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Fourteenth Saturday after Pentecost
- caelidomum
- Sep 19
- 4 min read
Updated: Sep 23
Fourteenth Saturday after Pentecost. Presumption.
Summary of the Morrow’s Meditation.
We will meditate tomorrow upon a fourth vice which is opposed to humility, and which is presumption, and we shall see: 1st, how unworthy this vice is of a Christian soul; 2d, in how many ways we render ourselves guilty of it. We will thence deduce the resolution: 1st, to be confounded in the presence of God at the sight of our miseries, and to reject all complaisance in the good opinion we may be tempted to have of our selves; 2d, to confide in God alone, and to mistrust ourselves to the point of avoiding even the very least occasions of sin. Our spiritual nosegay shall be the words of the Holy Ghost: “The greater thou art, the more humble thyself in all things” (Ecclus. iii. 20).
Meditation for the Morning.
Let us adore Jesus Christ esteeming Himself so little, in so far as He was man, that He looks upon Himself as the opprobrium of the world, as the least of men (Ps. xxi. 7), and calls Himself by His prophet a worm of the earth, fit only to be trodden under foot (Ibid.). Let us admire this surprising disposition of the heart of Jesus, and let us render Him all our homage.
How Unworthy Presumption is of a Christian Soul.
Presumption is a vice by which, full of a good opinion of ourselves, we put our confidence in our own strength, in our intelligence, our talents, and our virtue, as if they did not all come from God, the absolute master of all events. This presumption is reproved in all the pages of the Holy Scriptures: here it is said that it is an impiety (Prov. xii. 2); there it is written that it is a folly (Ibid, xxviii. 26). Elsewhere God curses it: Cursed be he who confides in man (Jer. xvii. 5), and consequently in himself, since he is nothing but a man. To count upon ourselves and upon our ability, to the exclusion of God, is to mis conceive the supreme dominion of God over all things, contrary to the words of Sacred Scripture: “O Lord, Lord, almighty King, all things are in Thy power” (Esth. iii. 9); it is giving the lie to the words of Jesus Christ: “Without Me you can do nothing” (John xv. 5); it is doing one's self the greatest prejudice, for with confidence in God, instead of presumption, the most feeble of men can do everything. David casts down Goliath; Judith defeats an innumerable army, saying to God: “Hear me, a poor wretch, making supplication to Thee, and presuming of Thy mercy” (Judith ix. 17), and her confidence is not con founded. With presumption, on the contrary, the most powerful fail. The army of the Assyrians counted upon its strength, and it was cut in pieces, according to the words of Judith: “Lord, show that Thou forsakest not them that trust in Thee, and that Thou humblest them that presume of themselves and glory in their own strength” (Judith vi. 15). It is the law which God has established for all ages, and the first of the apostles submitted to it, as well as the ethers. He swore that he would be faithful to his Master at the peril of his life, but because, presuming upon himself, he confided only in his own strength, he fell in the most terrible manner. Who would not tremble on seeing this pillar fall ? If Peter fell, who could presume on himself? (St. Bernard, Serin, vi. de Coena Domini.)
In how many Ways we Render ourselves Guilty of Presumption
We render ourselves guilty of presumption: 1st, by believing that we have more intelligence and have a better judgment, and that we are superior in our conduct to others; all which opinions make us take counsel always of our own wisdom, even in the most delicate and difficult kind of matters; 2d, in imagining that we have sufficient talents to succeed in everything and never distrusting our own weakness; 3d, in attributing the grace of God to our own merits and imagining ourselves to be better than those who have received less; 4th, in leaving to others the fear of the judgments of God and anxieties in regard to salvation, because we do not attach any importance to our faults, and are proud of not committing certain sins into which others fall; 5th, in preferring ourselves to others, because even if they surpass us in respect to certain talents which we do not possess, we flatter ourselves that we are superior to them through other qualities in which they are deficient; and besides, if they are more perfect than we are, it is not on account of our infidelities, but because of the more abundant graces which have been imparted to them. Full of these false ideas, we are unreasonable in our desires to be treated with the greatest respect, distinction, and preference; we make an idol of ourselves, we only approve what we do ourselves, we have a good opinion only of what we ourselves say, we hardly ever yield to any one, and we make ourselves by our pride and obstinacy disagreeable to others. Let us examine ourselves as to whether we do not fall into one or other of these sins.
Resolutions and spiritual nosegay as above.
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