Outline for Rule 11 and 12

Rule 11: “Let one who is consoled seek to humble himself and lower himself as
much as he can, thinking of how little he is capable in the time of desolation
without such grace or consolation. On the contrary, let one who is in desolation
think that he can do much with God’s sufficient grace to resist all his enemies,
taking strength in his creator and Lord.
 St. Ignatius:“A humble heart is the rich spiritual soil from which all
other virtues spring… A heart that is humble is a heart completely
open to the embrace of God’s calling.” (SpirEx, 146 & 167).
o St. Jose Maria Escrivas 17 points to examine if we lack humility:
1. To think that what one says or does is better than what others say or do
2. To always want to get your own way
3. To argue with stubbornness and bad manners whether you are right or wrong
4. To give your opinion when it has not been requested or when charity does not demand it
5. To look down on another's point of view
6. Not to look on your gifts and abilities as lent
7. Not to recognize that you are unworthy of all honors and esteem, not even of the earth
you walk on and things you possess
8. To use yourself as an example in conversations
9. To speak badly of yourself so that others will think well of you or contradict you
10. To excuse yourself when you are corrected
11. To hide humiliating faults from your spiritual director, so that he will not change the
impression he has of you
12. To take pleasure in praise and compliments
13. To be saddened because others are held in higher esteem
14. To refuse to perform inferior tasks
15. To seek to stand out
16. To refer in conversation to your honesty, genius, dexterity, or professional prestige
17. To be ashamed because you lack certain goods

o Image of surfing: (Crest, versus that trough of the wave)
 In Consolation… humble yourself
 In Desolation… make acts of trust in God’s promises to you.
The twelfth: The enemy acts like a woman, in being weak against vigor and
strong of will. Because, as it is the way of the woman when she is quarrelling
with some man to lose heart, taking flight when the man shows her much
courage: and on the contrary, if the man, losing heart, begins to fly, the wrath,
revenge, and ferocity of the woman is very great, and so without bounds; in the
same manner, it is the way of the enemy to weaken and lose heart, his
temptations taking flight, when the person who is exercising himself in spiritual
things opposes a bold front against the temptations of the enemy, doing
diametrically the opposite. And on the contrary, if the person who is exercising
himself commences to have fear and lose heart in suffering the temptations,
there is no beast so wild on the face of the earth as the enemy of human nature
in following out his damnable intention with so great malice.
o “If you are firm with a child who is spoiled, he will soon relent, however, if
you show indulgence he will have no mercy on the fit he will throw.”