Sacred Heart devotion: meditation on June 21st

HUMILITY OF JESUS

21 DAY

Pater Noster.

Invocation. - Heart of Jesus, victim of sinners, have mercy on us!

Intention. - Repair for male and female youth.

HUMILITY OF JESUS
The Heart of Jesus presents itself to the world, not only as a model of mildness, but also of humility. These two virtues are inseparable, so that who is mild is also humble, while who is impatient is usually proud. We learn from Jesus to be humble in heart.

The Redeemer of the world, Jesus Christ, is the physician of souls and with his Incarnation he wanted to cure the wounds of humanity, especially pride, which is the root of

every sin, and he wanted to give very bright examples of humility, even to say: Learn from me, that I am humble of Heart!

Let us reflect a little on the great evil that pride is, to detest it and to entice us with humility.

Pride is an exaggerated self-esteem; it is the disordered desire for one's own excellence; it is the desire to appear and attract the esteem of others; it is the search for human praise; it is the idolatry of one's own person; it is a fever that does not give peace.

God hates pride and inexorably punishes it. He drove Lucifer and many other Angels out of Paradise, making them embers of hell, because of pride; for the same reason he punished Adam and Eve, who had eaten the forbidden fruit, hoping to become similar to God.

The proud person is hated by God and also by men, because they, while being superb, admire and are attracted to humility.

The spirit of the world is a spirit of pride, which manifests itself in a thousand ways.

The spirit of Christianity, however, is all marked by humility.

Jesus is the most perfect model of humility, lowering himself beyond words, leaving the glory of Heaven and becoming Man, to live in the hiding place of a poor shop and to embrace all sorts of humiliation, especially in the Passion.

We also love humility, if we want to please the Sacred Heart, and practice it every day, because every day the opportunities arise.

Humility consists in esteeming us for what we are, that is, a mixture of misery, physical and moral, and in attributing to God the honor of some good that we find in us.

If we reflect on what we really are, it should cost us little to keep ourselves humble. Do we have any wealth? Or we inherited them and this is not our merit; or we bought them, but soon we will have to leave them.

Do we have a body? But how many physical miseries! ... Health is lost; beauty disappears; awaits the putrefaction of the corpse.

What about intelligence? Oh, how limited! How scarce human knowledge is, before the knowledge of the universe!

The will is then inclined to evil; we see good, we appreciate and yet we hold on to evil. Today sin is detested, tomorrow it is madly committed.

How can we be proud if we are dust and ashes, if we are nothing, indeed if we are negative numbers before Divine Justice?

Since humility is the foundation of every virtue, the devotees of the Sacred Heart do everything to practice it, because, as one cannot please Jesus if one does not have purity, which is the humility of the body, so one does not it can please without humility, which is the purity of the spirit.

We practice humility with ourselves, not trying to appear, not trying to earn human praise, immediately rejecting the thoughts of pride and vain complacency, indeed by making an act of internal humility whenever we feel a thought of pride. Let the desire to excel.

We are humble with others, we do not despise anyone, because those who despise, show that they have a lot of pride. The humble pities and covers the faults of others.

Let the inferiors and the employees not be treated with pride.

Jealousy is fought, which is the most dangerous daughter of pride.

Humiliations are accepted in silence, without apologizing, when this has no consequences. How Jesus blesses that soul, who accepts a humiliation in silence, for his love! He imitates him in his silence before the courts.

When some praise is received, glory be immediately offered to God and an act of humility done internally.

Practice more than all humility in dealing with God. Spiritual pride is very dangerous. Do not esteem yourselves more good than others, because the Lord is the Judge of hearts; convince ourselves that we are sinners, capable of every sin, if God did not support us with his grace. Those who stand up, be careful not to fall! Those who have spiritual pride and believe they have a lot of virtue, fear of making some serious falls, because God could slow down his grace and allow it to fall into humiliating sins! The Lord resists the proud and humiliates them, as he approaches the humble and exalts them.

EXAMPLE
Divine threat
The Apostles, before they received the Holy Spirit, were very imperfect and left something to be desired regarding humility.

They did not understand the examples Jesus gave them and the lessons of humility which flowed from his Divine Heart. Once the Master called them close to him and said: You know that the princes of the nations rule over them and the great ones exercise power over them. But it will not be so among you; rather whoever wishes to become greater among you is your minister. And whoever wishes to be the first among you, be your servant, like the Son of Man, who did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life in the redemption of many (St. Matthew, XX - 25) .

Although at the school of the Divine Master, the Apostles did not immediately detach themselves from the spirit of pride, until they deserved reproach.

One day they approached the city of Capernaum; taking advantage that Jesus was a little away and thinking that he did not listen to them, they put forward the question: who of them was the greatest. Each carried the reasons for their primacy. Jesus heard everything and was silent, grieved that his close friends did not yet appreciate his spirit of humility; but when they reached Capernaum and entered the house, he asked them: What were you talking about on the way?

The Apostles understood, blushed and were silent.

Then Jesus sat down, took a child, placed him in their midst and after embracing him, said: If you do not change and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of Heaven! (Matthew, XVIII, 3). This is the threat that Jesus makes to the proud: not to admit them to Paradise.

Foil. Think about your own nothingness, recalling the day when we will be dead in a coffin.

Ejaculation. Heart of Jesus, give me contempt for the vanities of the world!