Meditation XLII: Pride the Beginning of Every Sin

1.—Why God Punishes Pride more Severely than other Vices.

2.—Particular Reasons why He should Hate It.

Man never sins except in order to escape some pain, or to procure for himself some gratification; in every instance the sinner prefers himself to God, in every instance pride excites the spirit of rebellion. "I will not serve." Let us wage the most earnest war against the most detestable of all vices.

FIRST PRELUDE.—Represent to yourself Jesus Christ hearing the apostles quarreling amongst themselves concerning pre-eminence. He calls to Him a child, places him in their midst, and says to them: "Unless you be converted, and become as this child, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven."

SECOND PRELUDE.—O God, the exaltation of the humble, and the strength of the weak, inspire us with sentiments in keeping with our nothingness, and Thy infinite greatness.

First Point.—Why God hates pride more than any other vice. St. Augustine answers: "Because this vice attacks God more directly, more audaciously than any other vice." It would drag Him from His throne and annihilate His immortality. Of pride especially we should say with St. Bernard: Quantum in ipso est, Deum perimit; it is the denying of the most essential attributes of the Divinity.

For a man governed by this passion God is not "first and last," the beginning and the end; He is not the sovereign Lord of all things: Mea sunt omnia. The proud man glories in his real or pretended qualities, as if they came from himself alone. In vain does St. Paul say, "What hast thou, that thou hast not received, and if thou hast received, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?" (1 Cor. iv. 7.) God therefore is not for him the adorable source from which all blessings flow. "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end." The proud man, far from referring to God what he does and says . . . refers all to his own glorification and will have no praise given to any one save himself; and God therefore is not for him that last end to which all should be referred. "Do all for the glory of God." The proud man affects to be independent, and considers as his own property goods of which he is the mere tenant. God is not for him the sovereign of the universe, the Lord of lords, to whom all things belong. "I am the Lord."

I should especially dwell upon the following consideration: viz., that this vice, already so hateful in itself, is still more so in the man who has been appointed by the Almighty to teach men how to respect and obey Him.

A monarch learns that some of his subjects have raised the standard of rebellion against him. He selects one of the officers of his court whom he has loaded with blessings, and says to him, "Go, I depend upon you; bring back to my service those erring, rebellious subjects." The officer starts out, fully provided with all that is necessary to fulfil his mission. Very soon, however, he himself joins the rebels, places himself at their head and attempts to become their monarch, instead of bringing them back to the allegiance of their lawful sovereign. Such a crime would be exceedingly grievous. Such is the crime of the proud priest. The King of kings, after raising me to the rank of His friends, invests me with His powers; so far honors me with His confidence as to intrust me with the office of sustaining His rights, of defending His disregarded authority . . and I dare to supplant Him in the esteem and affection of His children! I betray His interests by appropriating to myself the honor and praise due to Him alone! Is not this a detestable felony, and high treason against God?

Second Point.—Special reasons why we should detest pride. It deprives us of grace, takes away our merits, destroys our virtues, draws terrible punishments upon us. Oh, how cruel a tyrant pride is! Woe to those who are its slaves!

I. It deprives us of grace. Prayer is the ordinary channel of grace. God is rich, but only "toward those who invoke Him." (Rom.

x. 12.) A proud man prays little, and prays amiss; how could he have an abundant part in the munificence of God? He prays but little, for he feels not the need of prayer. Infatuated as he is with himself or what he thinks himself to be, he has nothing to ask. Moreover, to pray is to confess our misery, to acknowledge our dependence, our weakness, our nothingness before God; but is there anything so contrary to the disposition of the proud man? He prays amiss. For a good prayer recollection is indispensable, but recollection is impossible to him whose soul is disturbed. To seek tranquility in a proud heart is to look for calm weather in the midst of the storm. Who has ever found it possible to attend to prayer when the heart is under the influence of passion?

II. It does away with our merit. What benefit shall I draw from my actions if pride be their motive? The Pharisees made long prayers, fasted rigorously, scrupulously observed the least points of the law, and yet Our Lord loads them with his malediction. Pride, then, is not one of those indolent passions which repel application and labor; quite the contrary—it excites man to exertion. Such a priest is pointed out as a model of zeal and activity; every one speaks of the good he does. . . . Alas, when he will appear before the tribunal of God, how many of those works will be reckoned useless or brought forth against him as evil because pride was their sole principle! I preach, I catechise, I establish pious practices, I am the soul of every holy undertaking; the world says of me that I do much for God's glory; and yet if I do not change, should I not fear the dreadful sentence: "The unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness"? (Matt. xxv. 31.) I bear the hardships of an apostle in order to prepare for myself the fate of a demon.

III. Pride ruins our virtues. They are grounded on faith, but the foundation itself is none but humility. Will a presumptuous spirit consent to respect the venerable obscurity of our mysteries? We remember those powerful geniuses from whom the Church expected great consolation, but which caused her to shed so many tears; alas! "they became vain in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened." (Rom. i. 21.) At least without humility one will not have that lively faith, those gifts of council and wisdom so useful to the priest, so necessary to a spiritual director. "I confess to Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to little ones." (Matt. xi. 25.)

No virtue can exist together with pride; neither can patience, meekness, apostolic zeal, nor good harmony between the members of the same clergy. If charity is a cement which unites, pride is the most powerful of all dissolvents. "Among the proud their are always contentions." (Prov. xiii. 10.) Charity itself has no more dreadful enemy than pride; the lust of the flesh nearly always follows the lust of the mind. The crown of charity sits firmly on the brow of none but the humble.

IV. Punishments and misfortunes of the proud. God will not permit any one to rob Him with impunity of a privilege which He shall yield to no one, as He has declared it: "I will not give My glory to another." (Is. xlii. 8.) "He resists the proud." It is not said that He withdraws from them His grace and His support; it is declared that He resists them, opposes power to power; and because, according to the decree of God, "by what things a man sinneth, by the same also he is tormented" (Sap. xi. 17), the more desirous the proud man is of glory, the more he is loaded with humiliations. "Where pride is, there also shall be reproach." (Prov. xi. 2.) He desires to be honored; he shall be despised. He shall find realized in himself the prophecy of Jesus Christ: "He who exalteth himself shall be humbled. He hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart. He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble." There is always to be found a Mardochius in the way of an Aman to change the triumph into despair. But those punishments are punishments of mercy; behold others more frightful. It is on the Judgment Day and in eternity that the proud man will be crushed under the weight of divine vengeance. "The day of the Lord upon every one that is proud and high-minded, and upon every one that is arrogant." (Is. ii. 11.) This crime is considered by St. Gregory as an evident sign of reprobation. Evidentissimum reproborum signum est superbia. Let us search our hearts, let us bewail the past, and never cease to strive against the baneful inclination which will exist within us as long as we live.

Résumé of the Meditation.

First Point.—Why does God hate pride more than any other vice? It attacks God in the most direct and daring manner. It is the denying of the most essential attributes of the Divinity. For the man who is a slave of pride God is not the sovereign Lord to whom all things belong. He is not the first source of all that is good, the last end to which everything should be directed. The proud man will have the incense of praise offered to none but to himself. This vice is particularly hateful in a priest.

Second Point.—Special reasons why we should detest pride.

I. It deprives us of grace. The proud man prays but little; he feels not the need of prayer; if to pray is to humble one's self, the proud man prays amiss; he is under the power of the most turbulent of passions. II. It does away with our merits. What benefit shall I draw from my actions if I have performed them through pride? One may labor much and nevertheless be accounted an unprofitable servant. The proud may undergo the hardships of an apostolic life but, notwithstanding, their lot will be that of the demons. III. Pride destroys all the virtues: faith, for it rests upon humility—God conceals Himself from the proud and reveals Himself to the little ones; charity, for the proud man loves none but himself. Chastity has no more formidable enemy than pride. IV. It brings down punishments upon us. God resists the proud man who becomes his own tormentor because of his extreme susceptibility. He who exalteth himself shall be humbled, both during this life and in eternity. This vice is an evident sign of reprobation.