Actions done on impulse and without reflection proceed from nature, not from grace. A generous nature acts from generous impulses; a selfish nature from the ever-present impulses to provide for the interests of self. But such actions do not obtain grace from God or deserve a reward in Heaven. They mark the direction of the stream, but do not assist it on its way. Ask yourself: Do I in general act from impulse? And in what direction does impulse carry me?

What has impulsive action to do with humility? A good deal! It always has pride at its root, like most other faults. The humble man avoids it with the greatest care. For impulsive action springs from self and fails to recognize our dependence upon God, and dependence upon God is of the essence of humility. Even though my impulses may be good, yet I must never allow myself to act merely from impulse, but must try and raise my heart to God, and so supernaturalize even those actions in which there is no time for careful deliberation.

How dangerous is impulse! How often I have had occasion bitterly to regret actions done on the impulse of the moment! I knew I had better wait before speaking or acting, but I was not willing to resist the desire to gratify my impulsive nature. I was not held back by the secret consciousness that what I was doing was sinful, imperfect, ill-judged. How many imprudent words, how many foolish actions, how many actual sins have proceeded from my forgetting or refusing to acknowledge my continual dependence upon God!

O God, who resistest the proud, and givest thy grace to the humble, grant me that true humility of which thy adorable Son has left us the example. Notwithstanding the powerful obstacles which my natural inclinations oppose to this virtue, I ardently desire to learn of Him to be meek and humble of heart. I am filled with confusion, O Lord, when I reflect on my inordinate love of esteem and applause, my extreme fear of contempt and humiliation, my independence of spirit, my attachment to my own ideas and opinion, my secret satisfaction in success, my latent mortification at seeing others preferred, my insatiable desire of praise and honor. O Lord, I should despair of the cure of maladies so numerous and grievous, did not I know that thou art an Almighty Physician, to whom nothing is impossible. Cast on me, O my God, a look of compassion, and have mercy on me. Grant that I may know thee, to love thee alone ; that I may know myself, to comprehend the depth of my miseries.

May I never forget the many motives that urge me to the practice of humility, the sins of my past life, my inclination to evil, my inconstancy in virtue, my tepidity in thy service, my ingratitude towards thee, my daily infidelities, and the innumerable defects which, notwithstanding my pride, I cannot disguise from myself. May I at length do myself justice, by sincerely believing myself to be the last of all creatures; may I henceforth shun praise as sedulously as I have hitherto sought it; may my only aim be to please thee, my only desire to be forgotten by the world; may the remembrance of the account I shall have to render of Thy graces, prove a perpetual stimulus to the practice of humility in the use of them. If by thy grace I am ever capable of doing any thing to promote Thy honor, I will refer the glory to thee alone; I will think of the voluntary humiliations of my Savior; I will take Him for my model, that by attaining resemblance with Him, I may deserve to be one day ranked among His elect in the kingdom of heaven. Amen.