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Beautiful
Guest
Published in 1952? An oldie but a goodie - I’m a taker. I can’t wait to get it.
- Status
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Shoshana
Guest
John of the cross is my favourite saint. And here is his one expertise on humility:…St Faustina says the same thing also…
“Humiliation” is when one is made to feel inferior, or when one’s vulnerability, weakness, or pretense is exposed. “Humility” in one’s spirit, removes the “sting” of humiliations, as one is willing to accept criticism and the defects, even unfair criticism, for love of God. Indeed, humiliations often open the door to profound spiritual growth, if we are capable of using them positively, as they point out to us the very areas of pride where God has no foothold in our spirits. For with God there is no humiliation. Whenever I feel humiliated, I should realize that it is because there is something proud still in me that needs to be removed from my spirit by the power of God, at some point, if I am to continue advancing in my prayer program.
And this is how I feel when it comes to humility. Although I am very obedient to my director/pastor, etc…this is how I feel trying to put on humility!
http://www.spiritdaily.com/Jesus-rock-saves_.jpg
“Humiliation” is when one is made to feel inferior, or when one’s vulnerability, weakness, or pretense is exposed. “Humility” in one’s spirit, removes the “sting” of humiliations, as one is willing to accept criticism and the defects, even unfair criticism, for love of God. Indeed, humiliations often open the door to profound spiritual growth, if we are capable of using them positively, as they point out to us the very areas of pride where God has no foothold in our spirits. For with God there is no humiliation. Whenever I feel humiliated, I should realize that it is because there is something proud still in me that needs to be removed from my spirit by the power of God, at some point, if I am to continue advancing in my prayer program.
And this is how I feel when it comes to humility. Although I am very obedient to my director/pastor, etc…this is how I feel trying to put on humility!
http://www.spiritdaily.com/Jesus-rock-saves_.jpg
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AaronsStaff
Guest
Can someone tell me what is meant by heroic daydreams? I think I may be interperating that part wrong, and its getting me nervous.
Would imagining yourself as character in a story or movie qualify as a sin of pride? If it is, it kinda worries me since most little kids imagine themselves as a superhero and what not, and I cant see that as a sin. Can someone please enlighten me on this part.
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BarbaraTherese
Guest
I think I can have heroic daydreams but cannot think of them as sinful in any way…perhaps farfetched imaginings, even hopes. I wonder if St. Therese desiring to be a great saint (which God fulfilled) and St. Teresa of Avila convincing her brother that they run away and become martyrs (which God did not fulfill)could fall into “heroic daydreams”. “All things are possible to God”. Nothing is beyond God’s Grace.
I wasn’t too sure myself I admit when I read “heroic daydreams” in the Post …
Blessings - Barb
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St_Gabriel
Guest
I think heroic daydreams are when one thinks that they are better than everyone else and no one can survive without them. It’s believing that everything will fall apart without you. People who go into work when they are sick because they think the company will fall apart (or nobody can do their job correctly) would fall into this category.
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Magicsilence
Guest
This is a fantastic post. Extremely difficult to swallow
, but great for growing in grace.Thankyou for it!
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water
Guest
I used to be very quiet when I was in big group or with people whom I didn’t know. I am learning to, from a friend, to overcome this, by seeing everyone around us as God’s children. I am learning to smile more and say “hello” to strangers.
I am working on my timidity a little bit at a time.
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Bridge
Guest
In regard to “heroic daydreaming” i would suggest caution for it might easily be turned into a desire to be worshiped, or at least a desire to shine brilliantly when perhaps you are called upon to make a difference in a quieter, less visible way, but in a way that ultimately will bring more long-lasting good.
Looking around the world today it seems there are many who have this desire to play the role of a hero. Many who want to be that knight in shining armor, who want to champion this cause or that cause. Who want to lead the way regardless of where that way will lead. And they rush headlong here and there with thunderous applause in their wake, blazing new trails when perhaps the old trails would have served much better.
But then who notices someone going down a well-worn path? And will there be thunderous applause? Or any at all?
More generally, though, i have come to believe that daydreaming is something to be avoided as much as possible. In C.S. Lewis’ book Perelandra there is an analogy about the given fruit (the given good) as opposed to the hoped for fruit. It explains how if we are given one fruit, but had expected another, then we might not derive much pleasure from the given fruit because we had our hearts set on a different one.
Daydreams themselves are often overflowing with “hoped for fruit” and as such can be fertile ground for serpents to whisper sweet seductions and to have us yearning for our will to be done rather than God’s will to be done. And therefore dreaming can prompt us to long for things which may not be the intended fruit the that Holy Spirit seeks to give us. And so this lead to the risk that we devalue the given fruit. That we think of it as too bland for us and so we turn from it and keep looking and longing for something else.
If i may add a little more here (i hope this doesn’t go too far afield). But while writing this i was reminded of something i’ve been thinking about recently. I was thinking about Jesus and his role as Messiah and how he wasn’t what the Jewish people had expected (hoped for) a Messiah to be. The Jews were a persecuted people and understandably they strongly desired that a great hero, a great warrior, a great champion would ride forth and destroy their enemies.
But that wasn’t the intended good. And so when the Good did come most were blind to it and rejected it because it didn’t fit in with their “heroic daydreaming”. They wanted revenge. They wanted God to come down and wipe out their enemies with a bloody sword. But God wanted to show the world a new way, a way lighted by the Son who didn’t come to bring war and to vanquish but who instead allowed Himself to be vanquished temporarily so that more good would flow from this sacrifice than would have flowed from all the blood of all the slaughtered armies.
And when the good comes in our own lives do we always recognize it? Or do we overlook it because it doesn’t measure up to our dreams and in our pride we turn from it and keep waiting for something else? Something else that may never come.
Looking around the world today it seems there are many who have this desire to play the role of a hero. Many who want to be that knight in shining armor, who want to champion this cause or that cause. Who want to lead the way regardless of where that way will lead. And they rush headlong here and there with thunderous applause in their wake, blazing new trails when perhaps the old trails would have served much better.
But then who notices someone going down a well-worn path? And will there be thunderous applause? Or any at all?
More generally, though, i have come to believe that daydreaming is something to be avoided as much as possible. In C.S. Lewis’ book Perelandra there is an analogy about the given fruit (the given good) as opposed to the hoped for fruit. It explains how if we are given one fruit, but had expected another, then we might not derive much pleasure from the given fruit because we had our hearts set on a different one.
Daydreams themselves are often overflowing with “hoped for fruit” and as such can be fertile ground for serpents to whisper sweet seductions and to have us yearning for our will to be done rather than God’s will to be done. And therefore dreaming can prompt us to long for things which may not be the intended fruit the that Holy Spirit seeks to give us. And so this lead to the risk that we devalue the given fruit. That we think of it as too bland for us and so we turn from it and keep looking and longing for something else.
If i may add a little more here (i hope this doesn’t go too far afield). But while writing this i was reminded of something i’ve been thinking about recently. I was thinking about Jesus and his role as Messiah and how he wasn’t what the Jewish people had expected (hoped for) a Messiah to be. The Jews were a persecuted people and understandably they strongly desired that a great hero, a great warrior, a great champion would ride forth and destroy their enemies.
But that wasn’t the intended good. And so when the Good did come most were blind to it and rejected it because it didn’t fit in with their “heroic daydreaming”. They wanted revenge. They wanted God to come down and wipe out their enemies with a bloody sword. But God wanted to show the world a new way, a way lighted by the Son who didn’t come to bring war and to vanquish but who instead allowed Himself to be vanquished temporarily so that more good would flow from this sacrifice than would have flowed from all the blood of all the slaughtered armies.
And when the good comes in our own lives do we always recognize it? Or do we overlook it because it doesn’t measure up to our dreams and in our pride we turn from it and keep waiting for something else? Something else that may never come.
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PhilotheaZ
Guest
I highly recommend it. When you do get around to reading it, be aware that it was written for professed religious (you will see this when he mentions following a rule, etc.), so you may need to mentally adjust what he is saying to make it appropriate for your state in life (layperson, single, married, etc.).
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Shoshana
Guest
Very well put!:clapping: And like our Lord, with the ‘good’ of the crucifixion, who would have known that it was good? Who would have ever thought that so much ‘good’ would have come come from the very Holy Sacrifice of giving His life so that we may live?
And so, the ‘good’ of humiliations, degradations, etc in our own lives is for the ‘good’ of our souls. It is within God’s will that this should happen. Just like it was within God’s will that Jesus, His own beloved Son, should die on the Cross. Jesus was ‘made’ perfect in obedience…and so shall we.
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fnr
Guest
Limiting one’s worldview to that allowed by one’s desires, rather than facts.
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Shoshana
Guest
Pray for Simplicity and Humility
Jesus said to St. Faustina, "Sister, let simplicity and humility be the characteristic traits of your soul. Go through life like a little child, always trusting, always full of simplicity and humility, content with everything, happy in every circumstance. There, where others fear, you will pass calmly along, thanks to this simplicity and humility. Remember this, Sister, for your whole life: as waters flow from the mountains down into the valleys, so, too, do God’s graces flow only into humble souls. " (Diary, 55)
Humiliation is my daily food. I understand that the bride must herself share in everything that is the groom’s; and so His cloak of mockery must cover me, too.
Jesus said to St. Faustina, "Sister, let simplicity and humility be the characteristic traits of your soul. Go through life like a little child, always trusting, always full of simplicity and humility, content with everything, happy in every circumstance. There, where others fear, you will pass calmly along, thanks to this simplicity and humility. Remember this, Sister, for your whole life: as waters flow from the mountains down into the valleys, so, too, do God’s graces flow only into humble souls. " (Diary, 55)
Humiliation is my daily food. I understand that the bride must herself share in everything that is the groom’s; and so His cloak of mockery must cover me, too.
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Bridge
Guest
Thank you Shoshana. And yes indeed, who would have known? Who would have expected so much to emerge from such a little out-of-the-way corner of the world and from such a seemingly insignificant event? The earth’s equivalent of the Big Bang, expanding brilliantly from an incredibly small point and reverberating down through the centuries and still continuing to spread throughout the world. Some say it was just an accident, just a fluke. That life itself is just a fluke for that matter. That the earth and the universe and everything in it is nothing but a fluke and that God is nothing but an imaginary friend. But to my way of thinking it is this that is truly the ultimate sign of “evidences of a lack of humility.” For atheism seems not so much a denial of God as it is the Pride of Man getting in the way of seeing past ourselves and the illusion of our greatness.
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BarbaraTherese
Guest
…
…great posts…profound insights…thank you
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…great posts…profound insights…thank you …- Status