Book 3, Chapter 7: Hiding Our Grace Under The Guard of Humility.
Chapter Focus: Our vanity extends even to receiving grace and consolation. When I experience God’s favor, I want to share it, right? But is that for giving God glory or to brag about the favor He showered on me? I know my answer tends toward the braggadocio. And so Thomas advises us to stay humble, even when we feel exultant joy.
Through the Voice of The Beloved, the Disciple is told to hide the grace of devotion by staying in prayer and to devote ourselves to our daily tasks with more vigor. This reminds me of walking in my orchard and seeing new apple blossoms. I’m really excited by this, but it also motivates me to work harder on mulching and pruning the other trees, so that they too may be fruitful.
We must be wary of the sin of presumption and seek out wise counsel especially when we become spiritually dry. When all the trees are blooming, it is easy to expect a good harvest, even when a hundred other things may intervene: weather, bugs, disease, drought. We should work and behave and pray as if we were receiving a favor, and when we are receiving favor from God, we should remember and meditate on what it is like to be out of God’s favor. It’s easy for me to think back to a day when the apple trees were not blooming, and I couldn’t figure out why. I was so frustrated, I wanted to give up on the orchard altogether. But it is satisfying to see the growth, slow as it is, toward fruitfulness.
A Disciple’s progress, therefore, is not measured by how many visions have been received, but by being grounded on humility and filled with charity, even at one’s own expense and at the elevation of others. Visions are all around us, not in some ethereal, transcendental moment, but in day-to-day experiences of God’s presence in the people around us, as well as in all of His creatures. If you watch a honey bee flit from flower to flower or smell the blossoms on the breeze, these are visions of God’s presence. These are not for bragging, though we may share, but should lead us into praising God for those moments and experiencing His love for us in the flowers of the orchard.
Chapter 7, In Short.
1. It is better to hide the grace of devotion, and not to think or speak highly of yourself because of receiving this grace.
2. There are many who quickly become impatient or slothful when things have not gone well for them.
3. Those who are wise in their own conceits seldom patiently endure to be ruled by others.
4. In times of peace those who want to be secure shall often be found in time of war to be dispirited and full of fears.
5. Your merits are not counted by how many visions you have received, but by being grounded on humility and filled with charity.
Scripture Memory Prayer:
Question: What opportunities am I missing to seek humility in my daily life at home, work, in the Church, or in the community?
Key Quote: Those who in time of peace want to be secure shall often be found in a time of war to be dispirited and full of fears.
The Text of Chapter 7: Hiding Our Grace Under The Guard of Humility.
The Voice of the Beloved:
“My Child, it is better to hide the grace of devotion, and not to think or speak highly of yourself because of receiving this grace. Rather, do not place great value on this reception of grace: instead diminish your own worthiness in receiving such a gift at all.
“Nor should you depend too much upon feeling worthy, for it can very quickly be turned into the opposite. Think when you are in a state of grace how miserable and poor you are without grace. Nor can you advance in the spiritual life on this alone, that you have the grace of consolation, but that you humbly and unselfishly and patiently take the withdrawal of grace; so that you continue in the exercise of prayer, and continue to practice other common duties. Instead, do your tasks more readily, as though you had gained more strength and knowledge. Do not neglect yourself because of this spiritual dryness and anxiety of spirit which you feel.
2. “For there are many who, when things have not gone well for them, quickly become impatient or slothful. ‘For the way of a man is not in himself (Jer 10:23),’ but it is God’s to give and God’s to console when He will, and as much as He will, and whom He will, as it shall please Him, and no more.
“Some who were presumptuous because of the grace of devotion within them, and have destroyed themselves, because they would do more than they were able, not considering the measure of their own inability, but rather following the impulses of the heart instead of the judgment of reason. And because they presumed beyond what was well-pleasing to God, they quickly lost grace. They became poor and were left lowly, who had built for themselves their nest in heaven; so that being humbled and stricken with poverty, they might learn not to fly with their own wings, but to put their trust under My feathers (Matt 23:37). So unless they rule themselves after the counsel of the wise, they who are yet new and unskilled in the ways of the Lord may easily be deceived and led away.
3. “But if they wish to follow their own liking rather than trust the experience of others, the result will be very dangerous to them if they still refuse to be drawn away from their own notions. Those who are wise in their own conceits seldom patiently withstand the rule of others. It is better to have a small portion of wisdom with humility, and a slender understanding, than great treasures of sciences with vain self-esteem. It is better for you to have less of what makes you proud than more of what may make you proud.
“He is not very discreet who gives up himself entirely to joy, forgetting his former helplessness and the chaste fear of the Lord, which fears the loss of that grace which is offered. Nor is he very wise, who in time of adversity, or when encountering any trouble whatsoever, carries himself in such a despairing way, and feels less confidant in Me than he ought.
Venerable Fr. Kapaun
4. “Those who in time of peace want to be secure shall often be found in time of war to be dispirited and full of fears. If you always knew how to remain humble and moderate, and to guide and rule your own spirit well, you would not quickly fall into danger and mischief. It is good counsel that when spiritual fervor is kindled, you should meditate on how it will be with you when this light is taken away. When it does happen, remember that the light may still return again, which I have taken away for a time as a warning to you, and also for My own glory. Such a trial is often more useful than if you always had things prosper according to your will.
5. “A disciple’s merits are not to be counted by how many visions or consolations have been received, or by knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, or by placement in a high position. It is by being grounded on true humility and being filled with divine charity – always seeking the pure and upright honor of God. This is not set by the disciple’s own measure, but by sincerely humbling one’s self, and even rejoicing to be overlooked and humbled by others more than to be honored.”
Awesome, Tim. 😊