A Year with the Saints - 27 February

Here is one of the best means to acquire humility: fix well in mind this maxim: One is as much as he is in the sight of God, and no more. - Thomas a Kempis

Saint Francis made a beginning of sanctity by trampling underfoot human respect; for he had thoroughly penetrated the truth of this holy maxim which he often revolved in his mind.

In this solid maxim, Saint Francis de Sales was equally well-founded and established. Therefore, he had his own reputation very little at heart, and did not care at all how others might feel in regard to him. In conversation, he once said: "Oh that it were God's pleasure that my innocence should never be recognized even in the day of universal judgment, but that it should remain always hidden and eternally concealed in the secret recesses of the eternal wisdom!" And again: "If the grace of God had caused me to perform any work of righteousness, or had wrought any good by my means, I should be content that in the day of judgment, when the secrets of hearts are manifested, God alone should know of my righteousness; and my unrighteousness, on the contrary, should be seen by every creature."

- text taken from A Year with the Saints, composed by an unknown Italian, translated by a member of the Order of Mercy; it has the Imprimatur of Archbishop Michael Augustine Corrigan, Archdiocese of New York, New York, 21 January 1891