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114 and are content to be regarded as worthless by others, and to be cast aside as an abominable thing, the more tenderly and lovingly will He welcome you and draw you to His Side.

Reckon yourself unworthy of this so great a gift which God vouchsafes to you, Who, to unite you to Himself, suffered shame for your sake. Fail not to render to Him continual thanks, and consider yourself under an obligation to those who have given you an opportunity of humbling yourself, and still more to those who have trampled upon you, and who, in addition to this, think that you are not taking it well, but badly. And, even if it is so, you ought to hide the feeling.

If, notwithstanding all these considerations, which are but too true, the subtlety of the Devil, and our own ignorance and bad inclinations, should so prevail within us, that thoughts of our own superiority still disquiet us, and will make their impressions on our hearts, then from that very fact we may draw an argument for humbling ourselves in our own eyes; for such thoughts show us that we are far behind in the spiritual life, and in the true knowledge of ourselves, seeing that we are unable to shake off these annoyances which spring from our empty pride. By this means, from the poison we may extract honey, from the wounds the cure.