Humility is one of the two great pillars of Salesian Spirituality. Unlike popular notions, Salesian humility is not the practice of put-downs or self-deprecation: it is the practice of truthfulness.
What is the truth? In the eyes of God, we are sinners, and we are saved; we are weak, and we are strong; we are broken, and we are healed; we are fearful, and we are joyful; we are finite, and we are called to live forever with God and one another.
This kind of humility - this kind of truth - will truly set you free.
"Do not desire to be what you are;
desire to be very well what you are."
(LW VI 19)
"Those who stay not in littleness
will lose their greatness."
(LR III 43)
"Humble yourself loving before God
and your neighbors, for God
speaks to ears that are bowed down."
(LR III 19)
"Those who acknowledge the truth about themselves
In humility are happy to discover others
Who agree with them."
(S XIX 3)
"When you humble yourself it must be with a
gentle and peaceful, not with a querulous and impatient,
humility."
(C IX)
"Let us never make a show of wishing to be last
unless in our hearts we wish
to truly be such."
(In III 5)
"Self-deprecation is nothing more
than a tricky kind of boasting."
(S VIII 3)
"True humility makes no pretense of being humble
and scarcely ever utters words of humility."
(In III 5)
"Those who believe themselves to be far advanced
in the spiritual life have not even made a good beginning."
(S XIII 5)
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