On Pride: A Soul with No Windows

 One of the most dangerous forms of pride is holding on to our own judgment against the truth, a truth which we could understand but which at the same time we do not want to see. This pride is preferring my own way of seeing things to the way things really are. It is affirming myself against reality, as if my judgment could change the way things really are. This pride is like a disagreement with the order of creation and a desire to establish our own order in this creation, as if we were God and we could create our own reality. This pride sets man against God and against creation itself: man, in a way, remains prisoner of his own world and, in a deep way, remains alone.

Of course, despite the proud person’s way of thinking, reality keeps being what it is and this bothers the proud person, who feels attacked by the facts and by people who affirm the facts. This kind of proud person has only enemies or slaves: his enemies are all those who do not agree with him, and everybody else must think as he does, or else! This proud person cannot have true friends: when someone is not open to the truth, they cannot receive anything valuable from another person. Deep down, this kind of proud person thinks nobody knows better than he what is good and, therefore, he considers everybody as inferior to him. This is why he cannot have true friends, because friendship is based on a certain equality and the proud person feels superior...

Many people will go to hell for many different sins, but the hell of the proud begins on earth. The effects of pride are loneliness and anger, unrest and anxiety... The proud person does not welcome reality as it is and so he never feels at home. He does not welcome the Word of God and so he cannot be redeemed by it. He does not welcome the Good Shepherd and so he cannot be rescued and carried on Jesus’ shoulders... May we never close our eyes to reality. May we never deafen our ears to the Word of God. May we never reject Jesus, the Good Shepherd. And if we ever did, let us bleat again in sorrow, like a lost sheep who yearns to be picked up and embraced by the good Jesus. 

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