Latest / The Catholic Current / LTACL: Is Pride Still a Sin? (Fr. Robert McTeigue, S.J.)

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LTACL: Is Pride Still a Sin? (Fr. Robert McTeigue, S.J.) · The Catholic Current

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  I can't believe I'm asking this, but I gotta. It's the world we live in.
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  I'm asking, is pride still a
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  sin? Now, some people who know a little bit
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  about grammar and things like homonyms, words that sound the same but
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  mean something different, you talk about, well, no, there's taking pride in one's work,
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  taking pride in one's appearance. But that's not the kind of pride I'm
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  talking about. I'm talking about the pride that gets people
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  killed, that gets people damned.
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  Is that still a sin? Hey Father, can you be more specific?
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  Yes, I can. Stay with me, I've got a story to tell. Hi, I'm Jesuit
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  Father Robert McTeague, your host here every day at The Catholic Current, coming to you
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  from the Station of the Cross Catholic Media Network. Let's take a closer
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  look. Glad you're here. Here's the most vivid example I
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  can give of The pride that gets people
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  killed, the pride that gets people damned. There's a road rage incident.
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  Picture this. You're pulling up at a red light and the guy in
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  the car in front of you jumps out and he's waving a gun overhead and
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  he yells to the whole crowd, anyone who can hear him, he yells,
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  me first!
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  Me always first! And then
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  waves the gun around and then gets in the car and drives through
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  the red light. That's the kind of pride that'll get
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  you killed. But why would it get you damned? Well,
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  the classical tradition on the 7 deadly sins— and this is
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  the 7th one we're talking about, thank you for sticking with us all this time—
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  pride is the worst of the sins because it involves a full-scale
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  inversion of reality. If sanity is ordering
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  your life in harmony with what's real,
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  the sane person says God is God. I'm not
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  God, and I must act accordingly. And a man both
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  fallen and wise would say, God is all holy, and I am
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  not holy, and therefore I'm not pleasing to God,
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  and I must be reconciled with God. And if
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  we're humble, if we're committed to telling the truth, then sanity
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  would also say getting right with God is
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  a task beyond my own powers. I can only
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  be right with God if I cooperate with God's
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  initiative. And someone who's both sane
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  and wise and humble will be well disposed to hearing the gospel
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  from Christ our Lord. So you see, pride is delusional, it's spiteful,
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  and above all, it's bitter. At its root, it declares,
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  I don't want God to be God. I want anything
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  other than God to be God. I want him to be God. I want her
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  to be God. I want the snake to be God. I want the golden calf
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  to be God. I want the government to be God. I want anything to be
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  God but God himself. And pride
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  is arrogant. It arrogates to itself. It presumptuously
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  attributes to oneself the status,
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  rights, and merits another. You know, we talk about guys who
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  never served in the military wearing uniforms and medals
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  and so on, and we call it stolen valor.
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  Well, that's what pride is. It's stolen valor.
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  It's stolen honor. It's stolen glory.
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  All things that belong properly
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  to God. And to attribute divinity to a creature
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  would be ridiculous if it weren't so dangerous.
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  Well, how dangerous is it? Well, listen to this, uh, from Saint
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  Marian Borodi, who was Carmelite mystic and stigmatist.
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  Her name— her religious life was Sister Mary of Jesus
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  Crucified. She describes pride this way: the proud
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  person is like a grain of wheat thrown into water.
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  It swells, it gets big, Expose that grain
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  to the fire, it dries up, it burns. The humble
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  soul is like a grain of wheat thrown into the earth.
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  It descends, it hides itself, it disappears,
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  it dies, but to revive in heaven.
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  So says Sister Mary of Jesus Crucified.
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  What's the moral of the story for us? Humility is rooted
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  in telling the truth. Humility doesn't really mean being
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  dishonest about our talents and our abilities.
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  If Tiger Woods said, I'm a lousy golfer, that doesn't make him
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  humble. It just makes him a very poor liar. Humility is
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  rooted in telling the truth. The truth is God
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  is good and I am not. The truth is God
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  is great and I am not. The truth is God is holy
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  and I am not. And my
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  vocation, my destiny, is to face God,
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  live, and be in union with him forever in heaven.
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  And that can happen only if I am conformed
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  to him, only if my will is united
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  with his. And I can't do that on my
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  own. Someone has to reconcile me
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  to God, which is an infinite act. So I'm going
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  to need a Savior who is both human and divine,
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  and I'm going to need grace to live moment
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  by moment, to resist sin, to repent sin,
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  to atone for sin, to make reparation for sin,
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  so that I can see the face of
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  God and live when I finally run out of time and into
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  eternity. I have to admit
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  all those things as being true in humility,
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  including the truth that I am a sinner, including the truth
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  that I am a Catholic— I'm a member of the Catholic cadre of the People
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  Who Should Know Better club. I have to admit all of
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  that and throw myself at God's feet and ask for his mercy,
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  to ask to be washed clean in the blood of his Son, to be washed
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  white in the blood of the Lamb. Saint John Climacus
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  gives us hope, and he gives us a warning. He says humility
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  is the only thing that no devil can imitate.
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  Humility for the proud is our best friend,
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  just as sobriety is the best friend of the
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  addict. Let's pray for the grace of humility.
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  Let's pray for the grace of truth. Let's pray for the grace of
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  gratitude. Let's face Christ our
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  Lord someday and say, Lord, you did not shed
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  your blood for me in vain. I saw
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  what I needed, I saw what you offered me, and with your help,
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  I acted accordingly. I want to thank
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  you all for sticking with me through all 7 videos having to do with the
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  7 deadly sins. I like making videos based on
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  series of topics. That helps me to plan accordingly.
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  So if there's a series of topics that you want me to cover next,
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  let me know in the comments section or contact me at thestationofthecross.com/askfather.
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  Meanwhile, think on these things today, take them to prayer, and talk about it with
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  those you love. Go in peace, and please do pray for me, for I
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  am a sinner. Thanks for watching today. I release
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  new videos on Mondays and Wednesdays. Check out the archives for more videos.
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  You can listen to my podcast at thestationofthecross.com,
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  and you can find my written work at heraldofthegospel.org. See you next time.