We begin the Special Series on the vices and virtues needed to combat them. We defined what pride is and how we can identify it in ourselves. Today we will show 5 tips to fight pride and grow in humility.
The book of the Ecclesiastic Recommends: “Do not judge yourself too skillful for your work, nor glories in the time of your penury. A man who works and lives in abundance is better than one who glories and lacks food.
Son, honor yourself with modesty and appreciate yourself according to your worth”. And it also expresses the superiority of the humble over the proud:
“The Lord overthrows the throne of the mighty and sits the meek in their places. The Lord strips away the root of the proud and plants the humble in their place.” (Eccl 10, 15-16)
In the New Testament the Magnificat exults that the Lord “exalted the humble” (Lk 1:51) and Jesus exhorts his disciples: “Whoever wants to be greatest, let him be least” (Lk 22:26); “Whoever wants to be greatest, let him become servant of others” (Mt 20:26).
Humility is recognized by the saints as one of the most important virtues that exist and that most resemble Christ, since He Himself recognizes “I am meek and humble of heart” (Mt 11:29).
5 tips for fighting pride and growing in humility
1 – Prayer: it is enough to contemplate the mystery of the great God who becomes flesh to recognize the beauty of humility.
Jesus is the greatest model of humility that exists, and we can only resemble what we know and contemplate, so prayer is the first step to grow in humility.
2 – Identify virtues and defects: humility should not be confused with low self-esteem.
Humility presupposes a just self-esteem, since humility is the truth. We must seek, in prayer, the truth about ourselves and identify both the virtues and the defects.
3 – Desiring, asking for, accepting and making corrections: the humble always wants to grow and knows that only with his perception of himself will he not progress in virtue.
Therefore, he is not only open to being corrected, but also desires to be so, in order not to remain in the deceit about himself.
Humble souls long for and treasure correction because they know that these are the corrections that lead to perfection.
4 – Performing hidden works: while pride desires to be seen by others, to the humble it is enough to be seen by God; therefore, it does not flee from performing virtuous acts that no one sees.
Our ability and facility to perform works that no one praises is a great “thermometer” of our humility.
5 – Do not run away from humiliations: one only grows in humility by being humiliated.
It is in humiliation that the illusions we create about ourselves die. Let us remember the words of Jesus: “he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Mt 23:12).
Let us not be afraid to do things we have never done, even at the risk of exposure and humiliation by inexperience.
This will be a great opportunity to learn and grow, which is the desire of the humble.
May the Lord give us the grace to be more and more like Him, who is gentle and humble of heart.
Translation: Sérgio Godoy Jr.
______