It is not easy to be humble when we are praised and flattered. Our self-love sucks in with eagerness the words of compliment. We think they must be partly true, or at least we are tempted to exult in the high opinion that others profess of us. Such occasions are very perilous to humility. We should do well to think of Herod when the people listened to his oration and shouted out, "It is the voice of a god and not of a man." We read that, because he took the glory to himself instead of giving it to God, he was smitten down by the Angel of the Lord and died miserably (Acts 12).
Yet we cannot help being pleased when others speak kindly of us and we ought to be pleased when our superiors commend us, but we must observe certain precautions.
• We must take care to rejoice rather in the kindness of others than in their praise.
• We must strive to forget ourselves, raise our hearts to God, and offer Him our success.
• We must make an act of humility at the thought that, if those who praise us saw us as God sees us, they would despise, not honor us.
If we find we are puffed up by praise, this is fresh proof of our imperfection. The saints disliked and dreaded praise and, when they were blamed unjustly, thanked God and took it as a mark of His love and favor. Father Lancicius used to consider unjust reproaches as pure gains because they had no drawback of self-reproach or regret. Which do I accept most gladly, undue praise or undeserved blame?
- text from Humility, Thirty Short Meditations by Father Richard Frederick Clarke, SJ