Tenth Wednesday After Pentecost

Adam Paige
Aug 19
4 min read

Tenth Wednesday after Pentecost. Third Reason for Being Very Humble: We Can Do Nothing.

Summary of the Morrow’s Meditation

We will meditate to-morrow upon a third reason for being very humble, which is that we can do nothing; that is to say: 1st, that we can do nothing of ourselves; 2d, that even with the ordinary help of God, we are still weakness itself. We will thence derive the resolution: 1st, to mis trust ourselves and to put away from us occasions of sin; 2d, to confide in God and not allow ourselves to be discouraged by our weaknesses. Our spiritual nosegay shall be the words of the Apostle: “When I am weak then am I powerful” (II. Cor. xii. 10). “I can do all in Him who strengthened me” (Philipp. iv. 13).

Meditation for the Morning

Let us adore Jesus Christ, the only one in this world who is powerful (Jud. xi. 6), annihilating His power so entirely that in the days of His infancy He shows Himself to us under the semblance of the most complete powerlessness; that in a more advanced age he affirms that He can do nothing of Himself (John v. 30); and that, after His death, He remains in the Sacrament of the Eucharist in a state in which, judging from appearances, He can neither see nor hear, neither speak nor move, that He may teach us to honor God by the humble confession of our powerlessness when He does not give us His aid. Let us thank Him for this lesson which He gives us, and let us render to Him our accustomed homage.

We can do Nothing of Ourselves.

It is Jesus Christ Himself who affirms it: “Without Me you can do nothing” (John xv. 5). It is reason itself which tells us so, since of ourselves we are nothing, and can do nothing. We are so miserable that, if God did not sustain us, did not move us, did not concur with us, and did not make Himself at every moment the principle of our action, our powerlessness would be as complete as that of a corpse (Rom. xi. 36); without Him we cannot perform the least action (Is. xxvi. 12), nor say the shortest word (I. Cor. xii. 3), nor have the least thought (II. Cor. iii. 5), nor conceive the slightest inclination, the least desire which is of any worth in regard to heaven (Philipp. ii. 13), nor make the very least movement (Acts xvii. 28). We cannot even attribute to ourselves cooperation with grace, because this cooperation is of itself a grace, nor have the knowledge of the truth that we can do nothing, because this knowledge is one of the greatest graces which God can bestow upon us. Lastly, we are so incapable of all good that it was necessary God should buy for us, at the price of His blood, even the least thought of doing good, even the smallest value of the least prayer, even the least movement of the heart which has salvation for its object. Now, at the sight of such total powerlessness, what ought we to do, if not on the one side to pray and humble ourselves like the poor man who asks for an alms, and, on the other side, thank, bless, and admire God for the continual assistance which we receive from His goodness? Do we do both the one and the other ?

Even with the Ordinary Succor Given us by God, we are still Weakness Itself.

Is it not true that, spite of the graces which we receive from God, we often fall, and our life is full of deplorable weaknesses ? We are like the paralytic, who cannot move except by means of a helping hand; and, again, even when this hand presents itself, we often will not allow ourselves to be led by it. The smallest temptations are too much for the strength which God offers to us (Osee vii. 9): an imagination, a thought, a bad example, a word of criticism makes us fall; the feeblest passion drags us along with it; the slightest difficulty arrests us. O God, how weak we are I We can, by means of prayer, obtain a more powerful grace which would enable us to obtain the victory over our weaknesses; but alas ! it is one of our greatest miseries that we pray so little and pray so ill ! What must we do then, except be ashamed, in the presence of God, at the sight of our powerlessness, mistrust ourselves, believe ourselves to be incapable of all good through our own strength, capable of all evil if grace did not stop us; watch over our senses, our mind, and our heart, fly from occasions, and then confide in God, who alone is our strength; expect everything from Him, nothing but from Him, and beg Him with our whole soul to have pity on our misery. Let others count upon human means, “but we will call upon the name of the Lord our God” (Ps. xix. 8).

Resolutions and spiritual nosegay as above.

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