How do we submit to God’s will with humility? Take the counsel of Thomas a Kempis from the most popular Catholic work after the Bible: The Imitation of Christ.
Make no great account who is for thee or against thee, but let it be thy business and thy care that God may be with thee in everything thou dost. (Rom. 8:31). Have a good conscience, and God will sufficiently defend thee. For he whom God will help no man’s malice can hurt. If thou canst but hold thy peace and suffer, thou shalt see, without doubt, that the Lord will help thee. He knows the time and manner of delivering thee and therefore thou must resign thyself to Him. It belongs to God to help and to deliver us from all confusion. Oftentimes it is very profitable for keeping us in greater humility that others know and reprehend our faults.
When a man humbles himself for his defects he then easily appeases others, and quickly satisfies those that are angry with him. The humble man God protects and delivers; the humble He loves and comforts; to the humble He inclines Himself; to the humble He gives grace (Prov. 29:23), and after he has been depressed, raises him to glory. To the humble He reveals His secrets, and sweetly draws and invites him to Himself. The humble man having received reproach maintains himself well enough in peace, because he is fixed on God, and not on the world. Never think thou hast made any progress till thou lookest upon thyself as inferior to all.
Practical Reflections
How easy it is, when we are approved of, esteemed and praised by others, to say we are unworthy of such honor, and deserve only contempt. To know whether we speak the truth, let us see if we should say the same under contempt. Upon this point I am resolved to accept, as from the hands of God, all the evil that may be said or done against me, as my due; and, far from murmuring, I will bless the Lord for permitting others to do me justice, that He may show me mercy; esteeming it too great a happiness to die, and to be extinguished in the minds of men, that I may live only in the mind of God by the love of contempt, and the practice of true humility.
Prayer
Thou knowest, O God, how sensible I am to contradictions, calumnies, and contempt. Everything revolts within me when I have occasion to suffer them. But I know also that what is impossible to me is easy to Thee, and that, supported and fortified by the help of Thy grace, I can patiently endure humiliations, which of myself, I should receive with murmurs and vexation. Grant then, O my Saviour, that, imbued with Thy maxims, and animated with Thy spirit, I may regard with horror the glory, esteem, and praise which so often render me contemptible in Thy sight; and, on the contrary, receive injuries and affronts with submission and gratitude, that so I may hope to become the object of Thy love and the possessor of eternal glory. Amen.
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This article is taken from a chapter in Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis which is available from TAN Books.
