Fourteenth Sermon: On the Signs of Vainglory (the five signs only, paras 1441–1471)

The first and most certain sign of this malady is boasting, when one loves to speak of the good actions he has performed. We have an example of it in the gospel of last Sunday, in the Pharisee who stood before the altar and there boasted of his fasting and almsgiving. The Pharisee, as St. Ambrose remarks, did not lie; nay, he told the truth about himself;" for he really fasted twice a week and gave tithes of all he possessed; "but every one that exalteth himself offends, although he speaks the truth; for, though the Pharisee was in a better state than the publican when he entered the temple, he went out condemned." There are people who, when they get scent of the least thing that is to their praise, cannot keep it silent, but must out with it to every one they meet; I was there at the time, they say; I did this or that; I managed the matter in this way; so-and-so has to thank me for his success; if those people had not taken my advice, they would not have done so well. If I had been there, I should have managed matters differently; if that person had done what I suggested, he would be better off now, and so on. This is an evident sign that one does not seek the glory of God, but his own glory from men. The same boasting can be done in silence; if, namely, he who says nothing of what he does nevertheless is pleased that men should know of it and admire him for it; they are like children who, when they have a new coat or new shoes, cannot bear to be kept in the house; no, they are all anxiety to rush out into the street and let people see the fine things they have on. Such was the case with the monk of whom I have lately told you, who, without saying a word, laid down at the feet of the abbot the two mats he had made, expecting to be praised for his diligence. But we have heard how little he profited by his boasting. A prudent traveller acts quite differently; he conceals his money as well as he can; he sews it into his clothing, or hides it in his boots, although he thus makes walking more difficult for himself, so that no one may know anything of his wealth and steal it from him. In the same way he who is really humble of heart, and who seeks God alone, conceals as far as he can from the eyes of men his good and praiseworthy actions, lest he should lose his reward in heaven for them. If he is sometimes compelled in the course of conversation to speak of his good deeds, he attributes them not to himself, but to God; for instance, he does not say: With the help of God I have converted that sinner, but, God has given that sinner the grace of conversion. "They are the children which God hath given to me," was the answer that Jacob gave when asked if the children belonged to him.

The second sign of vainglory and a perverse intention in our actions is to spy out the judgments and opinions of men, and see how we have pleased them; to run down what we do, as is often the case, and then have a secret pleasure in hearing others approve of it, but to be dissatisfied when they condemn it; to excuse in all sorts of ways what they find fault with, throwing the blame on something else off ourselves, or else obstinately defending our mode of action; fearing the hostile opinion of men, or doing out of respect for it some good work with the intention of pleasing them. All this comes from secret pride, vanity, and thirst of praise. He who seeks nothing but God and His glory cares little for the opinion of men; let them think and say what they will, he says, I will do what God wills me to do; whether men approve of it or not matters nothing to me; I did not begin the act on their account, nor will I omit it for them. I require no other witness or approver of my works than the all-seeing God, to whom my heart and conscience are known; if I please Him, I am satisfied, and have attained the end I work for. Such was the answer with which St. Bernard rebuked the devil; the evil spirit once praised the saint most extravagantly, and expressed the greatest admiration for the prudence with which he did all things, and for the success that attended all his efforts, etc. At first Bernard acted as if he did not hear, and continued his usual pious exercise. Then the demon changed the attack and assailed him with the worst kind of abuse; you poor fool, said he, do you think I meant all that in earnest? I was only speaking ironically; I meant that you do your actions in such a foolish manner that with all your trouble you do nothing but build houses for flies and gnats. Hear me, spirit of evil, answered Bernard; I did not begin for the sake of being praised by you, nor will I leave off for that reason.

The third sign of vainglory is to feel a secret envy when others are placed on an equality with us in the same works, arts, or sciences, or when they show more cleverness than we; to be dissatisfied if we cannot do as well as others; to wish and desire that we should excel all in a certain thing. This envy causes us to feel disappointed when others are praised, to speak very sparingly in praise of them, or, when possible, to belittle them and talk contemptuously of them. This is again an evident sign that we do not seek God alone in our actions, but rather fear that by the praise others get we may lose something of the good opinion of men. See, says St. Gregory, if, when another preaches an excellent sermon and attracts large audiences, you are just as well pleased as if you did it yourself. "For, if you do not rejoice, but feel a certain displeasure, sadness, and envy at it, it is clear that you do not seek merely the glory of God." To confirm this, he brings forward the words of the apostle St. James, "But if you have bitter zeal, and there be contentions in your hearts, glory not, and be not liars against the truth; for this is not wisdom, descending from above, but earthly, sensual, devilish." If those are your sentiments, you have no true zeal for the glory of God, but for your own; because you desire to be praised as well as they who have excited your envy. He who truly seeks the honor and glory of God troubles himself little as to whether others are as good as he in certain things or not, or even excel him; he is rather rejoiced to hear that the honor of God is promoted by them as well or better than he could promote it. The prophet Moses has given us a beautiful example of this; a young man came to him and said: "Eldad and Medad prophesy in the camp;" whereupon Josue, anxious for the honor of Moses, said to him: "My Lord Moses, forbid them;" they are usurping your office. "But he said: Why hast thou emulation for me? Oh, that all the people might prophesy, and that the Lord would give them His spirit!" Such, too, were the dispositions of Father John Avila, when he heard of the nature and object of the Society founded by St. Ignatius Loyola. In the joy of his heart he exclaimed, that is the very thing I have been longing for for years; but I was never able to bring it to pass. He compared himself on that account to a boy attempting to roll a great stone to the top of the mountain, but he is not strong enough to succeed; soon after a giant comes, who takes the stone in his hand and without any trouble carries it to the top. Mark how the pious Avila speaks of himself as a boy, but of St. Ignatius as a strong giant; and how he rejoices at the great good that God worked for the Church by means of Ignatius. From this we may gather that he was really a true servant of God, and sought not his own glory but the glory of God alone by the good intention. So, too, should every one of us who has a pure intention think and say in the sincerity of our hearts when we hear others praised for their diligence, ability, knowledge, or extraordinary gifts: Would to God that all men were like him! I will do my best to fulfil my duty; if another can do more, God be praised for it! I give him the preference cheerfully, and rejoice that God is honored by him; pleased am I to learn that one to whom God has given five talents has earned other five; I shall direct my labor to adding one other to the talent that my Lord has bestowed on me, so that, when He asks for it as my Judge, I shall be able to give it to Him and to claim my reward as a faithful servant.

The fourth sign of vainglory is to be down-hearted and troubled when our work is a failure in the eyes of the world, and has not the success we hoped for. He who serves God with a pure intention does not trouble himself about that; for he thinks to himself, I have done my part; if I fail to attain the end I work for, it is not my fault; God has not commanded me to succeed; He has merely told me what to do. St. Ignatius used to say that in our actions we should keep in the dispositions which the holy angels have with regard to those who are entrusted to their charge. They exhort and advise them faithfully; they guard, watch over, and encourage them to good, and do their utmost to bring them to heaven; but if their charges unfortunately make a bad use of their free will, all the good advice and exhortations are neglected, and the unhappy ones hurry on to eternal ruin. But the angels feel no chagrin on that account, nor are they a whit less happy; they say, as the angel in the prophecy of Jeremias: "We would have cured Babylon, but she is not healed: let us forsake her, and let us go every man to his own land;" for, in spite of that, "The Lord hath brought forth our justices." In the same way, when I and others have taken all sorts of trouble to help a sinner out of the unhappy state in which he is, but have effected nothing, because he persists in his evil ways, and refuses to be healed, we must not grow down-spirited on that account, nor lose heart; for we have done what we could, and our reward will not be a whit less in heaven, provided we have had the good intention. When the disciples of Christ, as St. Luke writes, came back to Him after having driven out devils and worked many miracles, and were joyfully relating what they had done, He said to them: "But yet rejoice not in this, that spirits are subject unto you; but rejoice in this, that your names are written in heaven." We should rejoice, then, not like the disciples in the passage quoted, at the success of our work, but in the fact that we have so done it that on account of it our names are written in heaven. The great apostle St. James, when he was in Spain, did not convert more than eight or nine persons to the true faith, in spite of all his labors, while the other apostles converted whole kingdoms; must we think therefore that his reward was less? No, says St. Jerome; "the Lord received with equal joy him who made ten talents of five, and him who made four of two; for He does not consider the greatness of the gain, but the intention of the will." He does not so much look at the result of the work as at the work itself and the intention with which it is performed.

The fifth sign of vainglory is, when we perform our ordinary actions with more fervor, zeal, and devotion when others are present than when we are alone. In this we act like beggars; when they see any one coming, they weep and cry out at the top of their voices; when they are alone they are quite still. So, too, there are some servants who are very diligent when any one is looking at them; but if they are left alone in the house, they idle their time away. He who tries to please God with a pure intention finds reason enough for employing all his fervor and zeal in the fact that the all-seeing eye of God is looking at every motion of his heart. There are still other signs that I must pass over, lest I should put myself to still greater shame; for I must confess to my confusion, O my Lord and my God, that I have often been surprised and betrayed by that thief, vainglory. I have often imagined that I had collected wonderful treasures for heaven by my good works; now I see that I have put most of them in a torn sack, and that they have fallen through and been blown away by the wind of human praise. What am I to do now? What defence shall I adopt against this hidden enemy, that he may no longer harm me? This I shall explain, my dear brethren, as far as time permits, for your instruction and my own, in the