16th Sunday after Pentecost 25 September 2022 Pride
The demons were angels first but they let their own beauty seduce them away from God.
It is the same for us, in principle. Humans are able to reflect on themselves, having self-consciousness. We are aware of our identity, and can take pride in ourselves.
There is a right and a wrong pride.
The right pride is that we are aware children of God, and that He puts great value on us. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (Jn 3,16)
The wrong pride is when we take the credit ourselves for any good attribute we have, or anything we are good at doing.
We must at all times acknowledge that we come from God and are kept in being by Him; and all that is good about us is made possible only by Him.
We must admire the real God, not ourselves.
If we think we are better than others or take undue pride in our abilities this is danger for us spiritually.
We see how people with inflated egos can cause great harm – dictators, tyrants, bullies, chronically selfish people.
It is good to have talents. We do not have to deny that we have them, only attribute them to God as their originator, and ourselves to be stewards of His gifts.
Thus we maintain a true humility, which is an essential quality for any would-be disciple of Our Lord.
He was humble Himself in coming down from Heaven to share our condition.
God allocates gifts as He chooses. He may give more to one than another.
We should be grateful that He takes any notice of us at all.
Must we deny all good feeling, praise etc? If we get the right balance it is fine.
We can encourage each other and affirm a job well done. Only, we must be wary of forming too high an opinion of ourselves.
God will help us choose wisely. When we exercise our free will in union with God's will then we have the right formula. It is thus that God wants to work with us, and through us.
If we are to be praised it would be that we had enough sense to make the right choice.
Faced with all else I chose the right place to go – which is
to God.
Our Lord accused the pharisees of pride in that they worried only about appearances. They wanted to look good without actually being good.
God searches the hearts and knows what a man has in him (Jn 2,25). We cannot deceive God, and should not try to deceive each other.
We should not be jealous if another seems to have more gifts than we have. Nor should we take pleasure in thinking we have more gifts than another.
We wish others to do well, to find their place with God, as we find ours.
We compare with Christ rather than each other, insofar as we are following Him not someone else.
Being right with him should make us right with each other.
We are grateful for praise from others but do not demand it or rely upon it; and if the praise is inflated then we adjust it downwards.
Some talents are more public than others and more likely to draw praise eg singing, acting, sport.
But other talents may be hidden such as being a good listener, a patient nurse, one who prays powerfully for others etc.
Many ministries within the Church are hidden. Think of the Holy Family, and the good they expressed, without the whole neighbourhood knowing. Great good can come from the right thing being done humbly.
cf extract from Litany of Humility. From being esteemed, loved, extolled, honored, praised, preferred to others, consulted, approved,
From the fear of being humiliated,
despised, of suffering rebukes, calumniated, forgotten, ridiculed, wronged,
suspected. Deliver me, O Jesus
That others may be loved more than I, That others may be esteemed
more than I, That, in the opinion of the world, others may increase and I may
decrease, That others may be chosen and I set aside, That others may be praised
and I go unnoticed, That others may be preferred to me in everything, That
others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I
should,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
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