- Fear of God – To “fear the Lord” is to be filled with wonder at all God has done, and at who He is. It is looking to God for all things and away from ourselves as our savior and our selfish tendencies that begin the walk to an integrated life.
- Rejection of our will – to surrender your will to God’s, to allow His decisions and plan for you to override your own. Pride demands to do what it pleases, to determine what is right or wrong.The saints say, “If God wants it, I want it. If God doesn’t want it, I don’t want it.” You need to subject your will to God’s, to listen to Him and submit to His vision for your life.
- Obedience – are you willing to obey? Many people simply don’t ask God what His will is for him or her because they are afraid of what they will be asked to do. Obedience means acting on God’s word not just listening to it.
- Patient endurance – we can expect to face all kinds of obstacles. We are always at war with our own broken, sinful nature. It won’t just simply surrender, but continues to battle against our desire to travel down the path to sanctity. We often resist simple daily prayer, but run easily to own wishes and desires. Externally, the world calls us back to our old life. The power and position and self-reliance from our work feels great and old friends with bad habits beckons us back to old ways.
- Work on the wounds in your heart – Everyone has them and everyone has given them to others. It takes guts to resurrect unpleasant memories and terrible traumas from the past, either given or received. We are called to repent and show forgiveness and mercy or to accept that we must be forgiven and shown mercy. “Forgive your neighbor’s injustice; then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven. Could anyone nourish anger against another and expect healing from the LORD? Could anyone refuse mercy to another like himself, can he seek pardon for his own sins?” Sir: 28:2-5
- Be content – Work on the ability to live serenely in the world just as it is and to realize that God allows many things we don’t understand or like. Some things we are called to change, other things to endure. We have to accept that even the things we are called to change that we might not be able to change them as fast as we would like. Be grateful for what you have and freedom from resentment about what you do not.
- Be Emotionally Intelligent – We often delude ourselves about our greatness. We are also often unaware of just how difficult it can be to work with us or live with us. Humility is living with the truth about ourselves. Being emotionally intelligent helps us appreciate our gifts, but remembering that they are gifts from God. It is also an awareness of our struggles and our ongoing need for repentance and for the grace of God.
- Work for the Common Good – not just your own good. We travel from day to day largely insensitive to the needs of others and to the common good. The proud person thinks they know better than the collective wisdom of the community what is good for the community. We need to recognize that sometimes the needs of others are more important than our own.
- Silence – We were born with two ears and one mouth. As our humility grows, we naturally become better listeners, appreciating that others may be able to offer us knowledge or wisdom that we currently lack. We move from being a “knower” to a lifetime learner. This takes a lot of humility.
- Emotional sobriety
- Restraint in speech
- Congruity between one’s inside and one’s outside –
Inspired by Monsignor Charles Pope’s Blog posting http://blog.adw.org/2018/03/out-of-pride-and-into-humility/ and to St. Bernard of Clairvaux and St. Benedict.
