THAT HUMILITY IS NECESSARY FOR SPIRITUAL LIFE AND ACHIEVING ETERNAL LIFE.

Omnis qui se exaltat, humiliabitur, et qui se humiliat, exaltabitur.

He who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. (S. Luke, XVIII, 14.)

Could our divine Savior show us in a more evident way the need to humble ourselves, that is, to form a low concept of ourselves, now in our thoughts, now in our words, now in our actions, how? ¿indispensable condition to go and sing the divine praises for an eternity? (Humility necessarily leads us to self-knowledge by contemplating ourselves in God himself) — Finding himself one day in the company of other people and seeing that some praised themselves for the good they had done and despised others, Jesus Christ proposed this parable, the which has all the appearances of a true story. Two men, he said, went up to the temple to pray; one of them was a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee remained standing, and spoke to God in this way: "I thank you, my God, because I am not like other men, who are thieves, unjust, adulterers, not even like this publican: I fast twice a week, I pay tithes on all I have."Such was his prayer, Saint Augustine tells us. You well see that she is nothing more than an affectation full of pride and vanity; the Pharisee does not come to pray before God, nor to give him thanks; but to praise himself and even to insult the one who really prays. The publican, on the other hand, turned away from the altar, not even daring to raise his gaze to heaven, beat him on the chest saying: "My God, have mercy on me, I am a miserable sinner." — «You must know, adds Jesus Christ, that this one returned justified to his house, but not the other». The publican's sins were forgiven, while the Pharisee, with all his alleged virtues, returned to his house more criminal than before.

And       the reason for this is this: the humility of the publican, though a sinner, was more pleasing to God than all the good works of the Pharisee, mixed with pride.

And       Jesus Christ draws from here the consequence that "whoever wants to exalt himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted." Let us be disappointed, this is the rule; the law is general, our divine Master is the one who has published it. "Though you lift your head up to the sky, from there I will throw you"(2), says the Lord. Yes, the only path that leads to exaltation that is beneficial for the afterlife is humility. Without this beautiful and precious virtue of humility, you will not enter heaven; it will be as if you lacked baptism (4). From here you can already infer the obligation we have to humiliate ourselves, and the reasons that should drive us to do so. So now I am going to show you: 1° That humility is an absolutely necessary virtue so that our actions are pleasing to God and rewarded in the afterlife; 2.0 We have great reasons to practice it, whether looking at God or looking at ourselves. (which is the true knowledge of our nothingness before God)

I. — Before making you understand, the need for this beautiful virtue, for us as necessary as Baptism after original sin; As necessary, I say, as the sacrament of Penance after mortal sin, I must first explain to you what such a virtue consists of, which attributes so much merit to our good works, and which so lavishly enriches our acts. Saint Bernard, that great saint who practiced it in such an extraordinary way, that he abandoned wealth, pleasures, relatives and friends to go and spend his life in the jungles, among wild beasts, in order to mourn his sins there. , tells us thathumility is a virtue by which we know ourselves and, through this, we feel led to despise our own person and find no pleasure in any praise that is made of us.

I say that. this virtue is absolutely necessary for us, if we want our works to be rewarded in heaven; since Jesus Christ himself tells us that it is as impossible for us to save ourselves without humility as without Baptism. Saint Augustine says: «If you ask me what is the first virtue of a Christian, I will answer that it is humility; if you ask me what the second is, I will answer that it is humility; if you ask me again what the third is, I will still answer that it is humility; and as many times as you ask me this question, I will give you the same answer». If pride engenders all sins (3), we can also say that humility engenders all virtues.

(one). With humility you will have everything you need to please God and save your soul; but without it, even possessing all the other virtues, it will be as if you had nothing. We read in the holy Gospel (2) that some mothers presented their children to; Jesus Christ to give them his blessing. The apostles made them withdraw, but Our Lord disapproved of that behavior, saying: «Let the children come to Me; for theirs, and those who are like them, is the kingdom of heaven." He embraced them and gave them his holy blessing. Why this good reception of the divine Savior? Because children are simple, humble and without malice. Likewise, if we want to be well received by Jesus Christ, we must show ourselves simple and humble in all our acts. «This beautiful virtue, says Saint Bernard, was the cause of the Eternal Father looking at the Blessed Virgin with complacency; and if her virginity attracted divine gaze, her humility was the cause of her conceiving the Son of God in her womb. If the Most Holy Virgin is the Queen of Virgins, she is also the Queen of the humble». Saint Teresa asked the Lord one day why, in another time, the Holy Spirit communicated so easily to the characters of the Old Testament, patriarchs or prophets, declaring their secrets to them, something that it does not do today. The Lord replied that this was because those were simpler and more humble, while at present men have a double heart and are full of pride and vanity.God does not communicate with them nor does he love them as he loved those good patriarchs and prophets, so simple and humble.

Saint Augustine tells us: «If you humble yourself deeply, if you recognize your nothingness and your lack of merit, God will give you thanks in abundance; more, if you want to exalt yourself and hold yourself in something, he will move away from you and abandon you in your poverty».

Our Lord Jesus Christ, to make us understand that humility is the most beautiful and precious of all the virtues, begins to enumerate the beatitudes for humility, saying: «Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the poor. Heavens". Saint Augustine tells us that those poor in spirit are those who have humility by inheritance (this is another interpretation of humility). The prophet Isaiah said to God: “Lord, ¿on whom does the Holy Spirit descend? ¿perhaps on those who enjoy great reputation in the world, or on the proud? No, said the Lord, but on him who has a humble heart.

This virtue not only makes us pleasing to God, but also to men. Everyone loves a humble person, everyone delights in her company. Where does it come from, in effect, that children are generally loved by all, if not from the fact that they are simple and humble? The person who is humble always gives in, never upsets anyone, does not cause anyone anger, is content with everything and always seeks to hide from the eyes of the world.An admirable example of this is offered to us by Saint Hilarion. Saint Jerome relates that this great Saint was sought after by emperors, kings and princes, and attracted crowds to the desert for the smell of his holiness, for the fame and renown of his miracles; but he hid and fled from the world as much as possible. He frequently changed cells, in order to live hidden and unknown; he cried, continually in view of that crowd of religious and. of people who came to him to be cured of his ills. Missing his past loneliness, he said, crying: "I have returned to the world again, my reward will be only in this life, since everyone already looks at me as a person of consideration."«And nothing so admirable, Saint Jerome tells us, as finding him so humble in the midst of the many honors that were paid to him. Having spread the rumor that he was going to retire to the depths of the desert where no one could see him, twenty thousand men intervened to block his path; but the Saint told them that he would not take food until they set him free. They persisted for seven days, but, seeing that he did not eat anything... he fled then to the farthest part of the desert, where he gave himself up to everything that the love of God could inspire him. Only then did he believe that he began to serve God». Tell me, is this humility and self-contempt? ¡Oh! how rare are these virtues! but also how scarce are saints! To the same extent that a proud man is hated, a humble man is appreciated, since he always takes last place for himself, respect everyone, and also love everyone; This is the reason why the company of people who are adorned with such beautiful qualities is so sought after.

I say that humility is the foundation of all the other virtues (2). Whoever wishes to serve God and save his soul must begin by practicing this virtue to its full extent. Without it our devotion will be like a heap of straw that we will have raised very voluminous, but at the first blow of the winds Saint Augustine tells us: «If you deeply humble yourselves, if you recognize your nothingness and your lack of merit, God will give you thanks in abundance; more, if you want to exalt yourself and hold yourself in something, he will move away from you and abandon you in your poverty».