Intellectual pride
Intellectual pride leads certain studious men to reject the traditional interpretation of dogmas, to attenuate them, or to deform them in order to harmonize them with what they call the exigencies of the mind. In others, this pride is manifested by a singular attachment to their own judgement, to such a degree that they do not even wish to listen to reasons sometimes stronger in favour of the adverse opinion. Some finally, who are theoretically in the truth, are so satisfied to be right, so filled with their learning which has cost them so much, that their souls are, as it were, saturated with it and no longer humbly open to receive the superior light that would come from God in prayer.
Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange
#vice #pride
Intellectual pride leads certain studious men to reject the traditional interpretation of dogmas, to attenuate them, or to deform them in order to harmonize them with what they call the exigencies of the mind. In others, this pride is manifested by a singular attachment to their own judgement, to such a degree that they do not even wish to listen to reasons sometimes stronger in favour of the adverse opinion. Some finally, who are theoretically in the truth, are so satisfied to be right, so filled with their learning which has cost them so much, that their souls are, as it were, saturated with it and no longer humbly open to receive the superior light that would come from God in prayer.
Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange
#vice #pride
St. John Climacus tells of a monk who devised a plan to overcome the thoughts of pride which tempted him
He wrote upon a wall of his cell these words
Perfect charity
Loftiest contemplation
Total mortification
Unalterable sweetness
Unconquerable patience
Angelic chastity
Profoundest humility
Filial confidence
Promptest diligence
Utter resignation
So, when the devil began to urge him to pride, he answered within himself, "Let us try the test".
Then, approaching the wall, he read these headings:
"Perfect charity. This I have not, for I speak evil of others."
"Profoundest humility. This I have not; it is quite enough if I claim the profound."
"Angelic chastity. This I have not, for I allow admittance to unchaste thoughts."
"Loftiest contemplation. No, I have many distractions."
"Total mortification. No, for I seek my own gratification."
"Unalterable sweetness.No, for at the least vexation I lose my self-control."
And so with all the rest. In this way he banished the temptation to vanity.
#pride #humility
He wrote upon a wall of his cell these words
Perfect charity
Loftiest contemplation
Total mortification
Unalterable sweetness
Unconquerable patience
Angelic chastity
Profoundest humility
Filial confidence
Promptest diligence
Utter resignation
So, when the devil began to urge him to pride, he answered within himself, "Let us try the test".
Then, approaching the wall, he read these headings:
"Perfect charity. This I have not, for I speak evil of others."
"Profoundest humility. This I have not; it is quite enough if I claim the profound."
"Angelic chastity. This I have not, for I allow admittance to unchaste thoughts."
"Loftiest contemplation. No, I have many distractions."
"Total mortification. No, for I seek my own gratification."
"Unalterable sweetness.No, for at the least vexation I lose my self-control."
And so with all the rest. In this way he banished the temptation to vanity.
#pride #humility
On the pride of converts
St. John of the Cross
In converts, there exists a certain kind of a secret pride, whence they come to have some degree of satisfaction with their works and with themselves.
There comes to them a certain desire, at times very vain, to speak of spiritual things in the presence of others, and even to teach such such things rather than to learn them.
They condemn others in their heart when they see that they have not the kind of devotion which they themselves desire; herein resembling the Pharisee.
All the works and virtues which they perform are not only valueless to them; they even become vices in them.
They consider that their confessor does not understand them, or that, because they do not approve of this and comply with that, they are themselves not spiritual.
And so they immediately desire and contrive to find someone else who will fit in with their tastes; for as a rule they desire to speak of spiritual matters with those who they think will praise and esteem what they do, and they flee, as they would from death, from those who disabuse them in order to lead them into a safe road- sometimes they even harbor ill will against them
They are too embarrassed to confess their sins nakedly, least their confessors should think less of them, so they palliate them and make them appear less evil, and thus it is to excuse themselves that they go to confession. And sometimes they seek another confessor to tell the wrongs that they have done, so that their own confessor shall think they have done nothing wrong at all, but only good.
Some of those beginners, too, make little of their faults, and at other times become over-sad when they see themselves fall into them, thinking themselves to have been saints already; and thus they become angry and impatient with themselves, which is another imperfection.
#pride #converts
St. John of the Cross
In converts, there exists a certain kind of a secret pride, whence they come to have some degree of satisfaction with their works and with themselves.
There comes to them a certain desire, at times very vain, to speak of spiritual things in the presence of others, and even to teach such such things rather than to learn them.
They condemn others in their heart when they see that they have not the kind of devotion which they themselves desire; herein resembling the Pharisee.
All the works and virtues which they perform are not only valueless to them; they even become vices in them.
They consider that their confessor does not understand them, or that, because they do not approve of this and comply with that, they are themselves not spiritual.
And so they immediately desire and contrive to find someone else who will fit in with their tastes; for as a rule they desire to speak of spiritual matters with those who they think will praise and esteem what they do, and they flee, as they would from death, from those who disabuse them in order to lead them into a safe road- sometimes they even harbor ill will against them
They are too embarrassed to confess their sins nakedly, least their confessors should think less of them, so they palliate them and make them appear less evil, and thus it is to excuse themselves that they go to confession. And sometimes they seek another confessor to tell the wrongs that they have done, so that their own confessor shall think they have done nothing wrong at all, but only good.
Some of those beginners, too, make little of their faults, and at other times become over-sad when they see themselves fall into them, thinking themselves to have been saints already; and thus they become angry and impatient with themselves, which is another imperfection.
#pride #converts
On Pride
First Point - Pride, says Saint Augustine, is a swelling or puffing up of the heart. There is no vice more firmly rooted in man than pride; yet why should man be proud? He has only to look into himself to find more grounds for humility than for pride. Every man is proud but no man will acknowledge his pride - an indication that there is something base and disgraceful in this vice. A proud man is almost always wanting in justice and good judgment. What is more humiliating? Thus wise men regard a vain and proud man as a species of fool, and deal with him accordingly. Fortunate would the proud man be, if God were to regard him in that light; he would not then be punished so severely.
Second Point - Pride, says the Holy Spirit, is the beginning of all sin. (Ecclesiasticus 10:13) Every sin is a result of pride, because it is a want of submission to God. Pride does not appear to be the most grievous sin, but it is most fatal in its effects. From pride come ambition, presumption, hypocrisy and obstinacy. From pride come revolts, blasphemy, envy and revenge. From pride comes the inordinate desire to increase our wealth by illegitimate means.
Third Point - Pride, says the Holy Spirit, is abominable in the sight of God. (Proverbs 16:5) Every proud man is an abomination to the Lord. As pride is the cause of all sin, so it is the cause of all punishments of sin. Pride precipitated into hell countless multitudes of angels. Pride expelled Adam from the earthly paradise and excluded his posterity from it, by making them participate in his sin and punishment. God punishes the proud man; He deprives him of many graces and opposes his designs, because the proud man opposes the designs of God. God abandons the proud man, and leaves him to his disgraceful passions in order to humiliate him and thus remedy his pride. How great then must be an evil which can be eradicated only in this fatal manner!
Strive to realize how deeply pride is rooted in your heart, and how fatal are its results. Take the resolution to humble yourself as often as possible.
Pride is hateful before God and men.
-Ecclesiasticus 10:7
Man should be ashamed to be proud when he thinks how humble God became for him.
-Saint Augustine of Hippo
Fr. François Nepveu
#pride
First Point - Pride, says Saint Augustine, is a swelling or puffing up of the heart. There is no vice more firmly rooted in man than pride; yet why should man be proud? He has only to look into himself to find more grounds for humility than for pride. Every man is proud but no man will acknowledge his pride - an indication that there is something base and disgraceful in this vice. A proud man is almost always wanting in justice and good judgment. What is more humiliating? Thus wise men regard a vain and proud man as a species of fool, and deal with him accordingly. Fortunate would the proud man be, if God were to regard him in that light; he would not then be punished so severely.
Second Point - Pride, says the Holy Spirit, is the beginning of all sin. (Ecclesiasticus 10:13) Every sin is a result of pride, because it is a want of submission to God. Pride does not appear to be the most grievous sin, but it is most fatal in its effects. From pride come ambition, presumption, hypocrisy and obstinacy. From pride come revolts, blasphemy, envy and revenge. From pride comes the inordinate desire to increase our wealth by illegitimate means.
Third Point - Pride, says the Holy Spirit, is abominable in the sight of God. (Proverbs 16:5) Every proud man is an abomination to the Lord. As pride is the cause of all sin, so it is the cause of all punishments of sin. Pride precipitated into hell countless multitudes of angels. Pride expelled Adam from the earthly paradise and excluded his posterity from it, by making them participate in his sin and punishment. God punishes the proud man; He deprives him of many graces and opposes his designs, because the proud man opposes the designs of God. God abandons the proud man, and leaves him to his disgraceful passions in order to humiliate him and thus remedy his pride. How great then must be an evil which can be eradicated only in this fatal manner!
Strive to realize how deeply pride is rooted in your heart, and how fatal are its results. Take the resolution to humble yourself as often as possible.
Pride is hateful before God and men.
-Ecclesiasticus 10:7
Man should be ashamed to be proud when he thinks how humble God became for him.
-Saint Augustine of Hippo
Fr. François Nepveu
#pride
Intellectual Pride
There are many forms of pride: pride of nationality, of race, of religion, of social position or of wealth. The form of pride which is spiritually most damaging, however, is intellectual pride. This is a state of mind in which a person considers his own judgements to be infallible. It is the kind of pride which is exhibited by the self-righteous person who weighs other individuals on his own scale of values – and usually finds the other wanting.
Intellectual pride can rise to such heights as to set itself up in judgment over God. There are individuals whose attitude is, ‘If I can’t understand it, then it isn’t so.’ Such persons feel quite competent to comprehend everything that is in God’s mind. This is the kind of pride by which Lucifer and his cohorts sinned. It was this kind of pride which hardened the hearts of the Pharisees and blinded them to Christ’s miracles. It is a pride manifested by many modern ‘thinkers’, and sometimes by common folk such as you and I.
"The first and most formidable of vices is pride, that inordinate desire of our own excellence, which spiritual writers universally regard as the father and king of all the other vices. Hence Tobias, among the numerous good counsels which he gave his son, particularly warns him against pride: “Never suffer pride to reign in thy mind or in thy words, for from it all perdition took its beginning.” (Job. 4:14).
St. Bernard tells us, “Pride precipitates man from the highest elevation to the lowest abyss, but humility raises him from the lowest abyss to the highest elevation. Through pride the Angels fell from Heaven to Hell, and through humility man is raised from earth to Heaven.”
"Let the example of your God teach you, O man, to be obedient. Learn, O dust, to humble yourself. Learn, O clay, to appreciate your baseness. Learn from your God, O Christian, to be “meek and humble of heart.” (Matt. 11:29). If you disdain to walk in the footsteps of men, will you refuse to follow your God, who died not only to redeem us but to teach us humility? Look upon yourself and you will find sufficient motives for humility.""
https://youtu.be/BIHBVmVZjKA
#pride #humility
There are many forms of pride: pride of nationality, of race, of religion, of social position or of wealth. The form of pride which is spiritually most damaging, however, is intellectual pride. This is a state of mind in which a person considers his own judgements to be infallible. It is the kind of pride which is exhibited by the self-righteous person who weighs other individuals on his own scale of values – and usually finds the other wanting.
Intellectual pride can rise to such heights as to set itself up in judgment over God. There are individuals whose attitude is, ‘If I can’t understand it, then it isn’t so.’ Such persons feel quite competent to comprehend everything that is in God’s mind. This is the kind of pride by which Lucifer and his cohorts sinned. It was this kind of pride which hardened the hearts of the Pharisees and blinded them to Christ’s miracles. It is a pride manifested by many modern ‘thinkers’, and sometimes by common folk such as you and I.
"The first and most formidable of vices is pride, that inordinate desire of our own excellence, which spiritual writers universally regard as the father and king of all the other vices. Hence Tobias, among the numerous good counsels which he gave his son, particularly warns him against pride: “Never suffer pride to reign in thy mind or in thy words, for from it all perdition took its beginning.” (Job. 4:14).
St. Bernard tells us, “Pride precipitates man from the highest elevation to the lowest abyss, but humility raises him from the lowest abyss to the highest elevation. Through pride the Angels fell from Heaven to Hell, and through humility man is raised from earth to Heaven.”
"Let the example of your God teach you, O man, to be obedient. Learn, O dust, to humble yourself. Learn, O clay, to appreciate your baseness. Learn from your God, O Christian, to be “meek and humble of heart.” (Matt. 11:29). If you disdain to walk in the footsteps of men, will you refuse to follow your God, who died not only to redeem us but to teach us humility? Look upon yourself and you will find sufficient motives for humility.""
https://youtu.be/BIHBVmVZjKA
#pride #humility
YouTube
Intellectual Pride ~ Fr Ripperger
What is intellectual pride? Do we see it today & if so how? For more please visit http://sensustraditionis.org/ & remember to do the PenanceWare that Fr asks for.
The website https://sensusfidelium.us/
To donate please visit https://sensusfidelium.us/donate…
The website https://sensusfidelium.us/
To donate please visit https://sensusfidelium.us/donate…
Ecce Verbum
Intellectual Pride There are many forms of pride: pride of nationality, of race, of religion, of social position or of wealth. The form of pride which is spiritually most damaging, however, is intellectual pride. This is a state of mind in which a person…
5. Trust in God, not in your strength
In another place St. Bernard speaks of three kinds of fear with which he would have us guard our hearts. “Fear,” he says, “when you are in possession of grace, lest you may do something unworthy of it; fear when you have lost grace, because you are deprived of a strong protection; and fear when you have recovered grace, lest you should again lose it.” Thus you will never trust to your own strength; the fear of God which will fill your heart will save you from presumption.
6. Be patient in bearing persecution, for the patient endurance of affronts is the touchstone of true humility.
7. Never despise the poor and abject, for their misery should move us to compassion rather than contempt.
Be not too eager for rich apparel, for humility is incompatible with a love of display. One who is too solicitous about his dress is a slave to the opinions of men, for he certainly would not expend so much labor upon it if he thought he would not be observed. Beware, however, of going to the other extreme and dressing in a manner unsuited to your position. While claiming to despise the approbation or notice of the world, many secretly strive for it by their singularity and exaggerated simplicity.
8. Finally, do not disdain humble and obscure employments.
Only the proud seek to avoid these, for the man of true humility deems nothing in the world beneath him.
#pride #humility
Source: sensus fidelium website
In another place St. Bernard speaks of three kinds of fear with which he would have us guard our hearts. “Fear,” he says, “when you are in possession of grace, lest you may do something unworthy of it; fear when you have lost grace, because you are deprived of a strong protection; and fear when you have recovered grace, lest you should again lose it.” Thus you will never trust to your own strength; the fear of God which will fill your heart will save you from presumption.
6. Be patient in bearing persecution, for the patient endurance of affronts is the touchstone of true humility.
7. Never despise the poor and abject, for their misery should move us to compassion rather than contempt.
Be not too eager for rich apparel, for humility is incompatible with a love of display. One who is too solicitous about his dress is a slave to the opinions of men, for he certainly would not expend so much labor upon it if he thought he would not be observed. Beware, however, of going to the other extreme and dressing in a manner unsuited to your position. While claiming to despise the approbation or notice of the world, many secretly strive for it by their singularity and exaggerated simplicity.
8. Finally, do not disdain humble and obscure employments.
Only the proud seek to avoid these, for the man of true humility deems nothing in the world beneath him.
#pride #humility
Source: sensus fidelium website
Why do men persist in error
Some excerpts derived from "My way of life" by Fr. Walter Farrell O.P. and Fr. Martin Healy, S T.D., 1952
#pride
Some excerpts derived from "My way of life" by Fr. Walter Farrell O.P. and Fr. Martin Healy, S T.D., 1952
#pride
C. S. Lewis on converts
"Old Devil’s Letter to the Young"
"Your patient has become humble; have you drawn his attention to the fact? All virtues are less formidable to us once the man is aware that he has them, but this is specially true of humility."
"As the uneasiness and reluctance to face it cut him off more and more from all real happiness, and as habit renders the pleasures the vanity and excitement and flippancy at once less pleasant and harder to forgo...you will find that anything or nothing is sufficient to attract his wandering attention. You no longer need a good book, which he really likes, to keep him from his prayers or his work or his sleep; a column of advertisements in yesterday's paper will do. You can make him waste his time not only in conversation he enjoys with people whom he likes, but also in conversations with those he cares nothing about, on subjects that bore him. You can make him do nothing at all for long periods. You can keep him up late at night, not roistering, but staring at a dead fire in a cold room. All the healthy and outgoing activities which we want him to avoid can be inhibited and nothing given in return, so that at last he may say...'I now see that I spent most my life in doing neither what I ought nor what I liked."
"Surely you know that if a man can't be cured of churchgoing, the next best thing is to send him all over the neighbourhood looking for the church that "suits" him until he becomes a taster or connoisseur of churches.The search for a "suitable" church makes the man a critic where God wants him to be a pupil. What he wants from the layman in church is an attitude which may, indeed, be critical in the sense of rejecting what is false or unhelpful but which is wholly uncritical in the sense that it does not appraise- does not waste time in thinking about what it rejects, but lays itself open in uncommenting, humble receptivity to any nourishment that is going."
"It is always the novice who exaggerates."
"Keep his mind on the inner life. He thinks his conversion is something inside him, and his attention is therefore chiefly turned at present to the state of his own mind--or rather to that very expurgated version of them which is all you should allow him to see. Encourage this. Keep his mind off the most elementary duties of directing it to the most advanced and spiritual ones. Aggravate the most useful human characteristics, the horror and neglect of the obvious. You must bring him to a condition in which he can practise self-examination for an hour without discovering any of those facts about himself which are perfectly clear to anyone who has ever lived in the same house with him or worked in the same office."
"What he says, even on his knees, about his own sinfulness is all parrot talk. At bottom, he still believes he has run up a very favorable credit-balance in the Enemy's ledger by allowing himself to be converted, and thinks that he is showing great humility and condescension in going to church with these 'smug', commonplace neighbors at all."
"As long as [man] does not convert it into action, it does not matter how much he thinks about this new repentance... Wallow in it... Write a book about it; that is often an excellent way of sterilising the seeds which [Heavenly Father] plants in a human soul... Do anything but act. No amount of piety in his imagination and affections will harm [the cause of evil] if [it is kept] out of his will... The more often he feels without acting, the less he will ever be able to act, and, in the long run, the less he will be able to feel."
"Do what you will, there is going to be some benevolence, as well as some malice, in your patient's soul. The great thing is to direct the malice to his immediate neighbours whom he meets every day and to thrust his benevolence out to the remote circumference, to people he does not know. The malice thus becomes wholly real and the benevolence largely imaginary."
#pride #converts
"Old Devil’s Letter to the Young"
"Your patient has become humble; have you drawn his attention to the fact? All virtues are less formidable to us once the man is aware that he has them, but this is specially true of humility."
"As the uneasiness and reluctance to face it cut him off more and more from all real happiness, and as habit renders the pleasures the vanity and excitement and flippancy at once less pleasant and harder to forgo...you will find that anything or nothing is sufficient to attract his wandering attention. You no longer need a good book, which he really likes, to keep him from his prayers or his work or his sleep; a column of advertisements in yesterday's paper will do. You can make him waste his time not only in conversation he enjoys with people whom he likes, but also in conversations with those he cares nothing about, on subjects that bore him. You can make him do nothing at all for long periods. You can keep him up late at night, not roistering, but staring at a dead fire in a cold room. All the healthy and outgoing activities which we want him to avoid can be inhibited and nothing given in return, so that at last he may say...'I now see that I spent most my life in doing neither what I ought nor what I liked."
"Surely you know that if a man can't be cured of churchgoing, the next best thing is to send him all over the neighbourhood looking for the church that "suits" him until he becomes a taster or connoisseur of churches.The search for a "suitable" church makes the man a critic where God wants him to be a pupil. What he wants from the layman in church is an attitude which may, indeed, be critical in the sense of rejecting what is false or unhelpful but which is wholly uncritical in the sense that it does not appraise- does not waste time in thinking about what it rejects, but lays itself open in uncommenting, humble receptivity to any nourishment that is going."
"It is always the novice who exaggerates."
"Keep his mind on the inner life. He thinks his conversion is something inside him, and his attention is therefore chiefly turned at present to the state of his own mind--or rather to that very expurgated version of them which is all you should allow him to see. Encourage this. Keep his mind off the most elementary duties of directing it to the most advanced and spiritual ones. Aggravate the most useful human characteristics, the horror and neglect of the obvious. You must bring him to a condition in which he can practise self-examination for an hour without discovering any of those facts about himself which are perfectly clear to anyone who has ever lived in the same house with him or worked in the same office."
"What he says, even on his knees, about his own sinfulness is all parrot talk. At bottom, he still believes he has run up a very favorable credit-balance in the Enemy's ledger by allowing himself to be converted, and thinks that he is showing great humility and condescension in going to church with these 'smug', commonplace neighbors at all."
"As long as [man] does not convert it into action, it does not matter how much he thinks about this new repentance... Wallow in it... Write a book about it; that is often an excellent way of sterilising the seeds which [Heavenly Father] plants in a human soul... Do anything but act. No amount of piety in his imagination and affections will harm [the cause of evil] if [it is kept] out of his will... The more often he feels without acting, the less he will ever be able to act, and, in the long run, the less he will be able to feel."
"Do what you will, there is going to be some benevolence, as well as some malice, in your patient's soul. The great thing is to direct the malice to his immediate neighbours whom he meets every day and to thrust his benevolence out to the remote circumference, to people he does not know. The malice thus becomes wholly real and the benevolence largely imaginary."
#pride #converts
Ecce Verbum
C. S. Lewis on converts "Old Devil’s Letter to the Young" "Your patient has become humble; have you drawn his attention to the fact? All virtues are less formidable to us once the man is aware that he has them, but this is specially true of humility." "As…
St. John of the Cross on vices of converts
The habit of pride
The Dark Night of the Soul (Book I, Chapter II)
"As these beginners feel themselves to be very fervent and diligent in spiritual things and devout exercises, from this prosperity (although it is true that holy things of their own nature cause humility) there often comes to them, through their imperfections, a certain kind of secret pride, whence they come to have some degree of satisfaction with their works and with themselves.
And hence there comes to them likewise a certain desire, which is somewhat vain, and at times very vain, to speak of spiritual things in the presence of others, and sometimes even to teach such things rather than to learn them. They condemn others in their heart when they see that they have not the kind of devotion which they themselves desire; and sometimes they even say this in words, herein resembling the Pharisee, who boasted of himself, praising God for his own good works and despising the publican.
In these persons the devil often increases the fervour that they have and the desire to perform these and other works more frequently, so that their pride and presumption may grow greater. For the devil knows quite well that all these works and virtues which they perform are not only valueless to them, but even become vices in them. And such a degree of evil are some of these persons wont to reach that they would have none appear good save themselves; and thus, in deed and word, whenever the opportunity occurs, they condemn them and slander them, beholding the mote in their brother’s eye and not considering the beam which is in their own; they strain at another’s gnat and themselves swallow a camel."
#pride #converts
The habit of pride
The Dark Night of the Soul (Book I, Chapter II)
"As these beginners feel themselves to be very fervent and diligent in spiritual things and devout exercises, from this prosperity (although it is true that holy things of their own nature cause humility) there often comes to them, through their imperfections, a certain kind of secret pride, whence they come to have some degree of satisfaction with their works and with themselves.
And hence there comes to them likewise a certain desire, which is somewhat vain, and at times very vain, to speak of spiritual things in the presence of others, and sometimes even to teach such things rather than to learn them. They condemn others in their heart when they see that they have not the kind of devotion which they themselves desire; and sometimes they even say this in words, herein resembling the Pharisee, who boasted of himself, praising God for his own good works and despising the publican.
In these persons the devil often increases the fervour that they have and the desire to perform these and other works more frequently, so that their pride and presumption may grow greater. For the devil knows quite well that all these works and virtues which they perform are not only valueless to them, but even become vices in them. And such a degree of evil are some of these persons wont to reach that they would have none appear good save themselves; and thus, in deed and word, whenever the opportunity occurs, they condemn them and slander them, beholding the mote in their brother’s eye and not considering the beam which is in their own; they strain at another’s gnat and themselves swallow a camel."
#pride #converts
Ecce Verbum
It is natural to man that he should live in a society of many "In other animals, there is imprinted a natural inclination toward all the things which are useful or harmful to them, as the sheep naturally esteems the wolf to be its enemy..But man has a natural…
“Follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord”
Gregory the Great (c.540-604): Pastoral Rule, 3, 22
"Those that are at variance are to be admonished to know most certainly that, in whatever virtues they may abound, they can by no means become spiritual if they neglect becoming united to their neighbours by concord.
For it is written, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace (Gal. 5:22). He then that has no care to keep peace refuses to bear the fruit of the Spirit. Hence Paul says, Whereas there is among you envying and strife, are ye not carnal (1 Cor. 3:3)? Hence again he says also, Follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord (Heb. 12:14).Hence again he admonishes, saying, Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace: there is one body and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling (Eph. 4:3-4). The one hope of our calling, therefore, is never reached, if we run not to it with a mind at one with our neighbours.
But it is often the case that some, by being proud of some gifts that they especially partake of, lose the greater gift of concord; as it may be if one who subdues the flesh more than others by bridling of his appetite should scorn to be in concord with those whom he surpasses in abstinence.
But whoso separates abstinence from concord, let him consider the admonition of the Psalmist, Praise him with timbrel and chorus (Ps. 150:4). For in the timbrel a dry and beaten skin resounds, but in the chorus voices are associated in concord. Whosoever then afflicts his body, but forsakes concord, praises God indeed with timbrel, but praises Him not with chorus.
Often, however, when superior knowledge lifts up some, it disjoins them from the society of other men; and it is as though the more wise they are, the less wise are they as to the virtue of concord.
[…] To such it is rightly said through James, But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable (James 3:14, 15, 17).
Pure, that is to say, because its ideas are chaste; and also peaceable, because it in no wise through elation disjoins itself from the society of neighbours."
#pride
Gregory the Great (c.540-604): Pastoral Rule, 3, 22
"Those that are at variance are to be admonished to know most certainly that, in whatever virtues they may abound, they can by no means become spiritual if they neglect becoming united to their neighbours by concord.
For it is written, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace (Gal. 5:22). He then that has no care to keep peace refuses to bear the fruit of the Spirit. Hence Paul says, Whereas there is among you envying and strife, are ye not carnal (1 Cor. 3:3)? Hence again he says also, Follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord (Heb. 12:14).Hence again he admonishes, saying, Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace: there is one body and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling (Eph. 4:3-4). The one hope of our calling, therefore, is never reached, if we run not to it with a mind at one with our neighbours.
But it is often the case that some, by being proud of some gifts that they especially partake of, lose the greater gift of concord; as it may be if one who subdues the flesh more than others by bridling of his appetite should scorn to be in concord with those whom he surpasses in abstinence.
But whoso separates abstinence from concord, let him consider the admonition of the Psalmist, Praise him with timbrel and chorus (Ps. 150:4). For in the timbrel a dry and beaten skin resounds, but in the chorus voices are associated in concord. Whosoever then afflicts his body, but forsakes concord, praises God indeed with timbrel, but praises Him not with chorus.
Often, however, when superior knowledge lifts up some, it disjoins them from the society of other men; and it is as though the more wise they are, the less wise are they as to the virtue of concord.
[…] To such it is rightly said through James, But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable (James 3:14, 15, 17).
Pure, that is to say, because its ideas are chaste; and also peaceable, because it in no wise through elation disjoins itself from the society of neighbours."
#pride