July 26 Wed
All virtues are intertwined with humility.
“PRAYER is the humility of one 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.”

Beware any form of pride that disguises itself as humility. St Josemaría gives us a 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 your charity slow? Quite simply, pride. So, ask our Lord to grant you humility, because if pride is not controlled promptly, with the passage of time it only gets worse.”

Humility also enables us to see our defects and shortcomings: not simply our limitations as creatures, but the faults for which we are personally responsible; then, we tell God: “Against you, you only, have I sinned, and done that which is evil in your sight.” 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 rotten fruit, the dead twigs and the dry leaves, when buried at the foot of the tree, can fertilize the tree that bore them. How could our mistakes and our errors, in a word, our sins – which we do not want, which we detest –do us any good? They could, if contrition follows, and we are 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 abundant fruit.”

If you are humble nothing will touch you, neither praise nor disgrace, because you know what you are. Thus, you will desire to cling to God, in constant praise and glorification of his name, helping him in his divine work of Redemption. And you will help others to know Jesus Christ, and through Him, the Father and the Holy Spirit. And you reach Jesus through Mary, and through keeping close to St Joseph and our Holy Guardian Angels.
Image: Holy Family with St Joachim and Anne