MANILA, Philippines–Be humble, learn to say sorry.
This was the call of Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines president and Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas to Filipino faithful as he made a strong plea for humility.
“Proud people will not be able to go to heaven and the only way to see the face of God is to be humble and to be lowly of heart,” said Villegas in a video message he posted on his Facebook account.
“Humility is a very tricky issue. If you know you’re honest and you say you’re honest, you are honest. If you know you are chaste and you say you are chaste, you are chaste. But if you’re humble and you say you’re humble, you are proud. You are humble not when you humble yourself but when you let others humiliate you and you bear it for Christ,” Villegas said.
The prelate cited ways on how faithful can grow in humility.
“First, make it a habit to say ‘please’. When you say please you recognize that you are in need of help. When you say please you recognize that you are not powerful, that you acknowledge that there is somebody more powerful than you and you are a needy person. You know that you cannot boast and look down on anyone because you are a person in need,” Villegas said.
“The second word for humility is ‘thank you,’” he said. People who say thank you are humble people, they are also happy people. The fruit of humility is happiness. People who are proud will always be unhappy.”
“The third word you must remember for humility is being able to say ‘sorry’,” said Villegas.
