Summary of the Morrow’s Meditation
We will meditate to-morrow on the third degree of humility, which consists in being very glad that we should be known and appreciated for what we are that is to say, little worthy of esteem; and we shall see that this degree of virtue is, 1st, taught by the example of Jesus Christ; 2d, conformable to reason. We will then make the resolution: 1st, never to endeavor, by means of subterfuges and lies, to hide from others our defects and our faults; 2d, not to justify ourselves when we are accused at any rate, unless we have good reason to do so. Our spiritual nosegay shall be the words of the Apostle: "I please myself in my infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ: for when I am weak, then am I powerful" (II. Cor. xii. 10).
Meditation for the Morning
Let us adore the Incarnate Word delighted to allow Himself to be seen by the shepherds, the Magi, the inhabitants of Egypt, in the state of abjection to which He is reduced. Let us admire the sentiments of His heart in this profound abasement, and let us render Him, from this motive, all our homage.
FIRST POINT
The Example of the Incarnate Word Teaches us to be very Glad to be Known and Appreciated as being Little Worthy of Esteem.
One of our greatest weaknesses is to desire to hide from others the truth respecting what we really are, when this truth does not honor us, to take greater care to hide our faults than to avoid them; and if, spite of that, they are discovered, to be grieved about it, to excuse them, to lay the blame of them now to an inadvertence on our part, and now as owing to the fault of others, whom we are not afraid of covering with shame in our place, and, in order the better to succeed therein, even to have recourse to duplicity, concealment, and lies. Such, indeed, is our weakness in this respect, that when our faults are discovered, we are more afflicted at our reputation being compromised than at the offence committed against God, and that the pardon of the least word uttered to our disadvantage, however true it may be, costs us a great deal, whilst praises, however false they may be, give us pleasure, and we are gratified with the flatterers who address them to us. Let us here admire what the Incarnate Word did in order to cure such an evil. The God of Infinite Majesty not only abases, and, as it were, annihilates Himself before His Father, by taking the form of a servant, but He is pleased to cause Himself to appear to the world in the state of abjection to which He has descended. He wills that the whole earth and all ages should know it. Long before His coming, He made known, by His prophets, His wonderful abasement; He showed it to the Wise Men of the East, that they might carry the news to the Gentiles; He caused it to be announced by His apostles and their successors to all nations; lastly, He increases and perpetuates it in the Eucharist. After that, has He not the right to say to us, Woe to you, hypocrites, who desire that others should think you better than you are, and who take pleasure in false praise and lies as soon as your self-love finds its interest therein (Matt. xxiii. 13-15).
SECOND POINT
Reason itself Teaches us that we ought to be very Glad to be Known and Appreciated for what we Really are.
Reason, in fact, tells us, 1st, that the want of consideration or the contempt which will be our portion because we have been weighed according to our real value, is a specific remedy against our pride, justice which is rendered to us, a homage to truth, and, by all these titles, a grace of God, an infinitely desirable present from Heaven. It was this which made the holy King David say, when his officers wished to repress the insolence of Semei: "Let him curse: for the Lord hath bid him curse David" (II. Kings xvi. 10). Reason teaches us, 2d, that this sentiment of the heart is a preservation against sin, deprived of which, we should allow ourselves to give way to impatience, anger, and vengeance on the least suspicion of a want of the respect we think to be our due; we should render insult for insult, contempt for contempt, raillery for raillery; we should yield to secret animosities, to sadness, and to melancholy if we could not rise out of the humiliation caused by contempt. Alas! in order to excite us to discontent, it needs so little; it suffices that it should seem as though we were not listened to, that some little preference should be granted to another whom we fancy to be esteemed more than we are; sometimes even an idea which has no foundation completely upsets us. Reason tells us, 3d, that nothing is so beautiful, nothing so honorable, as frankness, which speaks the truth even when it humiliates us; which, always upright in its conduct, does its duty, and allows the world to speak without thinking of anything but doing well. He who has not a soul great enough to raise himself to such a height is base, pusillanimous, and hampered in his actions, deprived of ease and of liberty, which alone ensure success; he is false, hypocritical, and so artificial that he will tell lies in order to diminish his defects or veil his sins; a slave of vanity, he thinks only of speaking of himself, or making others speak of him and everywhere spread a good opinion respecting him. Reason tells us, 4th, that the love of truth in the soul, carried as far as the sacrifice of self-love, attracts the best blessings of God; it is even here below the secret of happiness. Raised above opinions and vain speeches, such a man lives happily and in tranquillity; he prays with facility, he enjoys God, he loves Him, and he exclaims with the Apostle: "But to me it is a very small thing to be judged by you or by man's day" (I. Cor. iv. 3).
Resolutions and spiritual nosegay as above.