No one can be received or can remain in the one true Fold, of which our Blessed Lord is the Shepherd, unless he submits his mind and his heart absolutely and unconditionally to the authority divinely constituted; and all submission means humility. God exacts obedience to His law; and in obeying it we offer Him the service of our wills. That is to say, we do not what we wish, but what God wishes. But in addition to our free will we possess another stupendous gift from God—viz., our intellect. It that to pay no fealty? Is that to acknowledge no master. To submit to no authority? Most assuredly. As our intellect comes from God as truly as our free will, it must also be made to recognize the same authority and to yield to the same guidance. How do we submit our intellect? By accepting, on the authority of God, whatsoever He proposes to our belief, and with equal readiness, whether the doctrine expressed “directly” by His own divine lips, as the doctrine of the Holy Eucharist; or “indirectly”, by the mouth of His Church, as the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception.
Thus, humility is a condition of entry into the true Church. It is what Saint Paul calls “the bringing into captivity every understanding to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5). Our Lord’s own words upon this point are yet more direct and emphatic. He tells us plainly that “unless we shall be converted, and become as little children, we shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” That is to say, unless we have the meekness and the unquestioning trust in our Teacher that a little child has, we can be no followers of Him. To do His bidding without murmur is obedience—i.e., the submission of the will. To accept His teaching without demur, is faith—i.e., the submission of the intellect. Both are essential, for both will and intellect come from God. From this it follows that whatever interferes with humility and engenders pride, renders faith and obedience more difficult.
—Msgr. John S. Vaughn, “Dangers of the Day”, Burns, Oates & Washbourne, Manchester, England, 1923, Pp.107-108.