Here is a misused and misunderstood word that needs clarification.
As you know, my obsession, since a certain period of my life, has been humility, source of all good I have always thought that the Gospel boils down to these. two words: humility and love. Moreover, there can be no love without humility and where there is humility, there is love.
For the one who empties himself, there is no fear, and where there is no fear, there is no war; and where there is no war, there is peace. If we emptied ourselves of illusions and chimeras of the “I”, we would feel the same relief as of a high fever.
Nothing from within, nothing from without could disturb the serenity of the one who has freed himself from the “I”. Detached from himself, freed from the ties of the “I” the poor and humble heart resolutely enters the deep bosom of the freedom. So, he doesn’t care what others think or say about him. He moves in the world of events, but his dwelling is in the Kingdom of Peace.
He has nothing to defend because he possesses nothing; and treats others with the same consideration with which he treats himself. This ideal of humility made me undertake a rough but liberating program: not to give satisfaction to the “I”, Do not defend yourself, do not justify yourself, do not seek praise, do not talk about yourself, do not strive for everyone to know and recognize me, shun the applause, fly to the state of oblivion, DISAPPEAR…
Many people understand by disappearing: not to be seen, not to appear, avoid applause, as if I did not exist in this world, that nobody knows about me, go through the world as if we did not exist, as if our person and our work were a fleeting shadow that fades, that no one knows what I do, that our work is so silent that it goes completely unnoticed, to be silent, to be dark, to be anonymous…
Disappearing is nothing like that.
To disappear is: to organize professionally to achieve the best results, to use the most effective means of diffusion such as television, radio, the press, the Internet… so that our work is better known and disseminated, to fight resolutely so that the Workshop achieves the largest number of attendees and the best results, broadcast texts of our work by radio, put together excellent promotional and propaganda programs to be broadcast by the largest number of stations.
However,
Without appropriating, emptying themselves entirely, regardless of the results prior, on the contrary, abandoning them in the hands of the Father; permanently extinguish the flame of the “I”, forget oneself, constantly rectify the intentions, nothing for me, everything for the glory of God and the good of the brothers, renounce the illusory image of oneself, never give satisfaction to the “I” “, not justifying oneself, not defending oneself, not giving explanations to look good, not begging for praise, doing good to those who do us wrong, forgiving, understanding… What did Jesus feel when he said: “My prestige does not matter to me but the glory of my father” What did he feel when he said: “you have to deny yourself”? What would it feel like to say: “whoever hates his life will win it”? By saying: “deny yourself.”
Everything in this set of apparently contradictory attitudes, is to disappear.
Taken from the circular letter Nº 22 from Father Ignacio Larrañaga.
