Catholic Candle note: The article below was written by a man who has always been Traditional Catholic and who has been continually fighting liberalism since before Vatican II.
That virtue is humility. Why is it misunderstood and rarely practiced? Because most people believe it's a sign of weakness and they expect to be taken advantage of. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Our Lord was meek and humble of heart, but He stood up to the Pharisees many times. (He twice cleared the temple of merchants and thieves with a whip.)
To be humble is courageous and far from cowardly. Our free will is prone to pride, the antithesis of humility. So, we must fight against the sin of pride. Our first parents were filled with pride and were put out of Paradise because of it.
There are many benefits from practicing the virtue of humility. With pride, stress, envy and anger are sure to follow, whereas a humble person has continuous peace. If there is good in you, you see more good in others, so that you may remain humble.
Below are listed things you should know about humility and how it can affect your peace of soul and your salvation. The points listed are from the Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. VII, page 544.
Humility is a repressing virtue opposed to pride.
Humility is said to be the foundation of the spiritual edifice.
Humility is the first virtue, inasmuch as it removes the obstacles to Faith.
It removes pride and makes a person subject to, and a fit recipient of, grace.
God resisteth the proud and giveth His grace to the humble.
Humility keeps the mind and heart submissive to reason and to God, and it may therefore be said to be a universal virtue. It is, therefore, a virtue which is necessary for salvation. Our Lord said, “Learn of Me, because I am meek and humble of heart.”
The virtue of humility is of such importance that many Catholic authorities have addressed it over the centuries.
The following points about humility and how it will affect your peace of soul and your salvation are from The Imitation of Christ, Book I, Chapters 6 and 7:
When a person desires a thing too much, he at once becomes ill at ease. A proud and avaricious man never rests, whereas he who is poor and humble of heart lives in a world of peace.
It may happen, too, that while one's own opinion may be good, refusal to agree with others when reason and occasion demand it, is a sign of pride and obstinacy.
God helps the humble and humbles the proud.
If you feel guilty when you push yourself forward, you have a start at understanding humility. The dictionary definition of humility is: “implying absence of vanity and arrogance; meekness, and absence of wrath or vindictiveness”. These are all qualities you need to save your soul.
God created man and angels to have a free will, which is required for a personal and meaningful decision of servitude. Lucifer rejected humility in favor of pride. (“Non serviam!”) Thus, he was cast into hell for all eternity. Humility is that golden key that opens the Gates of Heaven. Humility puts God first and ourselves second.
Humility opens a person’s heart and mind to better listen to God speak, and is a “direct line” to know His will.
Humility does not exempt someone from hard work and doing his best to do God’s will in his state of life or holy vocation.
The virtue of humility separates us from the animal world by controlling our passions.
Pride, the antithesis of humility, rules the world in all aspects, causing wars, murders, etc.
Liberalism and modernism are caused by sins of pride.
Let us pray for a better understanding of humility, and that it is practiced by all, especially traditional Catholics and priests in the real resistance.