Pelianito's latest from 1/13/2015: Isaiah 37:30-32 And this shall be the sign for you: This year eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs from that; then in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. The surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downwards, and bear fruit upwards; for from Jerusalem a remnant shall go out, and from Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. “Children, again and again I have told you, do not be afraid! Surrender to me. Live in my will. Be docile, humble, little. Filter your thoughts through the sieve of humility. Use the finest sieve to filter out the least impurity of pride. Pride is what you must fear. Let humility be your safety. Ask our Mother to teach you the ways of humility. No creature was ever more perfectly humble, perfectly human than she was. Even now she keeps nothing for herself, but everything that comes to her passes out again. The prayers of the faithful she adorns with her merits and present to her Son. The graces showered on her by the Holy Trinity she in turn showers on all who receive them with a sincere heart. Take heed my children—humility is the antidote to the world’s ills. Ponder this, my children. It has never been more urgently needed.” http://pelianito.stblogs.com/
I understand how the Scriptures and the Church speak of love as the greatest virtue, the chief of the three theological virtues, because it endures for eternity. For myself, humility ranks right up there, too! What is the meaning of humility for me? It is understanding my place and relationship before God and others, and acting accordingly. God is Almighty, from everlasting to everlasting. I am a creature, who did not bring myself into existence. I live at the pleasure of God, as do all other men and women. Therefore, I am, in humility, to seek the Will of God for my life and follow it to the best of my ability. In humility, I am to accept the dignity of each person, even my enemy, and never exalt myself above another, nor be condescending, nor judge another. Humanly speaking, Our Lady's humility is flawless! God's humility is best expressed by the words of Jesus: "The Son of Man has come not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." For me, His littleness is primarily expressed in four ways: 1. The Incarnation- "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us." 2. Self-offering- "And he withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and knelt down and prayed, 42 "Father, if thou art willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done." 3. Eucharist- "I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh." And this one is particularly relevant to our times: 4. Waiter King- "Let your loins be girded and your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the marriage feast, so that they may open to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes; truly, I say to you, he will gird himself and have them sit at table, and he will come and serve them. What an amazing God we serve, amazing in humility! Isa 57:15 For thus says the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite.
This was very helpful. Thankyou. My big temptation at the moment is to blow up and maintain my pride. These Biblical quotes have really helped me stay anchored for a bit longer. Having read them, they bring peace.
St Phillip Neri said, 'My pride will die an hour after I do'. One thing about humility , it is impossible to counterfeit.
I love St. Phillip Neri and his wonderful sense of humor. My favorite story - he looked in the mirror every morning and said, "Jesus, watch out for Phillip. He could betray you today. We've seen him do it before!" That will give you a dose of humility...
I love the quote from Isaiah, Terry. It has me thinking, is it saying , 'Humility is catching?' It sounds about right, but I never thought about this before. One thing I have noticed on the internet some people tend to quieten things down some folks start to fire things of. I suppose it is the humble ones who quieten things. Scripture is amazing, such a teacher. Humility is catching. I must think on this..
I noticed with St Phillip in Rome Kathy they always represent him with the symbol of a heart on fire, like the Sacred Heart. This is because after he died they found his heart enlarged and pierced, he always complained that love burned him up. He used to take his novices out to the grace yard and get them to shout out praises of them. Then to get them to shout out insults of the dead. Then he would ask them when they praised the dead if they got any reply. When they said they did not he asked them if they got any reply from the insults they answered no too. Well then, he told them , be like the dead to times when people praise you and if people insult you. Only what God thinks is important. Your conscience will tell you that.
I love Philip Neri's hands-on approach. There is the story of the penance he gave to the woman who confessed the sin of gossip. He instructed her to take a feather pillow to the top of a hill on a windy day and then tear it open. She was then to retrieve all the feathers that blew away. Her response was, "That's impossible!" "As are our words once they leave our mouth!", was his follow-up! Safe in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary!
Litany of Humility Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val (1865-1930), Secretary of State for Pope Saint Pius X O Jesus! meek and humble of heart, Hear me. Fromthe desire of being esteemed, Deliver me, Jesus. From the desire of being loved... From the desire of being extolled ... From the desire of being honored ... From the desire of being praised ... From the desire of being preferred to others... From the desire of being consulted ... From the desire of being approved ... From the fear of being humiliated ... Fromthe fear of being despised... From the fear of suffering rebukes ... From the fear of being calumniated ... From the fear of being forgotten ... From the fear of being ridiculed ... From the fear of being wronged ... From the fear of being suspected ... That others may be loved more than I, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it. That others may be esteemed more than I ... That, in the opinion of the world, others may increase and I may decrease ... That others may be chosen and I set aside ... That others may be praised and I unnoticed ... That others may be preferred to me in everything... That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should…
I've always thought that aside from Jesus and Mary, perhaps the most humble person in the Bible was John, the Baptist. I always loved the verses below. Remember at this time, John was very popular - almost a "rock star" . So when the Pharisees come and ask who he is, I think his humility shines - he tells them who he is NOT! And then he says he is "just" a voice crying out FOR The Lord. He could have said- hey I'm a pretty popular guy- a "big time prophet- but he didn't even claim a name - he was simply a voice being used by God. And of course, in subsequent chapters and other gospels, we see him say that He (Jesus) must increase and I (John) must decrease. I think we are all called to do the same. And I may wrong, but I don't think any other person in the Bible receives the same praise that John does when Jesus says: "Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist! Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he." John 1:20-23 And this is the testimony of John. When the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites (to him) to ask him, "Who are you?" he admitted and did not deny it, but admitted, "I am not the Messiah." So they asked him, "What are you then? Are you Elijah?" And he said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" He answered, "No." So they said to him, "Who are you, so we can give an answer to those who sent us? What do you have to say for yourself?" He said: "I am 'the voice of one crying out in the desert, "Make straight the way of the Lord,"' as Isaiah the prophet said.
I pulled this from Glenn's Garabandal News thread: HUMILITY Conchita was told, in a locution whilst at school in Pamplona in 1966, by Jesus Christ, "Love humility, simplicity. Never think that what you have done is much." Stunning words, indeed, but spoken with love. They should serve as a reminder that no matter who we are, or think we are, we must continually strive to do more good, to do so without thought of gain or personal honour, in short, to be humble. http://www.ourlady.ca/info/Humility.htm Safe in the Refuge of the Immaculate Heart!
"Where your treasure is there your heart shall be." The seven deadly sins seem to take over our walk of life and forget the true meaning shown to us by Christ, giving of oneself for another. Placing others first before ourselves and our needs , our wants, and our desires. We are continually tempted and as we are tempted we see where our ego leads us, to our own sinfulness or we can place our thoughts on Jesus and those that carry the heart of Jesus within. Confront the temptation by taking back the truth. The truth of humility instead of pride, kindness and joy rather than envy, love rather than anger, giving rather than greed, sacrifice rather than gluttony. We need to live a life of virtue and receive the fruits of the Spirit, so as we do these blessed acts we wean ourselves off from the self want, self need and self control. The more we grow in the Lord the more we are tempted. Should it be any different? Put on the mind of Christ so our thoughts are renewed in our life. Should we not overcome temptation as Jesus demonstrated for us? Simplicity is the focus on one. One peace filled image, JESUS. James 1:12 Blessed is the man who perseveres in temptation, for when he has been proved he will receive the crown of life that he promised to those that love him. 16 Do not be deceived, all good giving and perfect gift is from above
We must always stand at the bottom of the table , as servants to serve. I remember one time in the middle of the war here standing in a part of the city that looked like it had been levelled from the air. I have heard of Churches here that had no money to heat the Church during the winter. Parishes with over 90 per cent unemployment due ,at least in part to fierce anti Catholic discrimination. But as I stood in the wasteland I saw this huge chaffeur driven limousine passing through . The driver in smart uniform the car huge new , immaculate. In the back a lone passenger, our then Cardinal. I love the Church so much , tears stung my eyes at the injustice of it all. But at the bottom of these things is a lack of humility. A person should just naturally know such things are wrong but a huge sense of our own importance, I think, blinds us. This is one of the things I love about Pope Francis , is his natural sense of humility. For instance dropping the red Prada shoe things. http://www.philstar.com/sunday-life/2013/03/24/923169/pope-no-longer-wears-prada I buy most of my own clothes from second hand charity shops. I think humility is a bit like having your nose pointed in the right direction. If your nose is pointed in the right direction the rest of you will follow. The Holy Fathers nose , which rejects hand made red Prada shoes costing thousands of dollars is certainly pointed right.
The red shoes are intended to show that the HF follows in the footsteps of the martyrs and is willing to shed blood. Of course they aren't essential, Peter wore sandals. In following from the practice is St John Paul II and wearing the red shoes, Pope Benedict always seemed to me to be showing humility. The shoes were not from Prada but a papal shoemaker. BTW, Pope Francis needs bespoke shoes, because of a foot impediment. For this reason alone it made sense for him to retain his shoes.
