The Beatification of our Founder is a great opportunity, especially for the members of the Society of Christian Doctrine, to delve deeper into Father Preca’s spirituality so that it becomes the guiding light of our life. It’s only then that we can fulfill faithfully our mission of preaching the gospel and be bearers of Christ’s light in a world that, unfortunately, lacks the happiness and peace that only Jesus Christ can give. 
     In this series of articles, I propose to analize briefly the virtues which stood out in Father Preca’s life and which he sought to emphasize in his sermons and in his writings. 
     One such virtue is that of humility. Throughout his life, Father Preca always did his best to avoid honourable places. He even refused to put his name to most of his writings and he even claimed that the real founder of the Society of Christian Doctrine was not himself but St Paul, since he had been inspired by St Paul’s text to Timothy: “Pass on to reliable people what you have heard from me through many witnesses so that they in turn will be able to teach others” (Tim 2,2).      
     Father Preca’s humility was borne out of a genuine conviction that confronted with God, the human person cannot choose to be otherwise. He claims: ‘Have you ever considered what you are when compared to God? What are you in comparison to a vast multitude of people? What you are in comparison to the vast sea or to the immense creation? Now, compared to God, the entire universe is as a tiny speck of seed. So, your very self is as nothing before him. Hold him in awe and give him honour.’ 
     Thus any attempt to fulfill God’s will, must be grounded in humility, in a strong belief that it is through God’s grace that one’s work can bear fruit and not through one’s efforts. So one should go about his work humbly, knowing perfectly well that if the seed one has sown is watered by one’s own pride, it will remain sterile, while if one’s disposition is one of humility, the good Lord will shower it with his grace. Father Preca was very fond of quoting the sentence: ‘It is written that God resists the proud and gives his grace to the humble.’2  In the Divine logic, only the humble are worthy to be chosen, those who are child-at-heart, and it is only to such people that Jesus Christ promised the kingdom of Heaven. 
     Nevertheless, Father Preca was very much aware of the fact that humility is definitely not an innate quality but rather the slow result of a continuous struggle that everyone has to go through ­ the struggle between the natural urge to be known, to be praised, to be held in admiration, and the desire to follow Christ’s will to do everything in a hidden way, without blowing one’s trumpet. 
     So he was practical enough to outline a number of means how this virtue, together with its sweet fruits, can be achieved. Unfortunately we cannot go into a lot of detail, but at least I will enumerate the basic points.