You MUST wear the ribbon!

Love Isn't Just a Clever Slogan 

a true humbling of the heart

Fasting in Isaiah 58, then, is intended to be more than ritual. It is to be a true humbling of the heart that results not only in humility, but in actual identification with those who are lowly—the hungry and oppressed. This theme will later be appropriated by Christians who call for true forms of fasting as opposed to fasting for mere rituals.

Berghuis, Kent. Christian Fasting: A Theological Approach (pp. 24-25). Biblical Studies Press. Kindle Edition. 

His grace is sufficient

The danger of pride is greater and nearer than we think, and especially at the time of our highest spiritual experiences. The preacher of spiritual truth with an admiring congregation, the gifted speaker on a Holiness platform, the Christian giving testimony of a blessed experience, and the evangelist moving on in victory – no man knows the hidden danger to which these are exposed. Paul was in danger without knowing it. What Jesus did for him is written for our caution, that we may know our danger and know our only safety. If ever it has been said of a teacher or professor of holiness that he is so full of self, or he does not practice what he preaches, let it be said no more. Jesus, in whom we trust, can make us humble. 

Yes, the grace for humility is greater and nearer than we think. The humility of Jesus is our salvation. Jesus Himself is our humility. Our humility is His care and His work. His grace is sufficient for us to meet the temptation of pride too. His strength will be perfected in our weakness. Let us choose to be weak, to be low, to be nothing. Let humility be to us joy and gladness. Let us glory and take pleasure in weakness, in all that can humble us and keep us low. The power of Christ will rest on us. Christ humbled Himself, and as a result, God exalted Him. Christ will humble us and keep us humble. Let us heartily consent and, with trust and joy, accept all that humbles, and as a result, the power of Christ will rest on us. We will find that the deepest humility is the secret of the truest happiness, and of a joy that nothing can destroy.

Murray, Andrew. Humility [Updated Edition]: The Beauty of Holiness . Aneko Press. Kindle Edition. 

The Spirit of Prayer by William Law

All this to make it known through the region of eternity that pride can degrade the highest angels into devils, and humility raise fallen flesh and blood to the thrones of angels. Thus, this is the great end of God raising a new creation out of a fallen kingdom of angels. For this end, it stands in its state of war between the fire and pride of fallen angels, and the humility of the Lamb of God. That the last trumpet may sound the great truth through the depths of eternity, that evil can have no beginning but from pride, and no end but from humility. The truth is this: Pride must die in you, or nothing of heaven can live in you. Under the banner of the truth, give yourself up to the meek and humble spirit of the holy Jesus. Humility must sow the seed, or there can be no reaping in heaven. Don’t look at pride only as an unbecoming temper, nor at humility only as a decent virtue. The one is death, and the other is life. One is all hell, and the other is all heaven. As much as you have pride within you, you have the fallen angel alive in you. As much as you have true humility, you have of the Lamb of God within you. If you could see what every stirring of pride does to your soul, you would beg of everything you touch to tear the viper from you, even if it required the loss of a hand, or an eye. If you could see what a sweet, divine, transforming power there is in humility, how it expels the poison of your nature, and makes room for the Spirit of God to live in you, you would rather wish to be the footstool of all the world than lack the smallest degree of it. The Spirit of Prayer by William Law, Part II, p. 73, Edition of Moreton, Canterbury, 1893.

Murray, Andrew. Humility [Updated Edition]: The Beauty of Holiness . Aneko Press. Kindle Edition. 

The Humility of Mary

It’s a part of humility to serve others. Consider how Mary didn’t hesitate to go and serve Elizabeth for three months. For this reason, St. Bernard says: “Elizabeth wondered that Mary should have come to visit her. But still more admirable is that she came not to be ministered to, but to minister.” 

Those who are humble are retiring, and choose the last places. St. Bernard remarks that this is why Mary, when wishing to speak to her Son when he was preaching in a house, would not of her own accord enter. Instead, she “remained outside, and did not avail herself of her maternal authority to interrupt him” (see Mt 12:46). 

For the same reason, when she was with the Apostles awaiting the coming of the Holy Spirit, she took the lowest place, as St. Luke notes: “All these with one accord devoted themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus” (Acts 1:14). It’s not that St. Luke was ignorant of the Mother of God’s merits, on account of which he should have named her in the first place. Rather, she had taken the last place among the Apostles and the women. For this reason, he described them all in the order in which they were. That’s why St. Bernard says, “Rightly has the last become the first, who being the first of all became the last.” 

Finally, those who are humble love to be disdained rather than praised. So we don’t read that Mary showed herself in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, when her Son was received by the people with so much honor. Instead, at the death of her Son, she didn’t shrink from appearing on Calvary. She didn’t fear the dishonor that would come to her when it was known that she was the mother of the One who was condemned to die an infamous death as a criminal. —St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary 

From a prayer of St. John Neumann: O Mary, Mother of Mercy, pray to your divine Son for me, a poor sinner; beg him to make me humble. My pride, my self-esteem, my vanity are always against me. I struggle against them, and yet I allow them to surprise and deceive me so often.

Thigpen, Paul. A Year with Mary: Daily Meditations on the Mother of God (pp. 473-474). Saint Benedict Press. Kindle Edition. 

Humility

 

Pride

 

Seek the Glory that comes from God

In their very nature, pride and faith are incompatible. We will learn that faith and humility are at root one, and we can never have more true faith than we have true humility. It is possible to have strong intellectual conviction and assurance of the truth while pride is kept in the heart, but it makes living faith, which has power with God, an impossibility.

We only need to pause for a moment to discover what faith is. It is the confession of nothingness and helplessness, the surrender and the waiting to let God work! Isn’t it the most humbling thing there can be, the acceptance of our place as dependents who can claim, receive, or accomplish nothing apart from grace? Humility is simply the habit which prepares the soul for living on trust. Every breath of pride, in self-seeking, self-will, self-confidence, or self-exaltation, is just the strengthening of that self which cannot enter the kingdom. It cannot possess the things of the kingdom, because it refuses to allow God to be the All in All.

Friend, the only thing that can cure you of the desire for man’s praise or the hurt feelings and anger which come when it is not given, is by only seeking the glory that comes from God. Let the glory of the all-glorious God be everything to you. You will be freed from the glory of men and of self, and be content and glad to be nothing. Out of this nothingness, you will grow strong in faith, giving glory to God. You will find that the deeper you sink in humility before Him, the nearer He is to fulfill every desire of your faith.

Murray, Andrew. Humility [Updated Edition]: The Beauty of Holiness . Aneko Press. Kindle Edition. 

Psychological research: The H Factor

"I suspect that humility gets a bad rap because it is sometimes linked with subservience or weakness or introversion.

Psychological research actually indicates the opposite. Humility is most closely associated with a cluster of highly positive qualities including sincerity, modesty, fairness, truthfulness, unpretentiousness and authenticity."

Why Humble Leaders Make The Best Leaders

The HEXACO Model of Personality Structure and the Importance of the H Factor

gigantic ME

May God teach us that our thoughts, words, and feelings concerning our fellow man are His test of our humility towards Him. Our humility before Him is the only power that enables us to always be humble with our fellow man. Our humility must be the life of Christ, the Lamb of God, within us. 

Let all teachers of holiness and all seekers after holiness take warning. There is no pride as dangerous, because it is so subtle and sneaky, as the pride of holiness. It is not that a man ever says, or even thinks, Stand by thyself, do not come near to me; for I am holier than thou (Isaiah 65:5). No, the mere thought would be treated with disgust. But unconsciously, there grows a hidden habit of the soul, it feels satisfied in its accomplishments, and it can’t help but compare itself to the position of others. It can be recognized simply in the absence of that deep selflessness which can only be the evidence of the soul that has seen the glory of God. It reveals itself, not only in words or thoughts, but also in a tone, a way of speaking of others. Those who have the gift of spiritual discernment can’t help but recognize the power of self. Even the world with its watchful eyes notices it, and points to it as proof that the profession of a heavenly life does not necessarily bear any heavenly fruit. Brothers and sisters, let us beware! Unless we make, in the pursuit of holiness, the increase of humility the focus of our study, we may find that we have been delighting in beautiful thoughts and feelings, and the motions of sanctification, while the only evidence of the presence of God – the disappearance of self – remains seriously lacking. Come, let us run to Jesus and hide ourselves in Him until we embrace and receive His humility. This alone is our holiness. 

[1]  “Me is a most exacting personage, requiring the best seats and the highest places for itself, and feeling grievously wounded if its claim are not recognized and its rights considered. Most of the quarrels among Christian workers arise from the clamourings of this gigantic Me. … How few of us understand the true glory of taking our seats in the lowest rooms!”—Hannah Whitall Smith, Every-day Religion.

Murray, Andrew. Humility [Updated Edition]: The Beauty of Holiness . Aneko Press. Kindle Edition. 

Overthrows pride

The mature moral result of Confession is its humiliation. If God commanded us to confess to Him alone, our sorrow would perhaps be as deep, and our purpose of amendment as sincere, but it would not be as humiliating as the truthful disclosure of our sins to a fellowman. We are so constituted by nature that the visible affects us more than the invisible. Very little humiliation would therefore accompany the secret telling of our sins, just as, indeed, very little shame and embarrassment accompany their commission before the veiled face of the unseen seen yet ever-present God. 

The fruitful confusion associated with Confession, which often prevents recourse to it, is an inestimable benefit. It overthrows our pride, the cause of all our sins; it deepens our humility, the foundation of all virtue, by making us share in Christ's unspeakable humiliations; it confounds us before one instead of millions. 

Furthermore, from another angle, Confession is especially beneficial. A thought expressed is a far more palpable reality than when it remains a mere mental existence. Words clarify the vagueness of ideas. They imprint print themselves upon the mind with a vividness wholly beyond the power of what is unformulated. Words can fill the heart with joy or crush it with sorrow, whereas thoughts not shaped in words, and therefore dormant, can wield no such influence.

John A. Kane. How to Make a Good Confession: A Pocket Guide to Reconciliation With God (Kindle Locations 362-369). Kindle Edition. 

Side by Side Google 2022

 

The 2022 side by side look at "Pride" and "Humility", it seems that we want our leaders to be "humble". Do we wish to hold pride for ourselves while desiring humility in others?

My heart, Your home

First, there may be significant heartfelt and active religion while humility is still sadly lacking. 

Second, all external teaching and personal effort is ineffective to conquer pride or produce the meek and lowly heart.

Third, it is only by the indwelling of Christ in His divine humility that we become truly humble.

Murray, Andrew. Humility [Updated Edition]: The Beauty of Holiness . Aneko Press. Kindle Edition. 

The nobility of the kingdom of heaven

Men sometimes speak as if humility and meekness would rob us of what is dignified, bold, and manlike. Oh, if only all would believe that it is Godlike to humble oneself to become servant of all! This is the nobility of the kingdom of heaven, and the royal spirit that the King of heaven displayed. This is the path to the gladness and glory of Christ’s presence dwelling in us. 

Jesus, the meek and lowly One, calls us to learn from Him the path to God. Let us study the words we have been reading, until our hearts are filled with the thought: My one need is humility. Let us believe that what He shows, He gives, and what He is, He communicates. As the meek and lowly One, He will come in and dwell in the longing heart.

Murray, Andrew. Humility [Updated Edition]: The Beauty of Holiness . Aneko Press. Kindle Edition. 

Brothers and sisters, are you clothed with humility?

Humility is the consent to let God be all and 

to completely surrender oneself to His working alone and
to give God the honor and glory which is due Him.

"The Son can do nothing by himself" John 5:19
Well, if Jesus can do nothing by himself - how can I?

the poison of Satan’s own pride

When the old Serpent, he who had been cast out of heaven for his pride, whose whole nature was pride, spoke his words of temptation into the ear of Eve, these words carried with them the very poison of hell. When she listened, and yielded her desire and her will to the prospect of being as God, knowing good and evil, the poison entered into her soul, blood, and life. This destroyed forever that blessed humility and dependence upon God, which would have been our everlasting happiness. Instead of this, her life and the life of the race that sprang from her became corrupted to its very root with the most terrible of all sins and curses – the poison of Satan’s own pride. All the misery of which this world has been the stage, all its wars and bloodshed among the nations, its selfishness and suffering, all its ambitions and jealousies, its broken hearts and embittered lives, and all its daily unhappiness, have their origin in what this cursed, hellish pride, either our own or that of others, has brought us. It is pride that made redemption necessary. Most of all, it is from our pride that we need to be redeemed. Our awareness of the need for redemption will largely depend on our knowledge of the terrible nature of the power of pride that has entered our being.

Murray, Andrew. Humility [Updated Edition]: The Beauty of Holiness . Aneko Press. Kindle Edition. 

Self-Control

 Self-Control

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Let us bow down in humility at the power and grandeur of the Holy Spirit. Let us worship the Holy Trinity and give glory today to the Paraclete, our Advocate.

O Holy Spirit, by Your power, Christ was raised from the dead to save us all. By Your grace, miracles are performed in Jesus’ name. By Your love, we are protected from evil. And so, we ask with humility and a beggar’s heart for Your gift of Self-Control within us.

Your Martyrs had the overwhelming self-control to go joyfully to a painful death without shrinking from the opportunity to join You in heaven. Give us this self-control to have command over our emotions and desires that we may serve You more fully.

Holy Spirit we ask for the grace of [Mention your intention here].

Amen.

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth.

O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy His consolations, through Christ Our Lord,

Amen.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Novena to the Holy Spirit - Pentecost Novena PRAYERS - Pray More Novenas - Novena Prayers & Catholic Devotion

He humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross

The life God gives is not all at once, but moment by moment, through the unceasing operation of His mighty power. Humility, the place of entire dependence on God, is the first duty of the creature, and the root of every good quality. 

Likewise, pride, or the loss of this humility, is the root of every sin and evil. It was when the Serpent breathed the poison of his pride – the desire to be as God – into the hearts of Adam and Eve, that they fell from their high position into all the wretchedness in which mankind is now sunk. In heaven and earth, pride is the gate, the birth, and the curse of hell.

Therefore, it is reasonable to say that nothing can be our redemption except the restoration of the lost humility, the original and only true relationship of the creature to its God. So Jesus came to bring humility back to earth, to make us sharers in it, and by it, to save us. In heaven, He humbled Himself to become man. The humility we see in Him possessed Him in heaven; it brought Him, and He brought it, from there. Here on earth, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death (Philippians 2:8). His humility gave His death its value, and became our redemption. Now, the salvation He makes known is nothing less and nothing else than a communication of His own life and death, His own nature and attitude, His own humility, as the ground and root of His relationship to God and His redeeming work. Jesus Christ took the place and fulfilled the destiny of man, as a creature, by His life of perfect humility. His humility is our salvation. His salvation is our humility.

Murray, Andrew. Humility [Updated Edition]: The Beauty of Holiness . Aneko Press. Kindle Edition. 

Perfect Humility

Lord Jesus! May our Holiness be perfect Humility!

Let Thy Perfect Humility be our Holiness!

Murray, Andrew. Humility [Updated Edition]: The Beauty of Holiness . Aneko Press. Kindle Edition.