Freedom of Humility ~ Fr Ripperger

[@SuperGreatSphinx]

"Humility is nothing but truth, and pride is nothing but lying." ― Saint Vincent de Paul

[@GeorgePenton-np9rh]

Not according Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis and Humility of Heart by Cajetan Bergamo. According these writers humility is meditating day and night about how evil we are and how we are worms and not men.

[@samvojtech1153]

Profound! Thank you!

[@roddy1420]

​@@GeorgePenton-np9rhisn't that the truth! To think otherwise is called pride and self deceit.

[@paulinakray2944]

This is honestly one of the best of Fr. Ripperger's talks. Very clear, true and eye opening. God bless padre. 3 Hail Marys.

[@danielhanna9742]

Last four minutes makes sense. An individual gets their natural peace and well being striving to act in accordance with the truth. Nothing terrifies that individual.

[@adam12732]

“Pride is not the opposite of shame, at its source, true humility is the only antidote to shame.” -Iroh

[@marimary6879]

I am listening this so many times, to remember how stuoid i am and how my ego is working so hard to protect me, it's a journey to becoming more humble...

[@conniekoumjian8933]

Thank you Father Ripperger. This is a wonderful presentation on Humility.

[@eddytamayo3200]

Y'all please keep praying for The Church, the pope and all Priests & Religious we all need mercy and to confess our sins

[@SueDamron]

Wow! Excellent! I’m just now getting the smallest inkling of this vital virtue! Thank you for this explanation!!

[@sue-by7sh]

Penanceware done for you and your intentions. Thank you Father.

[@samvojtech1153]

This was enlightening! Thank you, Fr.

[@alanbourbeau24]

Humility is in fact the mother of all virtues and this is what one of my Catholic priests told me and I believe him. Sometimes I myself struggle with pride and I try my best not to become arrogant and egotistical and not become a narcissist but sometimes it's not easy. But I'm reminded of the first joyful mystery of the Holy Rosary and that is the Annunciation and the fruit of the mystery is humility. And I've encountered some people who are narcissistic and egotistical such as my older brother and even my Aunt Nancy Kunak. I really don't like to speak unkind about my aunt but her egotistical and narcissistic behavior gets out of control and I find it irritating and annoying. So what can I do? Well I can't argue with her because I'll only make her more angry. The only thing I can do is pray for her that in the hopes she'll stop being egotistical, arrogant and a narcissist and learn about the virtue of humility and be humble and learn that she's not perfect.

[@TheBlessedbread]

Thank you Father R.

[@adrienne8118]

Ah, yes, Humility draws grace, humility breaks the strongest chains, which are sin. Humility surmounts any wall of division between the soul and God, and brings her back to Him. Humility is a little plant, but always green and flowery, not subject to being gnawed by worms; nor will winds, hail or heat be able to do harm to it, or make it wither, even slightly. Though being the littlest plant, humility produces very high branches, which penetrate even into Heaven, braiding around the Heart of Our Lord; and only the branches which come from this plant have free access into that adorable Heart. Humility is the anchor of peace during the storms of the sea waves of this life. Humility is the salt which spices all virtues and preserves the soul from the corruption of sin. Humility is the little grass which sprouts along the way treaded by wayfarers; while being treaded, it disappears, but soon one can see it sprout again, more beautiful than before. Humility is like a gentle graft, which renders the wild plant gentle. Humility is the sunset of guilt. Humility is the newborn of grace. Humility is like the moon, which guides us in the darkness of the night of this life. Humility is like that shrewd merchant who knows well how to trade his riches, and wastes not even one cent of the grace that is given to him. -Luisa Picarreta

[@GeorgePenton-np9rh]

Humility draws grace? Humility breaks the bonds of sin? I 've been pursuing humility for 40 years now and I get very little grace and I sin all the time. In fact I committed far fewer sins before I meditated on humility than I do now.

[@GeorgePenton-np9rh]

I don't know who this Kuisa Peccarata is but she obviously has never ever tried to have humility. All humility does is sit on our shoulders like an 800 pound gorilla making it impossible to accomplish anything.

[@bsontrop]

Stella Maris -Star of the (turbulent) sea; beautiful title of Our Lady -St.Teresa of Avila fills out the definition with, "Humility is LOVE of Truth" ... making it a decision, "a determined determination" by a person to seek and to love the truth. "Truth" as a mere concept, floating around in a vacuum all by itself, isn't Truth. Truth is a Person. "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life". We can't be playing around in the sandbox of ideas. St.Teresa even told her nuns that prayer and meditation aren't enough, but that they must pursue, and acquire, and praise the Virtues. In the same way Baptism calls us to pursue, and acquire, and praise our identification with Jesus, our Model, our Truth itself. What's His first rule? "Anyone who wishes to follow Me must pick up his/her Cross and ... FOLLOW Me .. daily."

[@GeorgePenton-np9rh]

So God humiliates us and that causes humility. What happens when God humiliates so much at work that we get fired? What good is all that humility if we can't eat?

[@bassemmi1]

I'm a little confused: is it possible to reach perfection in this life, or is perfection only when we are in heaven since we would be free from our bodies and its disorder?

[@tomhealey8214]

This is a bit late, But I just stumbled across this video of Fr. R's. For a Catholic, it's probably easier to look at the Blessed Virgin and the dogmatic truth that at her conception, her soul was totally free of Original Sin. Her soul was in perfect Union with God. And there is more, because she also had the Beatific Vision, from the moment her pure immortal soul was created by God. I"'ve never doubted this great dogma of the church, but there was a problem, my problem, in that I could not understand how her soul could be in eternal glory, while physically, psychologically and more profoundly, spiritually, she suffered horrendously, especially at her Son's Passion. It took many years before I was given to understand, that her PURE SOUL WAS HIDDEN from her self-awareness. In Mary's case . She had no concupiscence, and no faults, no rough edges. The church's saints, in the following centuries, had concupiscence, with faults and weaknesses, and like Mary, their "perfect" souls were hidden from them and the world, which merits a long article in itself. And I don't know what the church teaches, but the way I understand the grandeur of the Blessed Virgin's existence, is that, she didn't really have conscious understanding of her spiritual life. She didn't really know that she had the Beatific Vision even in the mundaneness of her daily life, cooking simple meals, worrying as any good mother does, and loving her Son while having no clear idea of who He was nor of the great gift she had been given. As a final blessing Mary was "assumed" at her "death" body and soul into heaven, so that her body is glorified and is reunited with Christ, so she does not have to wait for the general judgement like the rest of us. But to your confusion. The biggest stumbling block for me was how her soul could be in glory, perfect, even as she suffered in the culture of her time? And how could she be in glory and not be conscious of the true state of her soul? It took many years and prayer before my guardian angel led me, step-by-step to the truth. I had foolish assumptions about holiness that I didn't recognize. I was formed by ideas I had acquired, willy nilly, from whatever beliefs I had picked up from Hinduism and new age foolishness. There were deeper spiritual issues having to do with my own hidden resistance to my own deepening spiritual life in Christ and the church, Which have been much more stubborn and prolonged. In fact, these two challenges, understanding Mary's absolute purity and my own attachment to faulty subject/object knowing, their resolution go together, thus making possible greater spiritual understanding. As regards Catholic holy men and women, by definition, their souls are in Union with God, in varying degrees, depending on the depth of their holiness. Are they "perfect"? There's no one answer, except to say that their lived daily lives probably meant they had faults and weaknesses they were attached to. And some still had some purification to be undergone in purgatory. Do the Holy martyrs go directly to heaven. Yes! Since their death to the sinful self is total. But while we live in the flesh, we are prone to frailties of our bodies, and struggle with whatever concupiscence that remains in their souls. And we are still children of our cultures with all the limitations of that culture. And while in the body, they are subject to moods, complaints, being misunderstood, which are part and parcel of the crosses they carry, which make their holiness possible. Take two contemporary saints - St Padre Pio, who suffered the Stigmata for 50 years. Did he have a bad temper? Was it his explosive Italian temperament, or just his profound love for souls that made him blunt and outspoken. Was that a fault to be overcome with Sanctifying Grace? In any case his soul was probably "perfect". While his ego or him the self-aware subject had a few rough edges. Ste.Therese de Lisieux, suffered horrendously during the last 18 months of her life. Suffering from metastisizing tuberculosis, she was also in the Dark Night of her Soul. There were no pain killers, and she had to put up with the spiritual stupidity of her companion sisters. At one desperate moment, she worried that if poison was left in her presence, she might be tempted to kill herself(personally I doubt that she would for the reason that her soul was so childlike, that she couldn't help but trust absolutely in God, no matter the cost). But her hidden immortal soul was perfect, and she no doubt entered into the direct Vision of God at the moment of her death. Whenever I post a comment, which I seldom do anymore, I always see glaring problems, and this time is no different. However, I hope I could help in some small way, when in fact this topic requires a lengthy book. If you get this comment, I'd love to hear from you.

[@_Dovar_]

Tom Healey Very good comment.

[@CatholicK5357]

I think it is possible. There are Saints who have been said by their confessors to never have committed a single mortal sin, and some even a venial sin - though they themselves might have perceived it as such. I think the general principle is that if I think that I am perfect in this life, it would be furthest from the truth - because the perfect are too humble to think themselves perfect (at least until in Heaven). So yes it is possible, but impossible to be able to tell until judgement day.

[@GeorgePenton-np9rh]

When I first became Catholic I thought perfection was very possible and within the reach of all. After 50 years of being a Catholic I see that perfection is easy for cradle Catholics and people from good families, and almost impossible for anyone else. No matter what you do God can find fault with it.

[@jackieann5494]

@@tomhealey8214 Your comment helped me. Thank you for taking the time to share that with us . Thanks very much .

[@georgepenton6023]

If you stick your neck out and try to accomplish anything in life, God, in His righteous anger, strikes us down for our pride. But if we DON'T stick our necks out, God says we're burying talent in the sand. How do you please or serve a God like that? "Exalt yourselves and you will be humbled"--God is very quick to make that come true. "Humble yourselves and you will be exalted"---maybe that's true in the next life, but all it gets us in this life is weakness, stupidity, failure, menial jobs, single living, hatred of self, constant guilty conscience, and more and more sins of the flesh.

[@avemaria5994]

www.nytimes.com/2017/08/15/world/asia/dr-ruth-pfau-savior-of-lepers-in-pakistan-dies-at-87.html could it be that He is asking us to use our talents in this way maybe? to serve others with all we have...

[@joan9569]

@@avemaria5994 I read that entire article. Heroic.

[@joan9569]

George Penton, here's how it works: if we act according to God's Will, at all times, we're good. The "catch" is that God's Will includes acting in His Time, in His Way. Doing a Godly thing includes the good thing, the right time, & the right way; avoid doing that good (Godly) thing unless you, first, seek His Counsel, & LISTEN for it. Is the timing right? Is the method right?

[@cherylmburton5577]

I think George Penton needs to study the Scriptures more, and to start over everyday with eyes of faith, and not Pride. Reviewing the same teachings everyday but praying for Jesus to open your mind to them, the way he did for the two men on the road to Emmaus. (Luke 24:13-35). And to show him your earnestness to keep trying, get a good study guide to the Scriptures, and include the teachings of the Apostles, especially St Paul first because he was appointed to preach specifically to the Gentiles, and his writings include many times things spoken personally to him by our Lord. As a result Paul then wrote that he was gladly boasting in his weaknesses, and was content in his weakness for the Lord's sake. because when he was weak, the Lord made him strong. (2 Cor 12:1-10)

[@GeorgePenton-np9rh]

@@cherylmburton5577 Have you ever actually tried to have humility or develop humility? Have you spent hours and hours meditating on your own unworthiness and over and over calling yourself a worm and not a woman? Do you think of yourself as the worst sinner who ever lived, worse than Hitler, worse than Stalin, worse than Satan Himself? Could you please explain how I am supposed to live in the real world with an attitude like that about myself?