Nov 17 2008
The Standard of Satan: Pride
From a spiritual conference by Father John Hardon:
Let me first quote from St. Ignatius, “The chief of all the enemy summons innumerable demons and scatters them. Some to one city and some to another throughout the whole world, so that no province, no place, no state of life, no individual is overlooked. He goes around to lay snares for men to seek to chain them. First they are to tempt them to covet riches, as Satan himself is accustomed to do in most cases, that they more easily obtain the empty honors of this world and then come to overweening pride. The first step then, will be riches, the second; honor, the third; pride, from these three steps the one leads to all other vices.”
Now some explanation, the devil’s strategy is to get people to become attached to earthly things. He urges them to, well, acquire say material wealth, which is the cheapest kind of riches, or acquire education. Ah, dear Lord, how clever the devil is. Or acquire mastery in the use of their emotions, or cultivate gifts in the social order, or, would you believe it, the devil will even tempt people to acquire spiritual riches. Forty-seven years in the priesthood, as I keep telling people, have taught me an awful lot. Twenty-five years of teaching the most highly intellectual people that the Church can gather, members of the Society of Jesus, oh how hungry men can be for knowledge. But whatever the possession, whether as cheap a thing as money, or special things say as, secular knowledge or even spiritual wisdom, the beginning is to become wealthy and thus to attain to recognition, praise, honor. How well I know, I’ve lived with too many people, too many highly gifted individuals, who have fallen like cheap tinder because they’ve allowed themselves to be beguiled by the evil spirit.
Attachment to the things of this world gradually makes a person, not only satisfied with what he or she possesses, but hungry for acceptance, recognition, praise, and honor. And once, as Ignatius says, once a person becomes a victim of empty honors, then pride follows as a matter of course. I’ve struggled with too many multi-millionaires not to know how weak these wealthy people can be if they allow their attachment to the things of this world to bewitch them, and as a consequence makes them an easy prey by making them proud. Because once a person falls into pride, there is no limit to that person’s malice. Proud people are the agents of the devil. He uses them to seduce others. In fact, he uses them to work with him, and under his demonic power he organizes proud people into what some of the Fathers of the Church, as I have said, call a distinct power, call it the mystical body of satan. By whatever name, it is mastered by the father of lies. And God allows the demons to exercise superhuman power over those who allow themselves to be victimized.
(Don’t forget to read Part 2: The Standard of Christ: Humility)
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Wow, this explains why the former great Jesuit Universities have become cesspools of corruption.
Hi Mike,
It explains more than that! It explains why religious orders diminish — why our attempts to evangelize fail — why the world looks upon Christianity in general and Catholics in particular with a sneer.
For me, this excerpt from Fr. Hardon is a clarion to meditate and live the first beatitude — “blessed are the poor in spirit.” Oh, how badly we need to be humble.
In Christ.
Fr. John Hardin is one of the great Teachers of our times. Why is there no movement for his Beatification, & Canonization?? He could become the Patron Saint of Truth Tellers–much needed in this era of the ascendence of LIARS. Thank you for this article!As to those who sneer about The Holy Roman Catholic Church–”He who laughs last…” and all of that.
Thank you,and we are in desparte need of truth,the LORD is the truth and the light,,i really don’t want to fall into the sin of pride,,and i didn’t know that there are many way’s that you can be prideful and not realise it,,,i thank you and may God in His mercy and love bless us all and protect us with His Precious Blood now and until eternity,margie m.a solidier in the “JESUS” army,,,
This also explains why we are admonished,”Do not use certain members of your body as weapons.” And why even the powers of theHoly Office have been used as weapons. It explains that power has always corrupted. And absolute power corrupts absolutely. It explains the first fall and the most recent one. It explains in terms even I can understand that I and each and every one of us is in need of daily repentence. It explains why the only sacrifice asked of us is ,”To actjustly, to love tenderly and walk humbly with our God.”. It explains whywhy some of us simply want some members of The Mystical Body to sit down, shut up, pray, pay and obey. It explains who the,”they”, is in the eighth station of the cross when Jesus Says to the women, “Women don’t weep for me, but for yourselves and for your children, for what ,”they”, have done to the green tree, what will ,”they” do to the branches?”.
I’m not sure if there is an active organization dedicated to the cannonization of Fr. Hardon, but there is a prayer that calls for him to be “raised to the honors of the altar”. I have a prayer card which includes the following prayer:”We thank you, O Lord, for having blessed your Church with the untiring service of your priest, John Hardon.May he, from heaven, continue his mission and obtain for us the strength and the intelligence to proclaim and defend the truth with genuine fidelity to the Catholic Faith and the charity he drew from the Sacred Heart of Jesus.Grant us, we pray, the favors we ask through his intercession and raise him to the honors of the altar. Amen.His eminence Edouard Cardinal Gagnon, p.s.s.”This prayer card came from Eternal LifeBardstown, KY 4004-07871-800-842-2871orders@lifeeternal.orghttp://www.lifeeternal.org/index.aspx
Hey folks -
I certainly appreciate the comments, I really do. Though I don’t have an “official” comment policy here, if I had one, it would be this — “please write clearly.” I want to know what you think.
Hi Carol -
As Nicole said, there is a movement dedicated to the canonization of Fr. John Hardon. I know of it through the Marian Catechist Apostolate, which Fr. Hardon founded. Here is an article about Fr. Hardon’s canonization process.
I think this quote was amazingly well-timed, considering the Gospel reading from this Sunday. How many times do we not share our talent not because we are hoarding it but because we are afraid of what people will say if we try? How often do we (and I’m pointing a finger right at myself here) spend an inordinate amount of time learning without sharing our learning because we don’t want others to realize how little we really know?
Ugh. There are days you feel like God is talking right to you. Then there are days you feel like he’s screaming.
Thanks to the 54% of Catholics who voted for the big O, we have alot of pride going around!
MM - I am agahst - 54% of Catholics voted for Obama? Where did you come about that number? Woe to us. I voted againt him for one reason - abortion.
I am relieved to know that Obama isn’t ‘The’ anti-Christ, but my relief is short-lived in knowing he is in fact ‘an’ anti-Christ.But, in a sense, aren’t we all, in smaller measures, anti-Christs? Pride, I think and am sorry to admit, is not the exclusive sin of the wealthy and powerful.
Hi Bob — Zenit reported that 54% of “all Catholics” voted for Obama. However, if you divide Catholics into practicing and non-practicing, McCain won 55% of votes of practicing Catholics.
Hi Laura – Insofar as we oppose Christ, we are an “anti-Christ.” And you’re absolutely correct — the fundamental way we can oppose Christ is through the sin of pride. This is why every spiritual writer worth reading emphasizes over and over that the fundamental virute — the fundamental attitude — we must cultivate is humility.
If we take care of ourselve both in spirit and in well being is that pride? or if we take care of our property as to keep it nice and cared for is that pride.. ?? please explain to me more the meaning of pride as I am a bit confused.. I thought it was good to care about ones self and to keep what he has worked hard for in good condtion because of his hard work.. so again .. Pride.. just what is it ..?
“All of our rightousness is as filthy rags”
Heaven.com reported an exit poll taken Nov. 05 of departing U.S. Catholic souls. The Poll showed that of those who voted for the Democratic candidate, 100% went straight to gehenna. The Poll cited something about a vote for a candidate who supports “the intrinsic evil of abortion” as participating in a “grave moral evil.” Jesus has this passion for “these little ones” as He refers to them and He doesn’t take lightly to those who would cause them harm, either directly or indirectly. Apparently each were handed a large mill stone as they departed as a token of His sentiment.
“Although all the Gentiles in the king’s realm obey him, so that each forsakes the religion of his fathers and consents to the king’s orders, yet I and my sons and my kinsmen will keep to the covenant of our fathers. God forbid that we should forsake the law and the commandments. We will not obey the words of the king nor depart from our religion in the slightest degree.” (1 Macc 2:19-22)
There you go that just about covers almost the entire WORLD but then again there is an old saying i do not belong to this world but the next one.
Before we get too proud! Ha! St. Ignatius says we all have the three deadly sins, Pride, Vanity, and Sensuality working in our lives. But that one of these sins is our predominate sin. We should all seek to find that predominate sin. For most of us that one would be pride. Then once we know what our predominate sin is, we should develop a plan of action to overcome it, a Plan of Life, which should incorporate the use of the Virtue which is counter to the sin. This is why we should have a spiritual director, to help us with this. One problem is that not many priests have trained in giving spiritual direction.
Hi Linda –
What you described is good stewardship. All that we have, we have because God has given it to us. We are a good steward of his gifts when we strive to keep ourselves healthy, or when we strive to keep our possessions in good condition. That’s not pride — that’s one of the pillars of humility.
The most basic definition of pride is this: We reject the fact that we are creatures and aspire to be our own creator. This is the sin of Adam and Eve — they wanted to be like God.
What Fr. Hardon is describing is the devil’s strategy to get us to become prideful. We can’t be prideful unless we first crave honors, and we can’t crave honor unless we crave some kind of worldly wealth. That might be material wealth, or it might be intellectual wealth, or it might be spiritual wealth. But whenever we desire something in order to obtain worldly honor or recognition — it’s a sure-fire bet that we’re on the road to pride.
However — and here’s what is so tricky about it — sometimes our desire to obtain something is for the glory of God. Now, let’s not get silly here. But here, we our desire is God’s glory, not the possession itself.
This is why Fr. Hardon speaks of the necessity of detachment. If we are detached from worldly wealth, then we will seek to obtain only those things necessary for (a) our survival and (b) God’s glory.
So, for example — we all need food in order to live. But do we need the most expensive, most elegant food available? We all need shelter, but do we need an over-priced McMansion? We all need transportation, but does not a $25,000-vehicle provide the same thing as an $80,000 vehicle?
Now, this is a difficult subject on which to write in a comment box. But if I had to summarize my thoughts, the summary would look like this:
All things come from God, and therefore our fundamental duty is to thank God for his gifts. One natural conclusion to this fact is that we must be good stewards of God’s gifts — which include both our person, body, mind, and soul, as well as the material possessions he has given us in order to survive. In order to avoid pride, we must do our best to become detached from everything in order to become completely attached to God and God alone. But detachment doesn’t mean neglecting our health or possessions, but, rather, using them as God wills — for his glory.
It’s hard, I know — it’s hard to write about, it’s hard to think about. But I hope this helps.
Please feel free to ask more questions, if need be.
God bless.
I agree whole-heartedly, except that I believe pride is THE sin from which the others stem. It was the source of the Fall, wasn’t it?
There are some interesting comments here, especially Taad’s, who writes we all suffer from a predominate sin; either pride, vanity, or sensuality (lust). Hmm. Where did you learn that? Mine jumped right out at me.
God bless us all in the time to come, which is not going to be easy for Catholics or Christians of any stripe.
Tina
A good quote from St. Ignatius. Always love good quotes.
Hi Tina,
Yes, indeed — pride was the source of the Fall, for Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit because they wanted to “be like God.” And so, pride is the source of every other sin, because whenever we sin we seek to determine good and evil for ourselves, thereby being “like God.”
I’ve heard that we all have a predominate sin. I’m not sure if it originated with St. Ignatius of Loyola. However, most spiritual writers do not limit our predominate sin to pride, vanity, or lust. I believe it’s time I start thinking about a post on this subject. It’s a good one.