| Home - Latest News | Introduction | Bayside Messages | Directives from Heaven | Testimonies | Veronica Lueken | Miraculous Photos | Videos |

Lenten readings

The struggle with the capital sin of pride

 

 

 

"In order to reach the Kingdom of the Father, you must divest yourself, remove all pride and worldly searching. You must become as confident, as trusting as a child. Know that all is yours for the asking. Believe and you will be given the way." - Our Lady of the Roses, March 29, 1975 

 

 

The following is an excerpt from the classic book, The Spiritual Life: A Treatise on Ascetical and Mystical Theology by the Very Reverend Adolphe Tanquerey, S.S., D.D.

CHAPTER IV: The Struggle against the Capital Sins1

#818. At bottom this struggle is but a species of mortification. In order to complete the purification of the soul and prevent it from relapsing into sin, we must set upon the source of the evil in us, which is the threefold concupiscence. The general characteristics of this we have already described in numbers 193-209; but being the root of the seven capital sins, these evil inclinations must be known and attacked. They are tendencies rather than sins; however, they are called sins, because they lead to sins; they are termed capital, because they are the fountain-head or source of other sins.

These tendencies can be referred to the threefold concupiscence in this way: from pride are born vain-glory, envy, and anger, from the concupiscence of the flesh issue gluttony, lust, and sloth, lastly, the concupiscence of the eyes is one with avarice or the inordinate love of riches.

n1. CASSIAN, "De coebiorum institutis," 1. V, e. I, P. L., XLIX, 202 and foll.; "Collationes," coll. V, c. X, ibid., 621 and foll.; ST. JOHN CLIMACUS, "Scala Paradisi," XXI I, P. G. LXXXVIII, 948 and foll.; ST. GREGORY THE GREAT, "Moral.," 1 XXXI, c. XLV,- P, L., LXXVI, 620 and foll.; ST. THOMAS, I-II, q. 84, a. 3-4; "De Malo," q. 8, a. 1; ST. BONAVENTURE "In II. Sent.," dist. XLII, dub. III; NOEL ALEXANDRE, "De Peccatis" (Theol. cursus Migne. XI, 707-1168; ALVAREZ DE PAZ, t. II. Lib. I, P. 2, De extinctione vitiorum; PHIL. DE LA STE TRINITE, P. I, Tr II, disc. II And III, De vitiorum eradicatione et passionum mortificatione; CARD. BONA, "Manuductio ad caelum," cap. III-IX; ALIBERT, "Physiologie des Passions," 1827; DESCURET, "La Medecine des Passions," Paris, 1860; PAULHAN, "Les Caracteres," Paris, 1902; LAUMONlER, "La Therapeutique des peches capitaux," Paris, Alcan 1922.

#819. The struggle against the seven capital sins has always had a prominent place in Christian spirituality. Cassian treats of it at length in his "Conferences" and in his "Institutes;"1 he enumerates eight instead of seven, because he distinguishes pride from vain-glory. St. Gregory the Great2 clearly distinguishes the seven capital sins, all of which he traces to pride. St. Thomas also traces them all to pride and shows how they can be logically classified, if account is taken of the special ends towards which man is drawn. The will may be drawn towards an object by a twofold motion, the search for some apparent good, or flight from an apparent evil. The apparent good sought by the will may be 1) raise or honor, a spiritual good, pursued in an inordinate manner by persons who are vain; 2) the preservation of self or of the race, corporal goods, sought after excessively by gluttonous and impure persons respectively; 3) external things, loved to excess by such as are avaricious. The apparent evil from which we flee may consist . 1) in the effort required for the attainment of good, which effort the slothful evade, 2) in the prospect of lost prestige, which both the jealous and the irritable dread, though in different ways. Thus, the differentiation of the seven capital sins is based on the seven special ends which the sinner has in view. We shall follow that division which shows the connection between the capital vices and our threefold concupiscence.

n1. "De coenobiorum institutis," Lib. V, C, I; "Collat.," col. V, e. X. 

n2. "Moral.," C. XXXI, c. 45, P. L., LXXVI, 620-622.

ART. I. PRIDE AND THE VICES RELATED THERETO1 

(1) Pride

#820. Pride is a deviation of that legitimate sentiment which prompts us to prize what is good in us, and to seek the esteem of others in the measure in which this is useful. There is no doubt that we can and that we must prize the good which God has given us, acknowledging that He is its first principle and last end. This is a sentiment that honors God and makes for self-respect. We may also desire that others see and appreciate the good that is in us and that they give glory to God for it, just as we ourselves must in turn recognize and appreciate their good qualities. This mutual regard fosters good relations among men.

However, these two tendencies may either go astray, or go beyond due limits. At times we forget that God is the source of these gifts, and we attribute them to ourselves. This constitutes a disorder, for it denies, at least implicitly, that God is our first principle. In like manner we are tempted to act for self, or to gain the esteem of others, instead of acting for God, and of referring to Him all the honor. This is again a disorder, for it denies, at least in the same implicit manner, that God is our last end. Such is the twofold disorder found in this vice. We can, then, define pride as an inordinate love of self, which causes us to consider ourselves, explicitly or implicitly, as our first beginning and last end. It is a species of idolatry, for we make gods of ourselves, as Bossuet remarks (n. 204). The better to combat pride, we shall expose: (1) the principal forms it takes, (2) the faults it engenders, (3) its malice, (4) the remedies to be applied.

n1. ST. THOMAS, IIa , q. 162, q. 132; "de Malo," q. 8-9: BOSSUET, "Tr. de la Concupiscence," c. 10-23; "Sermon sur l'Ambition" BOURDALOUE, "Careme," Serm. pour le mercredi de la 2e sem.; ALILERT, op. cit., t. I, p. 23-57, DESCURET, op. cit., t. II, p. 191-240; PAULHAN, "Les Caracteres," p. 167- BEAUDENOM, "The Path of Humility;" THOMAS, "L'Education des sentiments," Paris, Alcan, 1904, p 113-124, 133-148; LAUMONIER, op. cit., C. VII.

 

I . The Principal Forms of Pride

#821. (1) The first form of pride is to regard oneself, explicitly or implicitly, as one's own first principle.

A) There are but few who go as far as to consider themselves explicitly as their own first principle.

a) This is the sin of atheists, who willfully deny God, because they want no master, "No God, no Master" Of such the Psalmist speaks when he says "The fool hath said in his heart: there is no God."1 b) This was, equivalently, the sin of Lucifer, who, desiring to be a rule unto himself, refused to submit to God; the sin of our first parents, who wishing to be like God wanted to know of themselves what is good and what is evil, the sin of heretics, who like Luther refused to acknowledge the authority of the Church established by God; the sin of rationalists, who in their pride of intellect refuse to submit their reason to faith. This is also the sin of certain intellectuals who, too proud to accept the traditional interpretation of dogmas, attenuate and deform them to make them conform to their own views.

n1. Ps. XIII, I.

#822. B) A greater number fall into this fault implicitly by acting as if the natural and supernatural gifts which God has freely bestowed upon them were in every sense their own. True, they recognize in theory that God is their first principle, but in practice they esteem themselves beyond measure, as if they were the source of the qualities they possess.

a) Some there are who delight in their qualities and their worth as if these were due solely to themselves. "The soul," says Bossuet, "seeing its own beauty, has delighted in itself and has become absorbed in the contemplation of its own excellence. It has failed for an instant to refer all it has to God; it has forgotten its own dependence; it has first centered upon self and then surrendered to it. But in seeking to free himself from God and the laws of justice, man has become the slave of his sin."1

n1. "Tr. on Concupiscence, C. XI.

#823. b) Graver still is the pride of those who, after the manner of the Stoics, attribute to themselves the virtues they practice; the pride of those who imagine that the free gifts of God are the wages due their own merits, or that their good works are more their own that God's, Who in reality is their principal cause; the pride of those who look complacently upon such good works, as if these were wholly their own.1

n1. Ibid., C. XXIII; OLIER, "Introd.," C. VII.

#824. C) By the same principle we exaggerate our personal qualities. 

a) We close our eyes to our defects, we look at our good qualities through magnifying glasses, as it were, and we end by attributing to ourselves qualities we do not possess or, at least, qualities which have only the appearance of virtue. Thus, we give alms for show and we believe ourselves charitable when we are simply proud; we fancy we are saints because we enjoy sensible consolations, or because we have given expression to beautiful thoughts, or taken good resolutions, whilst in reality we have not advanced beyond the first few steps on the way to perfection. Others pride themselves on being broadminded because they make little of small practices, wishing to sanctify themselves by doing great things. b) From this there is but one step to an unjust preference of self to others. We examine their defects with a microscope, and we are scarcely conscious of our own, we see the mote in the neighbor's eye, but not the beam in our own. At times we come, like the Pharisee, to despise our brethren,1 at other times, without going that far, we unjustly lower them in our estimation, and we believe ourselves above, whilst in reality we are below them. It is by the selfsame principle that we seek to lord it over our brethren and have our superiority over them recognized. e) In relation to Superiors, this pride takes the form of censure and fault-finding, prompting us to scrutinize minutely all their acts, all their moves; we want to pass judgment on all things, to control all things. Thus we render obedience far more difficult for ourselves; we find it hard to submit to the authority and the decisions of superiors; to ask their permission becomes a hardship; we aspire to independence, that is, to be ourselves our own first principle. 

n1. Luke XVIII, 9-14. 

#825. (2) The second form of pride consists in considering ourselves, explicitly or implicitly, as our last end, by performing our actions without referring them to God, and by desiring to be praised for them as if they were exclusively our work. This fault proceeds from the first, for whoever looks upon himself as his own first principle wills also to be his own last end. Here we must recall the distinctions already made. 

A) Hardly any one explicitly considers himself as his own last end, except an atheist or an unbeliever. 

B) Yet, many behave in practice as if they shared in this error. a) They want to be praised, to be complimented upon their good works, as if they were themselves the principal authors, and as if they were responsible only to themselves. Instead of referring all to God, they expect congratulations for success, as if all the honor were due to them. b) They are prompted by egoism, they act for their own ends, caring little for the glory of God, and still less for the welfare of their neighbor. They even go so far as to take for granted that others must organize their lives to please and to serve them; thus they make themselves the center, and so to speak, the end toward which others are to gravitate. What else is this if not the unconscious usurpation of the rights of God? c) There are devout persons who, without going so far seek self in piety: they complain of God when He does not flood them with consolations; they pine with grief when in the midst of dryness, and thus form the false idea that the aim of piety is the enjoyment of consolations, forgetting that the glory of God must be the supreme end of all our actions, above all, of prayer and spiritual exercises. 

#826. We must, then, acknowledge the fact that pride, under one form or the other, is a very common fault, even among those who follow the path of perfection, a fault that stays with us through all the stages of the spiritual life and disappears only when we die. Beginners are hardly aware of it because their study of self does not reach deep enough. Their attention must be drawn to this point; the more common forms of this fault must be indicated to them, so that they may make these the subject of their particular examination.

II. Defects Born of Pride 

The chief ones are presumption, ambition, and vain-glory. 

#827. (1) Presumption consists in an inordinate desire and hope whereby we want to do things which are beyond our strength. It proceeds from too high an opinion of ourselves, of our natural faculties, of our knowledge, of our strength, of our virtues. 

a) From the intellectual point of view we think ourselves capable of approaching and solving the most difficult questions, or at least of undertaking studies which are beyond the reach of our talents. We easily persuade ourselves that we abound in judgment and wisdom, and instead of learning how to doubt, we settle with finality the most controverted questions: b) From the moral point of view we fancy that we are possessed of sufficient light to be our own guides, and that it is hardly profitable to consult a spiritual director. We convince ourselves that in spite of past faults we need fear no relapses, and we imprudently walk into occasions of sin and then we fall. From this come discouragement and vexation that often result in fresh falls. c) From the spiritual point of view, we have but little relish for hidden and mortifying virtues, preferring those that are more brilliant: instead of building upon the sound foundation of humility, we dream about greatness of soul, about strength of character, about a magnanimous spirit, about apostolic zeal, and about the imaginary successes we lay in store for the future. The first serious temptations, however, make us aware that the will is still weak and wavering. At times we make little of the ordinary ways of prayer, and of what are called the little exercises of piety, aspiring to extraordinary graces while we are still only at the beginning of the spiritual life. 

#828. (2) This presumption, added to pride, begets ambition, that is to say, the inordinate love of honors, of dignities, of authority over others. Because we presume overmuch on our strength, and because we consider ourselves superior to others, we want to dominate them, to rule them and impose upon them our ideas. 

This disorder, says St. Thomas,1 may show itself in three ways: 1) One seeks for undeserved honors, honors which are above one; 2) one seeks them for oneself, for one's own glory, and not for the glory of God; 3) one takes delight in honors for their own sake, without making them redound to the good of others, contrary to the order established by God Who requires superiors to procure the welfare of those under them. 

This ambition invades every sphere of life: 1) the political realm, where men aspire to rule others, and that ofttimes at the price of so many meannesses, so many compromises, so many questionable practices, in order to secure the votes of constituents, 2) the intellectual domain, wherein men seek stubbornly to impose their ideas on others even with regard to questions open to free discussion; 3) civil life, where men vie for the first places,2 high office, and the plaudits of the crowd; 4) even the ecclesiastical state is not exempt, for as Bossuet3 remarks, "How many safeguards have not been found necessary, even in ecclesiastical and religious elections, in order to curb ambition to prevent factions, intrigues, underhand dealings, and the most criminal pledges and practices, simoniacal contracts, and other such irregularities too common in these matters? We cannot boast that these safeguards have uprooted such abuses, they have hardly done more than to conceal or to restrain them in part." And, as St. Gregory4 notes, are there not those, even in the ranks of the clergy, who want to be called doctors, and eagerly seek the first places and the praise of men? "They seek to appear learned, they long to excel others, and, as Truth bears witness, they crave the first salutations in public, the first places at table, the highest seats in councils." 

This fault, then, in more general than one would at first sight believe, and is closely allied with vanity. 

n1. "Sum Theol.," IIa IIae, q. 131, a. I. 

n2. It is not solely among the learned and the wealthy that this defect is found Bossuet speaks (Tr. "on Concupiscence", C. XVI) of the country-folk who peevishly contend for the more honorable places in the churches, going so far as to say that they will cease to attend divine services unless their wishes are given heed. 

n3. "Tr. on Concupisc.," C. XVI. 

n4. "Pastoral," P. I, C. I, P. L, LXXVII. 14.  

#829. (3) Vanity is an inordinate love for the esteem of others. It differs from pride, which is pleasure taken in one's own excellence; it generally springs from pride. When one has conceived too high an esteem for oneself one naturally desires the approbation of others. 

#830. A) The Malice of Vanity. We may rightfully desire the esteem of others, if we wish that our qualities, natural or supernatural, be acknowledged in order that God be glorified and that our influence for good be extended. Such a desire is not sinful, for it is in order that what is good should be esteemed, provided we acknowledge God as the author of that good and that He alone must be given the praise for it.1 The most that can be said against such desires is that it is dangerous to center our thoughts upon them, because we run the risk of seeking the esteem of others for selfish purposes. 

The disorder, then, consists in wanting to be held in esteem for one's own sake, without referring this honor to God, Who has placed in us whatever good we possess; it may also consist in wanting to be esteemed for the sake of vain things, undeserving of praise; or it may consist in seeking the esteem of those whose judgment is worthless, of worldlings for instance, who hold in esteem only vain things. 

No one has given a better description of this fault than St. Francis de Sales: "We call that glory vain which we assume to ourselves, either for what is not in us, or for what is in us, and belongs to us, but deserves not that we should glory in it. The nobility of our ancestors, the favor of great men, and popular honor, are things, not in us, but either in our progenitors, or in the esteem of other men. Some become proud and insolent, either by riding a good horse, wearing a feather In their hat, or by being dressed in a fine suit of clothes; but who does not see the folly of this? for if there be any glory in such things, the glory belongs to the horse, the bird, and the tailor... Others value themselves for a well-trimmed beard, for curled locks, or soft hands; or because they can dance, sing or play, but are not these effeminate men, who seek to raise their reputation by so frivolous and foolish things? Others, for a little learning, would be honored and respected by the whole world, as if every one ought to become their pupil, and account them his masters. These are called pedants. Others strut like peacocks, contemplating their beauty and think themselves admired by every one. All this is extremely vain, foolish, and impertinent; and the glory which is raised on so weak foundations is justly esteemed vain and frivolus."2 

n1. Cf. ST. THOMAS, IIa IIae, q 132, a. I. 

n2. "Devout Life," III, C, IV. 

#831. B) Faults that spring from vanity. Vanity produces many faults which are but its outward manifestation. The principal ones are boasting, ostentation and hypocrisy. 

1) Boasting is the habit of speaking of self or of those things that can redound to our advantage with a view to gaining the esteem of others. There are those who speak of themselves, of their family, of their success with a candor that amuses their hearers; others cleverly turn the trend of conversation to a subject wherein they can display their knowledge, others timidly speak of their defects, harboring the secret hope that these will be excused and their good qualities thereby made more apparent.1 

2) Ostentation consists in drawing to self the attention of others by a certain way of acting, by pompous display, and by singularity. 

3) Hypocrisy takes on the outward appearance of virtue to cover very real vices. 

n1. "Spirit of St. Francis de Sales," c. XIX. 

III. The Malice of Pride 

To form a right idea of this malice we may consider pride in itself and in its effects. 

#832. (1) In itself: A) Pride properly so called, that pride which consciously and willfully usurps, even if implicitly, the rights of God, is a grievous sin, nay it is the gravest of sins, says St. Thomas,1 because it is a refusal to submit to God's sovereign will. 

a) To want to be independent, to refuse obedience to God or to His lawful representatives, in a serious matter, constitutes a mortal sin, since one thereby revolts against God, our rightful Sovereign. 

b) To attribute to oneself what evidently comes from God, and especially the gifts of grace, constitutes likewise a grievous fault, for this is to deny implicitly that God is the first principle of whatever good is in us. Some are guilty of this, for example, those who say that they have "made themselves what they are." 

c) One sins gravely, again, when one wants to act for oneself to the exclusion of God, for this is to deny God His right to be our last end. 

#833. B) Mitigated pride, which indeed acknowledges God as the first principle or last end but does not render Him all that is due to Him, and implicitly robs Him of a part of His glory, is without doubt a venial fault. Such is the fault of those who glory in their good qualities or their virtues, as if they were convinced that all is theirs in their own right. It is also the fault of the presumptuous, of the vain, of the ambitious, who, however, do nothing against a divine or a human law in serious matter. At all events, such sins can become mortal if they lead to acts that are grievously reprehensible. Thus, vanity, which in itself is but a venial fault, becomes a grievous one when it causes us to contract debts which we are unable to pay, or when it seeks to stir in others an inordinate love. Pride, then, must be examined also in its results. 

#834. (2) In its effects: A) Unrestrained pride produces at times disastrous effects. How many wars have been started through the pride of rulers and sometimes through the pride of nations themselves!1 Without going that far, how many family discussions, how many personal hatreds are not due to this vice? The Fathers rightly teach that it is the root of all other vices and that it vitiates many a virtuous act, since it causes men to perform them from selfish motives.2 

n1. ST. CHRYSOSTOM, "im Ep. II ad. Thess.," C. I, homil. I, n. 2, P. G., 471. 

n2. ST. GREGORY, "Moral.," I, XXXIV, c. 33, n. 48, P. L., LXXVI, 744. 

#835. B) Taking the point of view of perfection, the one with which we are concerned, we can say that pride is the archenemy of perfection because it creates in the soul a barren waste and is the source of numerous sins. a) It deprives us of many graces and much merit: 

1) It deprives us of many graces, because God Who is bountiful with His grace to the humble, withholds it from the proud: "God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble."1 Let us weigh well these words: God resisteth the proud, "Because", says Father Olier, 2 "the proud man, challenging God to His face, is resisted by the Almighty in his insolent and horrible pretensions; and, since God wills to remain what He is, He lays low and destroys such as rise up against Him." 

2) It deprives us of much merit. One of the essential conditions for meriting is purity of intention. But the proud man acts for self or in order to please men, instead of acting for God, and thus deserves the reproach addressed to the Pharisees, who paraded their good works before men and who for this reason could expect no recompense from God: "Take heed that you do not your justice before men to be seen by men: otherwise you shall not have reward of your Father who is in heaven.... Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward."3 

n1. James, IV, 6. 

2. "Introduction," c. VI. 

n3. Matt., VI, 1-2. 

#836. b) Pride is likewise a source of many faults: 1) Personal faults: through presumption one exposes oneself to danger and falls; through pride one fails to ask earnestly for the graces one needs and likewise falls; then come discouragement and the temptation to conceal sins in confession. 2) Faults against the neighbor: through pride one is unwilling to yield, even when in the wrong; one is caustic in speech; one indulges in harsh and heated discussions which bring dissension and discord; hence, acrimonious words, even unjust ones, against one's rivals in order to belittle them; hence, bitter criticism against Superiors and refusal to obey their orders. 

#837. c) Finally, pride is a source of unhappiness to those habitually given to it. Because we want to excel in all things and lord it over others, we have neither peace nor contentment, for we know no rest as long as we have not succeeded in vanquishing our antagonists and, since this is never fully accomplished, we are troubled, ill at ease and unhappy.

IV. The Remedies against Pride 

#838. We have already said (n. 207) that the great remedy against pride is the acknowledgment of the fact that God is the Author of all good, and that therefore to Him alone belongs all honor and glory. Of ourselves we are but nothingness and sin, and hence merit nothing but forgetfulness and contempt (n. 208). 

#839. (1) We are but nothingness. Beginners must form this conviction through meditation by pondering leisurely the following thoughts: I am nothing, I can do nothing, I am worth nothing. 

A) I am nothing.--True, it has pleased the divine goodness to choose me out of millions of possible beings, to give me my existence, to endow me with life, with a spiritual and immortal soul, and for this I am bound to thank Him daily. Yet, a) I came from nothing, and by the very force of my being I tend towards nothingness, whereto I should surely return were it not for the abiding action of my Maker which sustains me. My being, then, is not mine, but is wholly God's, and it is to Him that I must render homage. 

b) This being God has given me is a living reality, a great boon for which I shall never be able to return Him due thanks. Yet, wondrous as this being of mine is, side by side with the God-head it is as mere nothingness: "And my substance is as nothing before Thee,"1 for it is so imperfect. 1) This being is a contingent being, which could well cease to exist without detracting anything from the world's perfection. 2) It is a borrowed being, given to me on the explicit condition of remaining under the sway of God's supreme dominion. 3) It is a frail being, unable to subsist of itself, a being that ever needs the unceasing sustaining power of its Maker. Such being is, therefore, essentially dependent upon God, and has no other reason for its existence than that of giving glory to its Creator. To forget this dependence, to act as if our good qualities were absolutely our own and to boast of them, is an error hard to conceive; it is madness and injustice. 

n1. Ps. XXXVIII, 6. 

#840. What we say of man considered in the order of nature is even truer of him in the order of grace, whereby we share in the life of God, wherefrom issue all our worth and all our grandeur, that grace which is essentially a free gift of God and of Jesus Christ, which we cannot for long keep without the help of God, and wherein we cannot grow without His supernatural concurrence (n. 126-128). For this especially we must say: "Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift."1 What ingratitude and injustice to attribute to self the least part of that gift essentially divine! "What hast thou that thou hast not received? And if thou hast received, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?"2 

n1. II Cor., IX, 15. 

n2. I Cor., IV, 7. 

#841. B) Of myself I can do nothing. True, I have received from God wondrous powers that enable me to know and love truth and goodness. These faculties have been perfected by the supernatural virtues and the gifts of the Holy Ghost. These gifts of nature and of grace blending so harmoniously and complementing one another so perfectly surpass all wonder. Yet, of myself, of my own accord, I can do nothing to set them in motion to work out their perfection. I can do nothing in the natural order without the concurrence of God; I can do nothing in the supernatural order without actual grace, not even conceive a good thought unto salvation, nor a desire supernaturally good. Knowing this, could I take pride in those natural and supernatural powers as if they were entirely my own? Here again there would be ingratitude and madness and injustice. 

842. C) I am worth nothing. In truth, if I consider what God has placed within me, what He works in me through His grace, I am worth a great deal, I am beyond price: "For you are bought with a great price "1 .... You are worth what God is worth." I am worth the price which was paid for me and the price paid for me was the blood of God Himself i Does the glory of my redemption and of my sanctification belong to me or to the Almighty? There can be no uncertain answer to such question. But still, urges my vanquished self-love, I have something that is my own, something that invests me with greatness, my free co-operation with God's concurrence and His grace. Indeed, we have therein our share, yet not the principal share. That free consent is the mere exercise of faculties freely bestowed on us by God, and at the very moment we give it, God is working within us as its principal cause: "For it is God who worketh in you, both to will and to accomplish."2 Besides, for the one time that we agree to follow the impulse of grace, how many times are there when we resist grace or co-operate only half-heartedly? Truly, there is nothing wherein we should glory; rather there is cause for humiliation. 

When a great artist creates a masterpiece, it is to him that we attribute it and not to the third or fourth rate artists who have been his collaborators. With far greater reason must we give to God the credit for our merits as their first and principal cause, since God, as the Church says with St. Augustine, but "crowns His own gifts when he crowns our merits." 

Therefore, from whatever point of view we see ourselves, whether we consider the great worth of the gifts wherewith we have been endowed, or the great value of our merits themselves, we find no cause for boasting, but cause for paying tribute to God and for thanking Him from our inmost heart. Moreover, we find that we have to beg His pardon for the bad use we have made of His gifts. 

n1. I Cor., VI, 20. 

n2. Phil., II, 13. 

#843. (2) I am a sinner, and as such I merit contempt, all the contempt which it may please God to heap upon me. To convince ourselves of this, it suffices to recall what we have said about mortal and venial sin. 

A) If I have committed but a single mortal sin, I have merited eternal humiliation, since I have merited hell. True, I entertain the hope that God has pardoned me, yet it remains none the less true that I have criminally assailed the majesty of God, that I have attempted a species of deicide, perpetrated a sort of spiritual suicide (n. 719), and that in order to atone to the Divine Majesty for that offense, I must be ready to accept, nay, even to wish for every possible humiliation, every slander, every calumny, every injury, every insult. All this is far below the just deserts of him who has offended a single time the infinite majesty of God. And if I have offended against it a great many times, what must be my resignation, nay, my joy when the occasion offers to expiate my sins by enduring a shame that lasts but for a short time! 

#844. B) We have all committed venial sins and, no doubt, deliberate ones, thus making a willing choice in favor of our own wills and our own pleasure as against the will and the glory of the Almighty. This, we have said, (n. 715) constitutes an affront to the Divine Majesty, an offense meriting such abject humiliations, that, should we spend the whole of our lives in the exercise of humility, we should never be able of ourselves to give back to God the glory that we have unjustly taken from Him. If this way of speaking seems to us an exaggeration, let us recall the tears and the austerities which the Saints, who had been guilty of but venial faults, thought always insufficient for the cleansing of their souls and inadequate to repair the outrages offered to the majesty of God. These Saints saw this in a clearer light than we do, and if we think otherwise it is because we are blinded by our pride. 

As sinners, therefore, far from seeking the esteem of others, we must despise ourselves and accept all the humiliations that God may see fit to send us. 

Pride is truly a more formidable barrier against holiness and piety than even outright licentiousness. Pride is a sin, and shall keep many from entering into the Kingdom of Heaven." - Our Lady, November 24, 1979


Our Lady of the Roses Bayside messages:

These messages came from Jesus, Mary, and the saints to Veronica Lueken at Bayside, NY, from 1968 to 1995.

MORE  FORMIDABLE  BARRIER
"Pray, My children, for your governments, your government leaders; and pray always for your clergy, for many have become weak and have given themselves over to material gain, and also a lust for power through pride. Pride is truly a more formidable barrier against holiness and piety than even outright licentiousness. Pride is a sin, and shall keep many from entering into the Kingdom of Heaven." - Our Lady, November 24, 1979 

FREE  SPIRIT
"My children, you cannot now slacken in the pace of your work for Heaven. The mission must be continued. Many will come and many will go; many seeds fall away as the plant is flowering.
   "My children, I have warned you often that when you are of heart to do the work of the Mission from Heaven, you must not fall to pride and avarice. Your heart must be open to all. My Message from Heaven is free to free spirits. No man shall set himself to enslave others to do his will and command. Man must be a free spirit." - Our Lady, June 4, 1977 

GREATEST  SIN
"The forces of evil loosed upon your world gathered to try to stop the good work from Heaven. My child, it is a lesson for all that vanity and pride comes before the fall. You understand, My children, that man has a free will and is allowed to exercise it. And the greatest sin among man is pride. The angels in Heaven that joined Lucifer, satan, were cast out of Heaven as they became arrogant and sought to be God." - Jesus, June 4, 1977 

FATIMA  &  LA SALETTE
"My children, why did you avoid giving My counsel to the world? O you of little faith in the high places of My Son's House, His Church, why did you not give My message to the world as I gave it to you? Pride and arrogance! That is why, My children."
   "I counseled you in My visitation to the children at LaSalette that unless you pray, satan shall enter into the Holy City of Rome, and satan shall set himself beside My Son's altar! Who cared to listen to My counsel? Pride! Man filled with pride. Pride is a major sin in the hearts of man. And pride always came before the fall!
   "I counseled you at Fatima, and who gave My counsel to the world? Pride and arrogance anew! A secret was to be revealed, and who counseled and prepared the world for the onslaught of satan into My Son's House? No one!" - Our Lady, December 31, 1977 

DELUSION
"Recognize, My pastors, the signs of your times. You have fallen asleep. Delusion has been set upon you because of pride and arrogance. O Our sleeping pastors, you have fallen into error because of pride and arrogance." - Our Lady, September 28, 1976 

HAS  CAST  MANY  FROM  THE  ROAD
"In your world which has been given over to satan by mankind, it is the little ones, those with the hearts of children, that We have chosen to come to. Pride, intellectual pride, has cast many from the road. Woe to those who seek to destroy the Faith given to them with their pride and arrogance!" - Our Lady, October 6, 1974 

LUCIFER
"Pride, My child, must never enter upon you or your work, for pride is a great sin in the eyes of the Eternal Father. It was pride that sent Luciel, Lucifer, from the Kingdom." - Our Lady, March 18, 1975 

SADLY  AWAKENED
"Your world is now in anguish; your world is in deep darkness of the spirit. I have been given this time, My children, to bring you a stern Message from Heaven. Because of your great abominations, because of your pride and disobedience, because of your turning from your Maker, the Creator of Heaven and of earth, there will be sent upon the world, your world, a sword of great magnitude.
   "The scoffers have turned their backs upon the truth. Those who ridicule the Message from Heaven will find themselves sadly awakened in the near future." - Our Lady, July 1, 1974

 

Directives from Heaven

D87 - Divinity of Jesus Christ   PDF LogoPDF
D89 - Sin   PDF LogoPDF
D107 - Pride     PDF LogoPDF
D108
- Humility  PDF LogoPDF
D119
- Jesus Christ, Redeemer 
 PDF LogoPDF
D292 - Way of the Cross  PDF LogoPDF

 

Videos online:


Vatican II
Watch here...


World Monetary Crash
Watch here...


Deception of the Century
Watch here...

Third Secret Fabrication
Watch here...


The Miraculous Story of Bayside
Watch here...

A Pilgrimage to Our Lady of the Roses Shrine
Watch here...



Jacinta's Third Secret vision: She saw Pope Paul VI
Watch here...

Consecrate Russia
Watch here (Part 1)
(Part 2)

 

Email us:
sonia@nuestrasenoradelasrosas.org

 

| Home | Introduction | Bayside Messages | Directives from Heaven | Miracles & Cures | Veronica Lueken | Miraculous Photos | Videos |

 

 



Revised:
February 26, 2012