3. Whoever is not very humble, can never draw profit from contemplation, in which any little atom of insufficient humility, though it may seem nothing, works the greatest harm.—-St. Teresa

One day, the Blessed Virgin prayed her most holy Son that He would bestow some spiritual gifts upon St. Bridget. But He gave her this reply: “Whoever seeks lofty things ought first to be exercised in the lowly, by the paths of humility.” Because the blessed Clara of Montefalco experienced a vain pleasure in some things she had done, the Lord withdrew from her for fifteen years, His lights and celestial consolations, which she could not regain during all that time, though she begged for them earnestly, with tears, prayers, and the use of the discipline.

~A Year with the Saints ~ imprimatur 1891