Pride is one of the 7 deadly (capital/cardinal) sins and the sturdy platform upon which the others (wrath, greed, sloth, lust, envy, gluttony) are built. It is therefore considered the most dangerous sin. It is the opposite of the virtue of humility.

So, what is pride? It is self-love that places one above others. It is being really impressed…   with yourself. St. Augustine said “it was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.” St. John Climacus said “humility is the only thing that no devil can imitate.” (More Saint quotes: here.)

Pride is the most basic tool of the father of lies (Satan), expertly used to feed and build vanity. When we see ourselves through prideful eyes, we can not fully know our true self, others or God. We compete with God, not loving Him above all else and we can not love our neighbors as ourselves. In other words, pride directly opposes the two greatest commandments.

When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them [a scholar of the law] tested him by asking, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

Matthew 22:34-40

I have been thinking a lot about pride lately. The more I look at it, the more it looks like an iceberg with just the tip visible. Superficially it seems much more benign than it truly is. It is very insidious in that way.

So, I want to understand it better…   a sort of “know your enemy” thing. Part of my approach is to mentally review my thoughts and interactions to analyze what happened and how to improve. A play-by-play approach. This is a bit like a football team watching films of their last game. Why did I think that? What was my honest purpose in saying such and such? Did I realize that small accomplishment was a grace from God? Was I trying to elevate myself over another – or worse, trying to lower them? This has been helpful and I feel that it can lead to enduring improvement away from this sin (although avoiding it completely seems almost impossible to me).

Another part of my strategy is prayer. I ask the Holy Spirit for help in understanding something then I listen. The response does not come immediately nor all at once, but it comes. For me, the best place is before the Blessed Sacrament in adoration. Three things that I have learned about pride so far are:

1. Pride is taking credit for that which is accomplished by God’s grace. Our achievements are through God’s gifts to us. He is the source, not us. We take a dim view of people who steal credit for someone else’s work. How much worse then is it when we steal from God?
2. Pride is a black cloud which smothers the light of God in other people. We are all God’s greatest creation. Pride focuses our attention inward making us act as though God’s greatest creation is ourselves. In essence, we sever ourselves from the Body of Christ and thus can not love our neighbor (seen lesser) as ourselves (seen greater).
3. Pride is putting yourself on a pedestal, from which you will surely fall. It is inevitable – and even positive. In the past I viewed such falls as embarrassments which is defined as “the shame you feel when your inadequacy or guilt is made public.” I have come to view these humbling moments as welcome and instructive blessings. It is interesting to me how this perspective replaces embarrassment.

He then addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else. “Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector. The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, ‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity – greedy, dishonest, adulterous – or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.’ But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’ I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Luke 18:9-14

We have hope. It is like light against darkness. Without the light of hope, the darkness of despair would overcome and consume us.

Our hope is for ourselves, each other, the country and the world. We hope for good jobs and good health. We have many hopes for our children. We hope our country does not descend into complete moral depravity. We have grand hopes such as world peace and trivial ones like sports championships.

These desires are natural hopes and are good. Our healthy wiring is for such good and emanates from God within, even if we deny Him. Such hope gives us a reason to get out of bed, to embrace the day and to enjoy life…   or to at least look forward to better times.

Natural hope is short-term.

Christian hope is supernatural, not just an immediate purpose but an eternal one. Without it our lives are merely mortal and often selfish. Our faith would rest in people and institutions. Then we die.

I feel sorry for atheists. If they truly believe what they profess (something I am not always convinced of), their coming death marks for them the complete end of their existence. However, denying God is like denying gravity – stepping off the top of a 33-story building would undoubtedly bring a big surprise. When the atheist stands before Christ at his particular judgment, he will similarly be surprised – and confused – and remorseful. Some of you may remember Lucille Ball’s television husband Ricky Ricardo (Desi Arnaz) and his oft quoted line: “you have some ‘splainin’ to do.”

God sent His Son to offer us the hope of eternal life. HE SENT HIS SON! Our hope rests in God and His promises, not any promises born of this world.

I feel sorry for agnostics too. They are like atheists, but want to keep their options open “just in case.” Their eternal hope is vague and couched in conditionals. They have mastered the sin of presumption. If some sort of supreme being or beings exist, he / she / they will accept me because they accept everybody and/or I am a good person. God sent His Son and this is their take-away.

We have a lot of evangelizing to do.

Evangelizing not just to atheists and agnostics but to Catholics and other Christians too. In a couple weeks we will see (thank God) CEO / ChEaster (Christmas and Easter Only) Catholics. Essentially, they are culturally Catholic agnostics. Let’s pray that their hearts open fully to the Holy Spirit and that they truly come home. Pray also for the faithful who have listened to secular voices, placing secular “values” above God’s will. His will is not about feelings, partisan politics and certainly not about “choice.” Blessed Pope John Paul II taught us that “freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought.”

Pray too for our brothers and sisters in separated Christian communities. Through their baptisms they have entered into the ordinary means of salvation, but their paths are guided by maps with missing sections. Some are taught much of the truth while others astonishingly little. Some have little error introduced while other dangerously much. They differ greatly from each other. Few meet Jesus through the sacraments He gave us.

Our Lord Jesus Christ came into our lost world to bring us hope – to reveal God’s truth and to offer us a path to salvation. He did not leave us alone when He ascended to heaven. He sent the Holy Spirit to us, beginning with our first pope and bishops. His real presence remains too, most especially in the Eucharist (communion; literally receiving the body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ) and in the other sacraments. He gave us a deposit of faith and one Church to teach it, infallibility protected to the end of time by the Holy Spirit. Our hope rests on truth proclaimed from that rock and sanctified through the sacraments.

Therefore, we are not discouraged; rather, although our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to what is seen but to what is unseen; for what is seen is transitory, but what is unseen is eternal.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Here we are at the end of another Church year! It is a perfect time to reflect on our spiritual lives and memories. This is not the kind of thing we typically would stop for in the middle of the day. More likely, in the still of the night when we are trying to fall asleep our thoughts may move in this direction.

Something during the day might bring a brief remembrance of our past – a person, a place or a “thing.” Lying in bed, we have the time to recall and savor that memory more completely.

I remember my family and extended family members, individually and in groups, in our routine interactions and special occasions. For example, dinner time as a child with my Dad, Mom and brother gathered around the kitchen table or celebrations when we would all get together like Thanksgiving. Their laugh, what we talked about, the sunlight, the smells – sometimes decades before but remembered just like it was yesterday. Broadening to other friends and acquaintances (classmates, fraternity brothers, teachers, co-workers, church, etc.) with who I was close, the memories seem endless.

Think about the people in your life. Your favorite teacher, most mischievous uncle, childhood best friend, your family on vacation, the person at work who became a lifelong friend, a special neighbor. This quickly grows to a lot of people!

It’s not just people that we remember but places and things too. Your childhood bedroom, the place you or your parents rented every year for vacation, the favorite restaurant you used to go to, your college campus, your first cubicle. Maybe you remember your first camera or record player, a prom dress, or that first car.

A curious thing about all of these memories is their indistinct point in time. For example, if you think about your best childhood friend, the vignette that comes to mind is one or more points in the midst of knowing them (or maybe even a “blended” memory). This seems true for most such memories.

What does not stick is the LAST TIME we experienced each person, place or thing except in particularly traumatic circumstances. I remember the last time I saw my Dad and spoke with my Mom, but not really so much for my other relatives and friends. Of places and things, I would be hard pressed to remember the last time I was there or enjoyed that thing.

Yet, there was a last time.

There was a last time I spoke with all the people in my memories. So many have died that whenever that last time was, it was permanent (at least on this side of eternity). In almost all cases, I did not realize then that I would never see or speak with them again. I only know this now in hindsight.

This observation brings to mind some important conclusions:

• Know that every person we encounter today may be gone tomorrow. Treat them accordingly. Remember this especially for our loved ones. Remember it too for our enemies as we may have no additional opportunities to make ammends.
• Tell God how grateful we are for all the people in our life and the many, many blessings we have received.
• One day will be our last. That might be today. Are you ready?

“But of that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. For as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. In [those] days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day that Noah entered the ark. They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away. So will it be [also] at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be out in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken, and one will be left. Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come. Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour of night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into. So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”

Matthew 24:36-44

Where do rights come from? This is so fundamental yet (apparently) widely misunderstood. Human rights come from God. They do not come from government. Government properly formed, accepts its role to protect human dignity through our God-given rights. The framers of the Declaration of Independence understood that, stating “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

President Obama has famously omitted “by their Creator” on several occasions. It might be an innocent oversight (made repeatedly). Alternatively, it may signal a belief in government (not God) as the source of rights. If so, the Democratic party of John Kennedy has come a long way since his 1961 inaugural address:

…man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe – the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God.

Many presidents acknowledged God’s law as fundamental, not a meaningless talking point to pander to a certain demographic. George Washington said “It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible.” John Quincy Adams said “The highest glory of the American Revolution was this: it connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity.” Abraham Lincoln said “Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, can not long retain it.” Ronald Reagan said “Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged.” George W. Bush said “I believe all these things because freedom is not America’s gift to the world, it is the Almighty God’s gift to every man and woman in this world.” There are many, many more examples.

Catholic social teaching is also quite clear: the “roots of human rights, are to be found in the dignity that belongs to each human being” (Compendium of the Social Doctrine, #152). Such dignity is given to them by their creator – the “unalienable rights” referred to in the Declaration of Independence. The catechism says:

Respect for the human person entails respect for the rights that flow from his dignity as a creature. These rights are prior to society and must be recognized by it. They are the basis of the moral legitimacy of every authority: by flouting them, or refusing to recognize them in its positive legislation, a society undermines its own moral legitimacy. If it does not respect them, authority can rely only on force or violence to obtain obedience from its subjects. It is the Church’s role to remind men of good will of these rights and to distinguish them from unwarranted or false claims.

CCC 1930

The right to life is absolute (CCC 2270). Consider a woman’s “right to choose” (to kill her unborn child). There is no such right to take an innocent, human life. Being without legal consequence under man’s law, a law that increasingly distances itself from God’s law, in no way makes it a right or moral. God’s law (“thou shall not kill”) always has absolute precedence over man’s law. He is just…   know with certainty that there are eternal consequences for the willful, unrepentant violation of His law.

Others share culpability in the exercise of this non-existent “right” in proportion to their role. This ranges from the direct material cooperation of the medical staff (for which they are automatically excommunicated) to voting for politicians who support abortion (even if, and perhaps especially if, they are “personally opposed to it”) AND eligible voters who fail to vote against such politicians. In the case of abortion, due to its extremely grave nature and intrinsic evil, this is of the highest moral weight making these serious sins. NO counter-balancing good is possible for a candidate’s support of abortion. Only other candidates’ truly equal positions on abortion could permit a voter to choose among them. That is definitely NOT the situation in this election.

To be perfectly clear, no Catholic can morally vote for Barrack Obama in the upcoming presidential election. There is no wiggle room on this. Prudential judgments on healthcare, taxes, government aid for the poor, just war and the death penalty (yes, just war and the death penalty are prudential judgments) do NOT “outweigh” his extremely strong support for the intrinsic evil of abortion. There are 1,200,000 human lives terminated by abortion each year in the US.

Many, many Catholics and other Christians will vote contrary God’s law, natural law and the clear / unambiguous teaching of Holy Mother Church. They will put their political ideology ahead of God. He will judge their hearts with culpability being reduced if they were somehow not aware of their candidate’s position on abortion, suffered mental impairment, were subject to forced coercion and so on. As in all sins, we are given free choice. We certainly have the legal right to vote for whomever we choose on whatever basis suits us. We are similarly free to make many other legal choices in life which are gravely sinful. Many mortal sins are perfectly legal.

Two other similar non-existent “rights” must also be mentioned. First, there is no right for people of the same sex to marry (sinful in several ways). Second, the state has no right to limit the free exercise of religion. Like abortion, these are very serious affronts to human dignity and non-negotiable (although secondary to life itself). President Obama’s positions on these issues also disqualify him from faithful Catholic votes.

Finally, this list would be incomplete without at least mentioning the wide breadth of other non-existent “rights” people are told they have – often for “free” things ranging from cell phones (morally neutral) to contraceptives (immoral).

Rights come from God and morality is not something we know and practice only at church or in the privacy of our homes. The wall dividing Church and state protects the Church from interference by government in the free exercise of religion (the very first amendment to the US Constitution). It does not, in any way whatsoever, impede an individual’s exercise of a well formed conscience in matters of the state – either by voters or by elected officials. Indeed our faith demands that we bring God with us into the voting booth and public service. To do otherwise is to deny Him, at grave peril to our eternal salvation.

Further Resources:

• EWTN Morality of Cooperation in Evil
• EWTN A Guide to Catholic Teaching and Voting
• Catholic Answers Voter’s Guide for Serious Catholics
• Jimmy Akin What Ratzinger Said
• CatholicVote.org

“A vote for a candidate that supports actions or behaviors that are intrinsically evil and gravely sinful, makes you morally complicit and places the eternal salvation of your own soul in serious jeopardy.”