For the Peace of the Heart One Must Flee From Honors and Love Humility and Poverty

Therefore, my brother, if you love peace of heart, strive to enter it through the door of humility; there is no other entrance into it except humility. And in order to acquire humility, compel and force yourself to embrace with loving arms every unpleasantness and affliction as dear sisters, and to flee in every way from glory and honors, wishing rather to be humbled and unknown by all and to receive care and consolation from no one but God alone. Establish firmly in your heart, having been persuaded of its benefit, the following conviction: that God is your one good and your one refuge, while all other things are thorns for you, which, if you place them in your heart, will cause you deadly harm. If it should happen that you suffer humiliation from someone, do not be grieved by it, but bear it with joy, holding the assurance that then God is with you. And desire no other honor and seek nothing else but to suffer for love of God and for what serves to the greater glory of him.

Compel and force yourself to rejoice when someone speaks an offensive word to you, or judges you, or shows you contempt. For under such reproach and dishonor a great treasure is hidden, and if you receive them willingly, you will very soon find yourself rich in spirit—something even the one who did you such a good turn will not know, that is, the one who inflicted dishonor upon you. Never seek to be loved or honored by anyone in this life, so that you may be freer to suffer with Christ crucified, meeting no obstacle in this from anyone or anything. Guard yourself from yourself as from your most dangerous enemy, and do not follow your own will, your own mind, your own taste and feeling, if you do not wish to be lost. Therefore always have at the ready the weapons against yourself; and when your desire inclines toward something—even something holy—place it before your God, bare of all extraneous considerations, with the deepest humility, beseeching him that in this matter his will and not yours be done; and do this with a sincere and heartfelt surrender to God’s will, without any admixture of self-love, knowing that of yourself you have nothing and of yourself can do nothing in the matter of your salvation.

Guard yourself from thoughts that present themselves as holy and inflame an unreasonable zeal in their pursuit—concerning which the Lord speaks in allegory: ”Beware… of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. By their fruits you will know them” (Matt. 7:15–16). The fruit is anguish and ruin of spirit. Know that everything that takes you away from humility and from interior peace and tranquility—under whatever attractive guise it may present itself—all of this is false prophets, who, concealing themselves in sheep’s clothing—that is, in a feigned zeal to benefit one’s neighbor indiscriminately—are in truth ravenous wolves, stealing from you humility, peace, and tranquility, which are so necessary for anyone who wishes to make lasting progress in the spiritual life. And the more a certain deed appears outwardly to be colored with holiness, the more strictly must you subject it to examination, though without irritability or anxiety. If it should happen at some time that you fall into error in this, do not yield to faint-heartedness, but humble yourself before God, and, recognizing your weakness, draw from this a lesson for the future. For perhaps God permitted this in order to humble in you some feature of pride hidden within you and unknown even to yourself.

When you feel your soul being wounded by some thorn of poisonous briars—that is, by a passion or a passionate thought—do not fall into confusion on account of this, but redouble your attention and strive not to let them reach the heart; stand against them face-forward with resistance, keeping the heart behind you, beyond their reach and pure before God, in whom you will thus always have dwelling within you, in the depths of your heart, by reason of the purity of its disposition. At the same time, overshadow your inner self with the conviction that everything that happens to you and in you is happening for your testing and training, so that you may finally learn truly to discern what is saving for you, and by following it, may be counted worthy to receive the crown of righteousness, prepared for you by God’s goodness.