The Sunday Sermon Archive

Dear Friend,

Christ after having healed the man with the dropsy on the Sabbath set out to heal the Pharisees of a spiritual evil _ pride.

Every one that exalts himself shall be humbled. Pride is a terrible evil. It is like a virus that infects everything it touches. It is perhaps worse because it is very cleaver at disguising its presence. It has a way of hiding under any number of good works or virtues. Pride sometimes even presents itself to us as virtue.

Pride makes us exalt ourselves. When we make ourselves out to be more than we are we are proud. How many a woman paints and decorates her body with the illusion that she is beautiful when in reality she is a laughing stock to everyone that lays eyes on her? Or in the spiritual realm, some filled with pride talk piously and pray so that the superficial observer will conclude that they are saints. Sometimes there are those who seek out the first place and wish to be honored and respected far beyond what they truly deserve.

This pride leads us to ascribe all the glory of what we do to ourselves rather than to God — who is the source of all goodness. We must remember that God allows us all the fruit or the utility of everything, but He reserves for Himself all the glory and honor. We must honor and glorify God in everything even though we are granted the privilege of using and gaining the advantages of these good things that God has given us. As St. Paul says: "I am what I am by the grace of God."

The proud man tends to despise his neighbor. He imagines that he is better or greater, when in reality he has nothing that he can truly claim as his own. Also we must consider the fact that our neighbor has been created, nurtured and redeemed by the same God as we have been. It is sinful to despise that which God has created in His own image and likeness and loves to the point of offering Himself on the cross for his sins.

Let us realize that there is nothing so detestable in the eyes of God as pride. Christ had nothing but compassion to the greatest of sinners. He readily pardoned the public sinner Mary Magdalen, the publican Zacheus, and even the thief on the cross. But, Christ had the harshest of words for the proud Scribes and Pharisees. He even referred to them as a brood of vipers and children of the devil _ all because of their pride.

Pride draws down upon us the wrath of God. And the humiliations of the proud man are a terrible suffering in eternity, but men often see the misery of the proud even here on earth. The proud man is a very miserable man. St. Augustine says: "Pride brings forth envy as its legitimate child, and the bad mother is always accompanied by her bad child." When the proud man sees others esteemed and himself slighted, anger and envy at once arise in his heart; he gets excited, peace departs from his soul, and he feels nothing but ill humor and discontent.

Pride robs us of any merit in eternity. When the proud man does any deed it is for his own honor and glory. He seeks the praise of men. Nothing is done for the honor and glory of God so he gives no honor or glory to God. He seeks the vain and fleeting praise of men and our Lord says to him: you have already received your reward and have none to expect in eternity.

St. Bernard says that in order to keep the spirit of pride away from us we must often make the following questions the subject of our reflections: What were we? What will we be? Remember whence we came and be abashed.

Let us also reflect upon the fact that Jesus and all the saints were humble.

Let us never say of ourselves without a special reason anything that may redound to our honor; let us disregard the praise of men and the applause of the world, for they are vain. On the contrary, let us endeavor to merit praise from God on account of our virtues for this alone has value. "Be you humbled, therefore, under the mighty hand of God; that He may exalt you in the time of visitation." (1 Peter 5:6)

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