We put pride into everything like salt. We like to see that our good works are known. If our virtues are seen, we are pleased; if our faults are perceived, we are sad. I remark that in a great many people; if one says anything to them, it disturbs them, it annoys them. The saints were not like that - they were vexed if their virtues were known, and pleased that their imperfections should be seen.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the contrast between human pride in virtue and the humility seen in true saints regarding their imperfections.
In this quote, John Vianney reflects on the nature of pride and humility. He points out that most people take pride in their virtues and seek recognition for their good deeds, while feeling upset when their faults are noticed. In contrast, he suggests that true saints are inclined to remain humble, finding discomfort in the acknowledgment of their virtues while being accepting of their flaws. This serves as a reminder that genuine humility involves recognizing and embracing one's imperfections over seeking validation for one's strengths.
In practice
This quote could be shared during a discussion on humility at a church service.
Private prayer is like straw scattered here and there: If you set it on fire it makes a lot of little flames. But gather these straws into a bundle and light them, and you get a mighty fire, rising like a column into the sky; public prayer is like that.
Oh, how I like those little mortifications that are seen by nobody, such as rising a quarter of an hour sooner, rising for a little while in the night to pray!
In the past we have tried to make a distinction between animals which we acknowledge have some value and other which, having none, can be liquidated when we wish. This standard must be abandoned. Everything that lives has value simply as a living thing, as one of the manifestations of the mystery that is life.
He had learned the worst lesson that life can teach - that it makes no sense.
. . . the fellow's got a bee in his bonnet. Thinks God's a secretion of the liver--all right once in a way, but there's no need to keep on about it. There's nothing you can't prove if your outlook is only sufficiently limited.
How can the mind take hold of such a country? Generations of invaders have tried, but they remain in exile. The important towns they build are only retreats, their quarrels the malaise of men who cannot find their way home. India knows of their trouble. She knows of the whole world's trouble, to its uttermost depth. She calls "Come" through her hundred mouths, through objects ridiculous and august. But come to what? She has never defined. She is not a promise, only an appeal.
In the world I am_x000D_ Always a stranger_x000D_ I do not understand its language_x000D_ It does not understand my silence
Too often we spend our time in the past or the future. We need to learn to live now - mentally as well as physically and spiritually.
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