Tuesday, June 5, 2018

Pride and Discouragement


"If we have confidence, even though we have committed every crime, even though we are at the bottom of all the abysses, trust is powerful enough to raise us up, to put us back on the pinnacle of holiness.

That is why we must flee from discouragement. Whenever we see that discouragement is approaching us, let us be certain that the devil is out there. Discouragement is never good.

We must always have courage; we must have confidence and the spirit that is not based on our own strength, but on the power of God.

WHAT IS THE MOST FREQUENT CAUSE OF DISCOURAGEMENT? THE LACK OF HUMILITY. It seems strange. At first sight we could say: is there anything more proper to humility than to be discouraged? If I see that I am worthless, that I am full of miseries, then it seems very proper to be discouraged.

No; humility is raised by many false testimonies, that make us think that it is a very pusillanimous and depressing virtue. Nothing could be more wrong; humility is a strong, vigorous virtue. Was it not the characteristic virtue of Saint Michael the Archangel with which he ended the power of the devil? Humility is one of the strongest virtues. With what destroyed Our Lord the power of the devil if not with holy humility? No, it is definitely not a pusillanimous virtue.

Discouragement is characteristic of pride; pride is coward, pusillanimous and weak. Most distrust and discouragement come from a lack of humility. Although apparently it looks like humility, deep down this is precisely what is missing.

Why are we discouraged? Because we feel bad when we look at ourselves covered in misery. We would like to be clean, in the heights... and when a stain comes, a fault, a temptation, we are discouraged."

Bishop Luis María Martínez

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