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HUMILITY

 

Humility makes us distrust ourselves, whereas generosity makes us trust in God.  Humility which does not produce generosity is unquestionably false.  [Spiritual Conferences Vol.1, 1]

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Humble yourself with a humility that is gentle and peaceful and not with a humility that is sad and agitated.  [Spiritual Conferences Vol. 2, 2]

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To be true, humility must always be lowly, little and at everyone’s service. It is the foundation and base of the spiritual life.  (Sermon on the feast of the Visitation, 1618, AE IX, 163).

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Humility makes our hearts gentle toward the perfect and the imperfect: toward the perfect, out of respect; toward the imperfect, out of compassion.  [Letter to Rose Bourgeois]

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Humility helps us to receive afflictions serenely, knowing that we deserve them, and to receive blessings with reverence, knowing that they are undeserved. [Letter to Rose Bourgeois]

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Humility and charity are the master ropes; all the others are attached to them.  We need only hold on to these two: one is at the very bottom and the other at the very top.  The preservation of the whole building depends on its foundation and its roof.  We do not encounter much difficulty in practising other virtues if we keep our heart bound to the practice of these two.  They are the mother virtues, and the others follow them the way little chicks follow the mother hen.  [Letter to Madame de Chantal]

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If divine Providence permits that you pass through trials and conflicts or humiliations, do not refuse them, but accept them willingly, lovingly and with serenity. [Spiritual Conferences Vol. 2, 6]

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Humility is a descending charity and charity is an ascending humility. (The Spirit of St. François de Sales, VIII, 1)

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Do not desire not to be what you are, but desire to be very well what you are. (Letters to Persons in the World, VI, 19)

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He who stays not in his littleness, loses his greatness. (Letters to Persons in Religion, III, 43)

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Annihilate yourself in the very depths of your being, to see that God wills to use your littleness to do Him a service of great importance. (Letters to Persons in Religion, V, 6)

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Let us sweetly hide our littleness in His greatness. (Letters to Persons in Religion, III, 28)

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Humble yourself lovingly before God and men, for God speaks to ears bowed down. (Letters to Persons in Religion, III, 19)

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The highest point of humility is not only to know one's abjection, but to love it. (Letters to Persons in the World, VI, 12)

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A man who despises himself in true humility is happy to discover others who agree with him. (The Spirit of St. François de Sales, XIX, 3)

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Shall I be humble? Yes, if you will it. But I will it. You are it then. But I feel distinctly that I am not. So much the better, for this serves to make it more certain. (Letters to Persons in Religion, IV, 25)

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What is the good of making a gilded frame for a paper picture? (Letters to Persons in Religion, III, 21)

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We oftentimes approach closer to our Lord by withdrawing through humility than by approaching at our own choice. (Letters to Persons in Religion, III, 45)

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When you humble yourselves, it must be with a gentle and peaceful, not with a querulous and impatient, humility. (Spiritual Conferences, 9)

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The more pains holy humility costs you, the more graces it will give you. (Letters to Persons in Religion, I, 18)

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Let us never make a show of wishing to be last, unless in our hearts we wish to be such. (Introduction to the Devout Life, Part III, Chapter 5)

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Abase yourself very often in the abyss of your nothingness. (Letters to Persons in Religion, V, 5)

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Self-dispraise is no more than a tricky kind of boasting. (The Spirit of St. François de Sales, VIII, 3)

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True humility makes no pretense of being humble, and scarcely ever utters words of humility. (Introduction to the Devout Life, Part III, Chapter 5)

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You must lovingly leave some work to others, and not seek to have all the crowns. (Letters to Persons in Religion, II, 6)

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Give attention to cutting off your own will, and you will soon quit these phan­toms of sanctity in which you repose so superstitiously. (Letters to Persons in Religion, III, 8)

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Provided that God be glorified, we must not care by whom. (Spiritual Conferences, 8)

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He who believes himself to be far ad­vanced in the spiritual life has not even made a good beginning. (The Spirit of St. François de Sales, XIII, 5)

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