“So if you want to know whether a man is really wise, learned, generous or noble, see if his life is moulded by humility, modesty and submission. If so, his gifts are genuine; but if they are only surface and showy, you may be sure that in proportion to their demonstrativeness so is their unreality. Those pearls which are formed amid tempest and storm have only an outward shell, and are hollow within; and so when a man’s good qualities are fed by pride, vanity and boasting, they will soon have nothing save empty show, without sap, marrow or substance.”
Francis de Sales (1567-1622) in section entitled “On Greater Humility” in Introduction to the Devout Life (Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal Library) 95-96.
Francis is spot on when he argues that generosity that is “surface and showy” is not generosity at all. May our generosity instead exhibit humility, and may our lives reflect modesty and submission, which together demonstrate that our deeds flow not from us, but Christ, alive in us!