The humble are always pleasant to deal with, and pleasant in their conversation. They always try to consult the wishes of the person with whom they have to deal. They conduct themselves as his inferior. They forget themselves and their own interests, and so are able to enter into his wishes and see things as he himself sees them. They are ready to give way to him and they have a high esteem for his opinion, and their words and behavior show this. Ask yourselves if these are your characteristics.

The humble show a special sweetness towards those to whom they are naturally disinclined, and whom they are tempted to regard with repugnance and aversion. Instead of turning their back on such and having nothing to do with them, they recognize in this natural aversion a sign of pride against which they must struggle and which has to be overcome. They remember that in themselves there are defects, far greater than those which they dislike in others, and remembering this, they not only put up with the disagreeable qualities of others, but determine, with a sort of Divine generosity, for this reason to show the greater kindness to them.

This is always the conduct of the saints. We admire their self-conquest in tenderly nursing those affected with loathsome diseases, in kissing their sores, etc., but we should admire still more their gentleness to those who insult them, their sweetness and charity to the coarse and rude and brutal. This is the way to win sinners to Christ. This is the way to attain solid peace and joy of heart. It is the charity of Christ overcoming self that makes the humble always contented and happy.

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.