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The Seventeen Evidences of a Lack of Humility


Blessed Josemaria Escriva once compiled an inventory of pride so exhaustive that it is like something written on the shield of a soldier who has learned it all in true combat. Saint John Vianney (Cure of Ars) wrote the same thing in shorthand when he signed his name to a clerical petition. His fellow priests circulated a petition accusing St. Vianney of sensationalism, ignorance, and ostentatious poverty and austerities. As it was addressed to all clergy, St. Vianney got a hold of it, read it, and promptly signed it. By 1834 the local priests themselves were going to St. Vianney for confession.

The seventeen evidences of a lack of humility are:

1. To think that what one says or does is better than what others say or do

2. To always want to get your own way

3. To argue with stubbornness and bad manners whether you are right or wrong

4. To give your opinion when it has not been requested or when charity does not demand it

5. To look down on another's point of view

6. Not to look on your gifts and abilities as lent

7. Not to recognize that you are unworthy of all honors and esteem, not even of the earth you walk on and things you possess

8. To use yourself as an example in conversations

9. To speak badly of yourself so that others will think well of you or contradict you

10. To excuse yourself when you are corrected

11. To hide humiliating faults from your spiritual director, so that he will not change the impression he has of you

12. To take pleasure in praise and compliments

13. To be saddened because others are held in higher esteem

14. To refuse to perform inferior tasks

15. To seek to stand out

16. To refer in conversation to your honesty, genius, dexterity, or professional prestige

17. To be ashamed because you lack certain goods

To think that what one says or does is better than what others say or do

  What if:
You are chaste and others are gαys?
You are catholic and others are devil-worshippers?
You are a devout mother and others are aborters?
  So to be humble means:
To say:
chastity is not better than ɧoɱosɛҳųαƖity
catholicism equals....
motherhood is no better than abortion.
All above are heresies
Then humility means heresy.

To refuse to perform inferior tasks

  But did all the Saints perform inferior tasks?
If I don't chose to be a garbage collecter and prefer to be a teacher then I am proud????
  To chose bishop-ness and not doorkeep-ness is pride.
  To chose priesthood and not job of a zoo-keeper is pride.
So.....
  Pride is good because we need bishops and priests!

Quote

To think that what one says or does is better than what others say or do

  What if:
You are chaste and others are gαys?
You are catholic and others are devil-worshippers?
You are a devout mother and others are aborters?
  So to be humble means:
To say:
chastity is not better than ɧoɱosɛҳųαƖity
catholicism equals....
motherhood is no better than abortion.
All above are heresies
Then humility means heresy.

Quote

To refuse to perform inferior tasks

  But did all the Saints perform inferior tasks?
If I don't chose to be a garbage collecter and prefer to be a teacher then I am proud????
  To chose bishop-ness and not doorkeep-ness is pride.
  To chose priesthood and not job of a zoo-keeper is pride.
So.....
  Pride is good because we need bishops and priests!

Spouse,
I believe that what is meant by these pieces of advice is not that we should not judge others' behavior or beliefs as good or bad; what we should do is not judge ourselves as better or worse than others. When observing others, we need to always keep in mind the old saying, "There but for the Grace of God go I." It is only through God's infinite goodness that we are not in the same condition as those sinners whose actions we are judging. The mere fact that we can tell the difference between right and wrong is a blessing which we should desire for everyone, especially for the myriad of lost souls which surrounds us. If we forget about our own sins, and only concentrate on those of others, we will not make any progress towards our own salvation.

The advice about "refusing to perform inferior tasks" does not necessarily refer to one's career or profession, although in this country we do have a glut of people with college degrees who refuse to take jobs which they consider to be demeaning or beneath them. This advice can also refer to someone who, because they have a well-paying or high status job, think they are too good to mow their lawn or clean their own bathroom. This is a major reason why we have so many illegal immigrants in this country:  Many spoiled-brat Americans won't even clean up after themselves or take care of their own children and elderly and so require low-paid foreign help to do it.