Humility is the mother of many virtues because from it obedience, fear, patience, meekness and modesty are born. He who is humble easily obeys everyone, fears to offend anyone, is at peace with everyone, is kind with all, he lives happy, contented and in great peace. Humility does not consist in hiding our talents and virtues, but in possessing a clear knowledge of all that is lacking in us and acknowledging all the gifts God has given us freely. There are two types of humility: the humility of the intellect and the humility of the heart. Humility of the intellect consists in thinking lowly of ourselves; and humility of the heart consists in desiring to be despised by others, and in taking pleasure in contempt.
One of the best ways to acquire humility is to fix the following maxim in our mind: One is worth what he is worth in the eyes of God. There is no penance more effective than patience, no happiness equal than joyfulness, no disease more killing than lust, no virtue richer than humility. In humility and confidence, we have to go forward without pause. Humility is our left foot, confidence is our right. Let us use both of them to walk properly. Basic humility is the attitude of one who stands constantly under the judgment of God. It is the attitude of one who is like the soil. The fertile soil is there, unnoticed, taken for granted, always there to be trodden upon. It is silent, dark, inconspicuous and yet it is ready to revive any seed, ready to give it substance and life.
Novelist Somerset Maugham carried with him an old and cracked cup aboard a small cargo ship during his escape from war-torn France in 1940. The ship was crowded, the weather hot and water was rationed. For years afterward he would point to the old cup and tell his friends. “That was what held my daily allowance of water.” “Whenever I feel myself getting a bit stuffy,” he would add, “and inclined to take the comfortable places I stay in and the good food I eat for granted, I fill my cup at the tap and drink it—slowly, brings me back to earth again in quite hurry.”
The clothing of humility never goes out of style.
Sr (dr) Lilly Thokkanattu SJL
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