To be contented and self-satisfied, to lead a quiet, easy-going life, accomplishing only what duty prescribes is not a good sign. After having done all that our Christian profession requires of us, our Lord nevertheless wishes us to consider ourselves useless servants of His Church; “So you also, when you shall have done all things commanded, you say: We are unprofitable servants.” Therefore how much more useless we ought to consider ourselves, if we live in tepidity and sloth, by which we are still so far removed from that perfections to which we are bound!

When I make my examen of conscience do I find that I fulfil all my duties in the sight of God? What virtue have I acquired hitherto? It may be said that we have acquired the habit of such and such a virtue when we come to practice it willingly and with facility; but when I examine myself, what virtue can I find which I habitually practice with pleasure and facility? I cannot find even one. I am a most unprofitable servant on earth; and if I were now called before the tribunal of my eternal Judge, I much fear that it would be said to me: “Thou wicked servant,” and not “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.

In a country where. all are blind it is sufficient for a man to have but one eye for him to be said to have good sight, and amongst a multitude of ignorant people one need possess but a slight tinge of knowledge to acquire the reputation of being very learned; and in the same way in this wicked and corrupt world it is easy to flatter ourselves that we are good, if we are not quite so bad as many others. “I am not as the rest of men.” It was in this that the Pharisee praised himself in the temple.

But in order to know ourselves as we really are, it is not with worldly-minded people we ought to compare ourselves, but with Christ, who is the model for all those who are predestinated. “Look,” says St Paul to every one of us, quoting the words that were said to Moses, “Look and make it according to the pattern that was shown thee on the mount.”

How have I conformed my life to the life of the Incarnate Son of God, who came to teach me the way to heaven by His example? Ascend, O my soul, to the hill of Calvary, and gaze attentively upon thy crucified Savior! To this each one of us must conform in his own state of life if he wishes to be saved; such being the decree of the eternal Father, that the predestinated must “be made conformable to the image of His Son.”

‘Humility of Heart’ by Capuchin Gaetano (Cajetan) Maria da Bergamo