the devil, who is never on vacation, who will come to tempt you to attribute to yourself merits which are not really yours. When you realize that your thoughts and desires, your words and actions and your work are filled with a vain self-complacency, a foolish pride, you must tell the devil: “I have indeed borne fruit, Deo gratias!” (Thanks be to God!) …

We must cherish no other desire than that of clinging to God, in constant praise and glorification of his name, helping him in his divine work of Redemption. Then, our greatest desire will be to teach others to know Jesus Christ, and through Him, the Father and the Holy Spirit. And we know that we reach Jesus through Mary, and through keeping close to St Joseph and our Holy Guardian Angels.