Part 3, Chapter 4
I have never been known for being PC (politically correct), but I have decided to turn over a new leaf. Well, maybe not. St. Francis De Sales in talking about humility brings up an important point: self-esteem. “So in order to receive God’s grace in our hearts, they must be as empty vessels—not filled with self-esteem” (Introduction to the Devout Life, 78). Self-esteem has been a buzz word for many, many years. What seems to have happened is that we have tried as a society to build up the image of kids and adults. We have tried to help them to ‘feel good about themselves.’ But self-esteem must be built on the truth. It cannot be built on lies. And this goes to the core of who we are. What we truly need is God esteem, not self-esteem. We need God to build us up in the truth. Only He can do this. Too often we are trying to build ourselves up with honors and things; we want others to notice us. Self-esteem leads to vainglory, pride. “We call that vainglory that men take to themselves, either for what is not in them, or which being in them is not their own, or which being in them and their own yet is not worthy of their self-satisfaction” (Introduction to the Devout Life, 79). This is what we see in self-esteem. Isn’t it interesting that over 400 years ago they were dealing with the same issue.
Most of the time self-esteem is like a house made out of cards, if there is enough pressure it comes crumbling down. Still, if our lives are built on the truth that only God can give, than we have built our home out of solid material that will last. This is what St. Francis De Sales is trying to do for us. He is showing us the way to be built up in the truth and that is being built up in God.
To work on this further we need to develop the virtue of humility. It is one of the most important virtues we can develop, and it truly gets developed with God. When we think we have it, we don’t. “An active effort to acquire virtue is the first step towards goodness; but an active effort to acquire honor is the first step towards contempt and shame” (Introduction to the Devout Life, 80). In working on acquiring humility, we work on getting away from having honors fill us. Rather what we learn is that only God can fill us with what we need.