St. Siloun on Humility

The nothing Catholic hermit has asked the four in its life to pray for Perpetual Humility for the nothing, in Lent. Already there have been a couple of slights and humiliations. Nothing major. Reading, also, Scupoli's The Spiritual Combat might help strengthen the nothing in how to not react, when the humiliations come--other than to be grateful and unite all to Christ's sufferings.
Well, Scupoli has some steps to take, but for now the nothing desires to quote St. Silouan on what he has learned in a holy life, on humility.

St. Silouan as a young monk thought to himself, "The Lord has forgiven me my sins: grace is witness thereof. What more do I need?" But he realized that is not the way to think, for he lost a sense of contrition. Although our sins are forgiven, we must remember them and grieve all our lives in order to preserve a contrite heart. Instead, he suffered much from evil thoughts that the Lord allowed to enter his mind.

Then God told him the way to humble himself: Keep thy mind in hell, and despair not. This helped the Staretz keep the suggstions of passion from gathering strength. So he says: "Fight the enemy with the weapon of humility."

...Thus the soul learns by experience the harm that comes of pride, and shuns vainglory and the praises of men, and evil thoughts. Then will the soul begin to recover her health and learn to regain grace. How can we tell if the soul is well or ailing? The ailing soul is full of pride, while the soul that is well loves the humility taught her by the Holy Spirit....

To learn Christ-like humility is a great good. Only to the humble does the Lord reveal Himself in the Holy Spirit, but if we do not humble ourselves we shall not see God. Humiliity is the light in which we may behold the Light which is God, as the Psalmist sang: 'In Thy light we shall see light.'...

The spirit of the man who has come to know God by the Holy Spirit burns day and night with love of God, and his soul can form no earthly attachment.

The soul that has not experienced the sweetness of the Holy Spirit rejoices in worldly vanity and praise, or in riches or power; but the Lord is the only desire of the soul that has come to know the Lord by the Holy Spirit, and riches and worldly fame count for nothing with her.

Great pains are needed, and many tears must be shed, to preserve the humble spirit of Christ; but without it the light of life is extinguished and the soul dies. The body may soon be made lean by fasting, but it is not easy or possible in a short space of time to subdue the soul, so that she is constantly humble....

The Lord said, 'Learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart.'...pray for me that the lowly spirit of Christ for which mysoul weeps in longing may descend on me....

But to be saved we must humble ourselves, for the proud man, even were he to be set down in paradise, would not find peace there but would be discontent and say, 'Why am I not in the first place?' But the humble soul is filled with love and does not seek to be in the foreground. The humble soul wishes good to all men and in all things is content.

The vainglorious either fear evil spirits or themselves resemble evil spirits. But we should not fear evil spirits--we should fear vainglory and pride, for through them grace is lost.

The Lord loves us greatly, yet we fall because we lack humility. If we would preserve humility we must mortify the flesh and acccept the Spirit of Chrhist. The Saints waged bitter war against evil spirits, and conquered them through humility, prayer, and fasting. He who has humbled himself has vanquished his foes.

What must we do to have peace in soul and body? We must love every man like our own selves. When you find another mind contending against your mind, humble yourself and the strife will have done.

What must we do to have peace in soul and body? We must be prepared at all times for death. when the soul remembers death she becomes humble, and yields herself up to the will of God, desiring to live in peace and love with all men.

With might and main and to the last breath of life we must strive to preserve our first fervour, which many have lost and not recovered. To retain this fervour we must always remember death: for if the soul is even partly prepared for death, she is not afraid; humility and repentance come, and earthly things are forgotten. The mind continues undistracted, and prayer is diligent.

The man who is mindful of death is not beguiled by the world. He loves his fellows and even his enemies; he is obedient and sober. And so peace is preserved in his soul, and the grace of the Holy Spirit comes. And when through the Holy Spirit you come to know God, your soul will delight in the Lord, and you will love Him and will ever remember the sweetness of the Holy Spirit, and this is verily heavenly food.

When we first begin to work for the Lord, we are filled with zeal and fervor. But if we begin to have pride, we lose grace. It begins to feel difficult now, and there is little to no desire to pray. St. Silouan then says:

...he should not be afraid: it is the Lord in His mercy nurturing the soul. The moment the soul exalts herself above her fellows, she is attacked by some thought or impulse unpleasing to God. If she humbles herself, grace does not depart, but if she does not, some small temptation follows to humble her. Should she again not humble herself, a ravaging struggle with the passions will start up within her. If she still does not humble herself, she will fall into a measure of sin. Should she once again fail to humble herself, a great temptation will ensue, and there will be grave sin. And so it will go on until the soul humbles herself, when temptation will leave her; and if she brings herself very low, a gentle peace will come, and all tha tis evil will disappear.

Thus the whole spiritual warfare wages round humility. The enemy fell from pride, and would draw us to perdition by the same means. The enemy praises us, and should the soul listen to his praise, grace withdraws until she repents. Thus throughout her life the soul is occupied with the lesson of Christ-like humility. so long as she has not humility, wrong thoughts an dimpulses will always torment her. But the humble soul finds the rest and the peace of which the Lord tells.

Fasting and abstinence, vigil and withdrawal into silence, and other exploits of spiritual discipline all help, but humility is the principal power.

Humility is not learned in a trice. That is why the Lord said: 'Learn lowliness in heart and meekness of me.' To learn takes time....When the peace of Christ enters the soul, then is she glad to sit like Job among the ashes and behold others in glory. Then does the soul rejoice to be worse than any. This mystery of the humility of Christ is a great mystery, impossible to unfold. From love the soul wishes every human being more good than she wishes herself, and delights when she sees others happier, and grieves when she sees others suffering.

The Lord loves man but He sends affliction that we may perceive our weakness and humble ourselves, and for this humility receive the Holy Spirit. With the Holy Spirit all thigns are good, all things are joyful, all things are well.

One man may suffer much from poverty and sickness but he does not humble himself and so his suffering profits him nothing. Whereas another who humbles himself will be content with every kind of fate, since the Lord is his riches and his joy, and all men will wonder at the beauty of his soul....

Thus to every humble soul the Lord gives peace.

Thus do afflictions disappear down in the heart of the humble man because the strength of the Lord is with him.

There is more, but this is plenty to ponder for now. Off to Mass and the little once-a-week job, and to be grateful to be able to be close to the Lord in quiet and solitude, preparing the sacred objects for the Sacred Sacrifice and Great Feeding by Jesus.