When St. Peter and his companions had, at the word of Jesus, cast their nets and enclosed the miraculous draught of fishes, St. Peter's first impulse was to throw himself at Jesus' feet, and humbly cry, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!" Success, instead of puffing him up, made him recognize his own sinfulness and unworthiness of the favors that God had done him. This should be the effect of success on us: to humble ourselves and declare ourselves unworthy of such benefits as God has bestowed upon us.

Yet success is meant to encourage us. We cannot help being conscious of having done well and given satisfaction, and it would be foolish and ungrateful to ignore the fact. But our spirit must be that of St. Bernard, who did not deny the marvels that God had wrought through him, but expressed his astonishment that God would make use of such an instrument. So we should regard it as a fresh proof of God's power and love, that He should work the marvels of His grace through us.

Thus to humble ourselves amid the approval and applause of others is no easy task. It is very possible to cry out, "Not unto us, O Lord, but to Thy Name be the praise," and all the time to be puffed up with pride. The real test is whether we pray at such moments, "Humble me, O Lord, and teach me my own nothingness, and make me continually depend on Thee, and in my heart attribute to Thee all the glory and to myself nothing." Such a prayer, if it comes from our heart, is a certain safeguard for our humility.

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.