PRIDE is actually another name for sin, itself, because from it all other sins flow. It was the primordial and first sin as well. Let us look how Pride has been manifested from the first to the present day:
Lucifer said: "Non serviam!" - "I will not serve." Why did he say this in the face of and to the face of a beautiful and loving God? Hmmm...could it be that Lucifer (now called Satan, "the Accuser") wanted to take upon himself the attributes of God and determine for himself what is right or wrong? Could it be that Lucifer wanted to be "like God". Interesting that the angel that was appointed to do battle with Lucifer was Michael which means "Who is like unto God?" God chose the right angel to do the right task to expell Lucifer from heaven.
Now Lucifer which means "Light bearer" must have been a beautiful angel for sure. Maybe Lucifer wondered how close was he to God, the Father of Lights. But Jesus testifies how bright Lucifer was when He described Lucifer fall from grace and heaven. Jesus said:
"I saw Lucifer fall from heaven like lightning!" So, Lucifer was not extinguished all at once. As he fell from heaven, he caused a mighty streak of lighting to follow his descent. But now Lucifer has been extinguished because he is called the Prince of Darkness.
So, the first sin was angelic disobedience. This is pride because it makes the non-serviam person to be his own god. Interesting that in the 10 commandments, God gives Moses the First Commandment: "I am the Lord, thy God; thou shalt not have strange gods before me." Seems God is speaking from experience in this first of His Commandments.
The second sin was also PRIDE. God has told Adam and Eve not to eat of the fruit three of good and evil lest they die. But Lucifer turned Satan tempted Adam and Eve just as he had tempted himself with success. So he knew how to do it. He told Eve that "God surely knows you will not die but be like God knowing good and evil." Well, Satan had successfully lied to himself; so he knows how to lie to Eve. If the Serpent is telling the truth, then God is made out to be a liar; because God said she would die. Actually, God did not want Eve or Adam to sin; but He knew that this "MORTAL SIN" would so become part of their souls as to become part of their bodies as well. God knew that to know this sin would bring death to their souls and bodies. And it did. The Serpent lied..I cannot understand how Adam and Eve would believe such a Serpent who did not look like God or act like God...a creature that was actually beneath them in beauty and dignity. The Sin of Pride that Adam and Eve committed was to determine for themselves - not in obedience to God - what is good and what is bad. They wanted to be like Lucifer, their own God. But between any creature and God is an infinite vastness that no one can imagin. between a man and God is like between an ant and a human being but only infinitely more. Limitness of God means He was around from forever. That is why He aptly named Himself: "I AM WHO AM!"
HUMILITY:
Now what is the anecdote to PRIDE? It's HUMILITY. But what is humility? St. Thomas Aquinas said this of humility: "Humilitas Veritas" - "Humility is Truth!" Let's look at that a little: He did not say that humility was those who say they are nothing and do not have any talent or are of no use. No, "Humility is Truth"; and humility is a word that comes from the Latin: humus - earth. Therefore humility is what is real. Mother Teresa was not one to put herself down; no, she had a virgorous sense of self and great energy in exercing her right to be herself: but she defined herself in terms of being a servant of Christ, Jesus. That gave her the Liberty to soar as a person because her personhood was grounded (humus) in her God, Jesus Christ. Once she got her ground straight, everything else followed in a marvelous and creative way. She saw..in each dying Hindu and Moslem and Christian and Jew...Jesus Christ..and served Jesus in serving them. She said: "Serviam!" "I will serve!" I watched her funeral. She was shown carried in her OPEN casket down miles of roadway because Hindus believe that being in the presence of a holy person makes you blest and holy. Humility is Truth.
When a newsman confronted her once and asked her: "Are you a saint?" She said: "You are called to be a saint; it is not hard to be a saint." Her humility disarmed him completely. She put his question back on him and in effect asked: "Why aren't you a saint?"
In Blessed John Paul II we again see an exciting humility...because let us face it: pride is boring. Pride makes a person self absorbed; but humility makes a person to be a global person. He was said to have brought down Communism single handedly. When confronted with this from a newsman who asked him how he was ablt to bring down Communism, John Paul II said: "When the tree is rotten, it falls!" John Paul's funeral was the largest gathering of people in the history of the world. Besides this, it was televised to all the peoples of the world.
I saw a play made into a movie written by Blessed John Paul II: it was called "The Jeweler Shop". It has some big stars in it: Burt Lancaster and Olivia Hussey. Burt was a Christ figure what weighed gold wedding rings and said that "it was not the weight of gold but the proper weight of man." The play was all about who man and woman were in relationship. It is hard to believe that the writer of this play was not married once himself. Actually, that question came up from a bold newsman who asked Pope John Paul if he had not been married before becoming a priest. The Pope could easily have said "No" and let it go at that. But the Pope simply did not deny it. The Pope was as a young student in love with a girl who died during the occupied Nazi rule in Poland. The Pope was a man of great humility who believed that the best way to get the Gospel out to the world was to place it in the context of drama. His whole life was one of great drama - because it was a life lived in great humility - his very energizing ground for his being. Like Mother Teresa, his whole life was: "Totus Tuus!" - I am Totally Yours!" His whole priesthood was: "I WILL SERVE!"
Today is the Feast Day of St. Anthony of the Desert. His humility caused him to trust in God and not himself. He battled in the desert as a hermit against the wiles of the devil who caused images of dancing girls to entice him. This made Anthony more aware of his weakness and more aware of his need to humbly trust in God. His maxims for his monks was: "Know yourself...then you will know God from your weakness.."
His life was written down by St. Anathasius of Alexandria who credits St. Anthony for bringing into the Church the religious life. Yes, he and his monks were hermits in their little hermitages; but they all came together each day for the Liturgy of Mass and the common prayers as a religius community. Up to this time in the Church, there were no monasteries or any religious orders in the Church. From St. Anthony came the Benedictains, Cistercians...all of whom were modeled after St. Anthony of the Desert. He died in 356 AD at the ripe old age of 105 despite his many rigorous fasting and penances.
But the greatest and most humble of all people on this planet was Mary, Mother of God. When the Angel Gabriel asked her if she would be the Mother of God, she said: "Be it done according to your word." Notice that it not about her word or ideas, not about doing it her way, not about her plans. It was all about God and His plans for her. This submissiveness is the model for all of us. Her words "Fiat voluntas tua" are the very opposite of Lucifer's words to God: "Non serviam!" She is the very personification of HUMILITY.
Her song of praise to God was in meeting Elizabeth: "My soul maginfies the Lord; and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior...for He who is Might has done great things for me." She finds her whole identity in God. Humility for Mary is the very sky she flies in to reach God. She is the one who teaches us to find our indentity and life in God. She was the greatest human being to live on this planet who was only human. And how did she achieve this greatness? I believe she became the greatest by washing clothes, making meals for Joseph and Jesus, sweeping floors: serving others and servine God. Therein lies our greatness as well.
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PRIDE today:
I mentioned earlier that we would look at some contemporary PRIDE in the world today. Of course the first one that comes to mind is the Supreme Court decision that allowed Roe's abortion to stand. But interestingly, the Judge had this to say: "If the suggestion that the fetus can be proven to be a human person, then the fetus would be protected by the 14th Amendment and the appellant's (Roe) completely collapses." The 14th Amendments reads: "..no state shall deprive any person of life, liberty and the persuit of happiness without the due process of law.." So, the Judge here seems to have some conscience and realizes the fetus could be a human person. (If course he should know it is not a pig or bird or dog and would only be a human person. Also, the Michigan handbook on abortion says this: the fetus (homo sapiens) is killed." Our State Law says it is a "homo sapiens" - a human being. The Judge in Roe v. Wade also said that his decision did not mean that women could have abortion on demand. There is no humility or truth in that statement because since his decision there have been 58,000,000 abortions on demand - for as little reason as a need to finish college or a woman's need to graduate from highshool withshout showing. And abortion doctors have come out the wood work to make money on the fear of women during an unwanted pregnancy. There a couples so earger to adopt; but women are told that to remove the problem is just to remove the baby. Incidence of breast cancer in post-abortive women is high. Logitudinal studies have shown that post-abortive women have higher incidence of suicide the the rest of the female population. When these women mature, they cannot bear that they have terminated their own child. But Project Rachel and Rachel's Vinyard would loving welcome these women into their healing community where all the women in this community are those who have had abortions and who have known God's forgiveness and healing. If you know any woman who is hurting from abortion, please send her to Project Rachel and Rachel's Vinyard. God loves these women and knows that only women can heal women of this hurt. But again, Lucifer has been at work tempting these young Eve's by telling them lies that it is not a baby..only tissue....Lucifer cannot directly hurt God; but Lucifer/Satan can hurt the children of God and try to stamp out the image and likeness of God in these babies.
IN a 1992 Supreme Court decision called "Casey" which was an abortion related case, the Supreme Court Justice said this: "At the heart of Liberty is defined our own right to define what is concrete (real) in the mystery of the human life." Here we have the same temptation as Adam and Eve underwent. Here the Judge is defining what is real not in relation to God's revealed Law: the 10 Commandments but his own personal self-given right to define what is right and wrong as to what is human life... Here we have the primordial temptation of Lucifer tempting himself, lying to himself and believing his own lie. That is why Satan is called the "father of lies". There was no such thing as a "lie" until Satan invented one: the one he told himself. There is an Indian tribe that has no word for "lie" but had to invent a word when they heard what the white men were telling them.
Well, soon the passage of the "Life at Conception Act" by a 2/3rd's majority of Congress will completely reverse all prior Sumpreme Court decisions including Roe v. Wade and all subsequent Supreme Court decisions - put together. The Act introduced by Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky will completely overturn Roe v. Wade and every related decision because this Act will effectively do what the Judge in Roe v. Wade said it would: namely prove that all fetuses are living legal human persons. This Act declares all fetuses in the womb - from Conception - to be human persons and fully protected by the 14th Amendment. Even if the president vetoes this law, it will still pass by overruling his veto by a 2/rd's majority. There is not possibility that this Act will not become Law. The majority of Congress is pro-life. President Obama is himself a satanic advocate when he said: "women's right to abortion must be protected." There is not law, no congressional record, no Supreme Court decision - no document whatsover that ever defines "women's right to abortion." He just made that up. He is the one who always and consistently leaves out these words of the Constitution when speaking about "our inalienable rights" -- He leave out: "Endowed by the Creator". Of course he left that out in 5 of his speaches when talking about our "inalienable rights." He left those words out because he does not believe that our rights are given to us by the Creator but rather given to us by the State. In that the President and Hitler are co-partners in crime. The President has taking prayer out of the breakfast gathering of Congress. Is he worried to offend someone? Atheists are less that one percent of the population of the Nation. Moslems, Jews, Catholic, Christians of all denominations believe in God, the Creator of all. So, whom is the President protecting by stopping prayers before breakfast? The President is protecting his own lies to himself. In that, he is 'satanic" like in his approach to reality. He is not humble because he defines rights as he so sees fit. And what he sees fit is who will vote for him. President Obama will not be re-elected because he is not in reality - except in his own realty - which is a delusion: a false belief. He actually believes his own lies....and promulgates them...and to do so, he has to say things that are incompatible like: "I am against abortion personally..." but he needs to and has given millions of Federal monies to Planned Parenthood so that they can kill black babies in the womb. Margaret Sanger who founded Planned Parenthood said she did so to get rid of what she called the "weeds of society" - black people. And here is a black person killing black persons in the womb. But he says he is against abortion personally. His actions tell otherwise; and his even defining "women's right to abortion should be protected" is totally consistent with in inconsistencies. A liar to cover up his lies has to tell 99 more.
So, this is Presidential PRIDE - making onto oneself what is God's attributes. It is grounded in self-absorption and self pre-occupation for one's own agenda: re-election at the expense of the death of 1.3 million babies being aborted in this Country every year. The President's platform of death will get him what he is giving out: death to his presidency...just as it did for President Nixon who based his presidency on lies.
CHINA today:
Thirty years ago, China enacted the national law that only one child could be born to each family. If there were women who were pregnant with a second child, then "Remedial" measures had to be taken. These women were found by governmental officials going door to door. These women were taken and detained and brainwashed every day until they submitted to an abortion. And edict went out that every mid-wife delivering a child must if it a boy, he should be washed from a bucket of water and wrapped warmly; if it is a girl. then she should be drowned in that same bucket of water. During the last 30 years, 162,000,000 female babies have been aborted or killed after birth. This is nearly three times as many abortions in this Country over the last 30 years alone which includes all abortions of male and female babies. There is such a shortage of females in China, that the country is importing women from Korea and Vietnam for wives for the men who outnumber the women drastically. There is also a shortage of men as workers in the country. Why? Because over the last 30 years in China, there have been abortions and infanticides of 400,000,000 babies! This is more than half the population of Europe which is presently 730,000,000. All these killings of babies is PRIDE in the cruelest form. China does not want to become Westernized which was hoped by many when trade was encouraged between our countries. China wishes to become an Emperial Nation as it was in ages past. It's goal is world domination. It does not buy oil on the open market; rather it buys oil fields to send crude to China via Canada's pipelines and ports. China manufactures many components for our computers and even for our weapons. These componets could be encoded to give them information directly. So, China is sending us components to be put into our weapons that are need to be deployed to protect us from China. It costs us $100,000 to put one soldier in the field. It cost China only $10,000; so that means that China is building up it army and weapons at a greater rate than we are.
Communist China is based on an idiology that is "atheistic" - all their schools teach children to choose aethisim as their national religion. Here is a country that seeks to be the greatest world power, who is building up it military strength faster than we are, and who believes in no God except the State who defines like Hitler did what human rights are or are not. "Human rights" violations in China today are just as muc as they were in the 1980's. Satan used Hitler's pride and love for world dominance - for sure over Europe and Russia - to kill 44,000,000 people in WWII. The devil's aim is to kill as many humans as possible because humans are made in the image and likeness of God. PRIDE is the greatest weapon of the devil who is arming the Chinese and even our own government who has enacted pro-abortion laws since Roe v. Wade.
Well did Dante write of PRIDE in his Divine Comedy: he put Lucifer in the lowest pit of the inferno. But Lucifer was not in fire but up to his waist in ice. He and those who came to the inferno out of pride carried heavy bolders on their backs because pride makes a person to carry the weight of himself or herself on one's shoulders. The prideful person carries a monkey on one's back: the monkey of the self who askes during life: "how am I being viewed by others; what do people think of me and my accomplishments?" So, in Hell, the prideful person has his own self to carry for all eternity: the self of Pride that put pride in one's self and not serving God which is a "burden that is easy and light" as Jesus said.
Atheists are people who pridefully place themselves where God should be. They are so full of pride as to work to put God out of their minds, the minds of others and the minds of society. China is the very institutionalization of National Atheism. But little do they know and what Hitler found out that "Pride comes before the fall!" Samuel said "Obedience is better than sacrifice." And God's very first and greatest commandment is: "I am the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not have strange gods before Me." God did not say this because He needs our praise. He does love us as His children and wants us to be happy. God knows that if we made ourselves into god or something into god, then we will not be in reality and never find happiness here or in the hereafter.
God, every all is very very very - infinitely - HUMBLE. If you need proof of this, just look at the Word who became Flesh who was hanging on the cross asking the Father to forgive those who were killing Him. Jesus even said: "Come to Me all you who labor and are burdened (with pride), and I will refresh you; for I AM meek and humble of heart." Jesus came to serve...serve the will of the Father and to serve us. He even washed the feet of his apostles to show that they should serve one another as He has served them.
COMBATING PRIDE WITH HUMILITY:
We can combat the PRIDE of the world by beginning with our very selves. Every act of personal humility is sending up to God a hymn of humble praise. How can we do this? Here are few suggestions: HUMILITY lets someone else receive the honors we would like to have or even deserve. HUMILITY prefers that others be preferred to them. HUMILITY never focuses the conversation on ourself but on the other person. HUMILTYsees reality at every step of the way: if we see a little bug, we should marvel at it the way a child would instead of our stepping on it because stepping on that bug created by God is like stepping on reality. Humility sees all reality as it is: a marvelous creation of God who made all things "good" and who made humankind as "very good". Gen.
HUMILITY IS TRUTH: we are servants of a God who has made us to love Him, serve Him and be happy with Him in this life and the next.
Lord, Give us the humility to see that You have made us for You and to be happy with You now and forever - to love onother as Jesus has said: "As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you.. Love one another as I have loved you." Let us have the 12 fruits of the Holy Spirit: especially, peace, love, joy...etc. Make us meek and humble as Jesus, Mary and Joseph are. All this we ask in Jesus' Name. Amen.
love, Pio xo
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