Pride! The mother of all evil contents that is a hidden enemy.

Pride!  The mother of all evil contents that is a hidden enemy.

After much reflection any of us can look back at our success in writing, preaching, establishing perfection for others to follow or making a name for ourselves that many would like to have.  What is wrong with the desire to be known for doing the work of God in his kingdom?  

Nothing except the sins that become engendered by pride itself.  One must be careful to ensure that their reasons for exposing themselves via successes in praising God’s gifts is to plant seeds that will entice non-believers to find what we already have.  

There will be instances where the brilliance of success can establish the vices that will become the sins that might bury our true reasons for announcing our grace-filled gifts that he planted within each of us.  These can be; (avarice, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony, and sloth or acedia).  (Taken from CCC 1866). 

Using the parable of Jesus referring to many of those vices:  There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest.  He asked himself, “What shall I do, for I do not have space to store my harvest?”  And he said, “This is what I shall do: I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones.  There I shall store all my grain and other goods and I shall say to myself, “Now as for you, you have so many good things stored up for many years, rest, eat, drink, be merry!”  But God said to him, “You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?”  (Lk 12: 16 - 20).  

However, as you or I continue to write, preach, establish perfection for others to follow and in the process gain some notoriety just by chance should never feel that pride has entered into our life because of the work we do just might inspire someone to follow the Lord Jesus as we intimate.  St. Paul by his writing finally lost his head because of his admonition towards Christ.  St. Stephen did not refuse to preach to the people in Jerusalem regarding their sin against Jesus having him Crucified.  He used his gifts as a deacon to confront the enemies of Christ and lost his life accordingly.

We may not earn martyrdom by our writing, preaching, or establishing the truth for others to read or hear but many of us may be accused of being prideful because of our name with the context of our work.  Good for us to present the truth about Christ and the gifts his Holy Spirit has endowed each of us with.  This is the very premise Christ sent his disciples out with the words; “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.  And behold, I am with you always until the end of the age.”  (Mt 28: 19 -20).

The impetus to write this article began last night when I was disturbed about appearing too prideful by my writing and the fact that my feelings were beginning to make me feel special by my works.  So I got up and wrote notes actually bringing myself down as if to say; “”don’t you realize how you are affecting God’s view of your writing as if to become a holy person?”  Then as I began to write and check with the Catechism I realized how the demon of Satan will jump in and accuse any of us by making up lies about our ministry and hoping to influence the very mission Christ has called each of us to accomplish. 

Ralph B. Hathaway