Spiritual Pride

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WhiteDove

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Hi everyone. I notice that this is a problem, both for myself and others. It’s a big pitfall of the spiritual life! I see lots of it on these boards; people mentioning all the great devotions they do, how often they pray the rosary, how devout they are, etc and so forth… sort of a spiritual competition!

Anyways, what can we all do to increase our humility? 🙂
 
Do these things in private, not for praise bestowed upon you by others, but by God who hears and sees your prayers. It seems to me that someone who boasts of their own private prayer regiment is missing the point of prayer altogether.
 
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WhiteDove:
Anyways, what can we all do to increase our humility? 🙂
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We live in a society where we are constantly fighting the me-first attitude 😦 … and we feel like we accomplish so much by even acknowledging God :rolleyes: … but the reality is we owe Him everything and He owes us nothing… so we are barely giving Him His due if we spend 24/7 glorifying His name.

One of the things I have found is to (try to :o ) turn even humility over to God and ask Him for His grace to help me have true humility that comes from Him. It’s a really hard one. I think we all (I know I do) feel like that out of everything it is the one thing we accomplish on our own. And to recognize that especially that comes from God, not ourselves, is tough.

I think this is a great thread 🙂 .
 
Only speaking for myself , of colurse, I am always reminded how often I fail to do the things I want to do. Like St Paul I have the greatest intentions, how is it I am always missing the mark? It may seem like some of us have a great deal of pride as we write about daily rosaries, recitation of the LOH, but I think must of us know underlying our great intentions how often we faill. I think the Lord appreciates our sincere efforts and when we fail as long as we pick ourselves up again, we are striving to do his will. 🙂
 
Here’s the chapter on humility in St. Josemaria Escriva’s classic book The Way. Hard-hitting, good points for meditation.

If you go to the site linked above, you can also do a search in all the books for “pride,” and I bet you’ll find a goldmine also.

One way I fight my own pride right here on the forum is that I often type a snappy, clever response and delete it after I think about it in the preview. It seems like enough to me to see my words in print on the screen - then I can dump the mean parts! Maybe someday I won’t have to type the mean things at all! Baby steps…

Betsy
 
WhiteDove…

You are really making me feel very embarrased:o about the Rosary post …I think the poll asked how many times do you pray the Rosary and in all honesty I posted how many times and what I pray for! I’m so sorry if I gave the impression of being ‘proud’ I am almost homebound and that is what I DO, pray… I think in my post I explained that there were periods in my life that I hardly ever prayed the Rosary and in doing so it has led me into a much deeper prayer life… BTW today is St. Josemaria`'s Feast day…I have learned so much from him…PAX:)
 
“Spiritual Pride” is in the eye of the beholder.

Passing judgement upon someone’s spiritual state just by a few words written on a screen isn’t really an good way to conduct oneself in a public forum, not matter that it is also a Catholic forum. While conceit does usually make itself known eventually to those enjoying the company of someone who is conceited, reading these posts in order to determine someone else’s spiritual state isn’t exactly a humble action and could lead one into deeper faults of their own.

In this day and age, when encouragement is so hard to find for those of us who are trying to live as faith-filled and faithful Catholic Chirstians, I think a little “boasting” on one’s spiritual exercises should be in order and praised.

Besides, when someone reveals their personal prayer life and devotions, they generally aren’t sharing in a boastful manner, they are doing just that - sharing what is important to them. It is edifying, encouraging and transparent to do so. If they are attacked for opening up, then that is a blessing for them!

For some folks who live in relative isolation away from others who not only share their faith, but also their level of devotion, it is sometimes a struggle to keep ahead of discouragement and lukewarmness. To connect with others who not only share the faith but also support each other can be a very good thing. Try to remember that the “accuser of our brothers” is cast out and that one way they will know we belong to the Lamb is by our love! 🙂

Peace and all good,

Thomas2
 
Be careful. Spiritual Pride is very difficult to recognize in others. Often people are called to share not of out pride, but out of live, to show examples of solid Christian living. In posting a spiritual experience, it depends on the motivation of the poster.

As we grow in the spiritual life, we probably will at some time fall into the trap of Spiritual Pride and we need to watch for it and try keeping ourselves away from feeling that we are better because we do these spiritual things and receive these spiritual consolations. Often we do not know what others experience and we can all do better in our spiritual lives.
 
One never knows, a person may be boasting or they could just be genuinely wanting to share their love for our Lord. It has never occured to me from reading posts of others that they could be boasting about what they do and how much or that it is a spiritual competition.

It is hard I know, but we should try to not think that most posts we read from people on their spiritual lives is them boasting what they do.

Now if I am reading something you did not mean to imply, then I offer my apologies.

I think everyone can use humility. Often times it makes me sick how much of a sinner I am and how I need the Lord to help me be more humble. This may not sound like much but a good reminder for me is wearing my Miraculous Medal. I look at the Blessed Mother who reminds me of her Son which reminds me to be a better person in general.
 
I wasn’t accusing anyone in particular, although what brought it to mind was a thread on fasting where one person was asking for advise on fasting, several people gave varied good advise on how to fast, then one fellow chimed in that the only way to fast was an absolute fast and all other fasts were not really fasts. Frankly, he sounded prideful about how great his fasting was and disdainful of anyone who didn’t measure up to his high standards.

Yes, I agree, it’s nice to be able to share about your faith. But pride is an easy thing to slip into, I’ve noticed. It always catches me unaware, by surprise, tainting what might have been a positive effort of one type or another.
 
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Annunciata:
WhiteDove…

You are really making me feel very embarrased:o about the Rosary post …I think the poll asked how many times do you pray the Rosary and in all honesty I posted how many times and what I pray for! I’m so sorry if I gave the impression of being ‘proud’ I am almost homebound and that is what I DO, pray… I think in my post I explained that there were periods in my life that I hardly ever prayed the Rosary and in doing so it has led me into a much deeper prayer life… BTW today is St. Josemaria`'s Feast day…I have learned so much from him…PAX:)
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Annuciata you are an inspiration to all of us here! Don’t be embarrassed 😦 . The stories that you share are overwhelming in their poignancy, please continue to relate them. 🙂
 
I’m proud of the fact that I have no spiritual pride! 😛

Haha, nah. I’ve got nothing much to be proud of anyways, my prayer life could still use a whole lot of improvement. 🙂
 
I’ve read so much about what others do, how they pray, fast, go to Mass, etc. in these forums - and do you know what - I feel both humble and edified, immensely!I know that once upon a time, I would have felt either envious or critical. Now, I can honestly say that I feel “Thank God, there are people out there who love and serve God better than I do!” It’s a sort of consolation to me, because I know how weak I am. Now, that may sound like FALSE humility on my part, but the older I get, the more deeply aware I’ve become of my real weaknesses and shortcomings, and it doesn’t discourage me as it used to do. I can’t explain it very well. But I feel it is GOD who teaches us humility and beats the spiritual pride out of us - as long as we also strive to ask forgiveness whenever/if ever we recognise we are guilty of it in our thoughts or actions.
I did use to be hyper-critical, and in some areas I certainly still am guilty of it, but somehow I don’t think I am (please God!?)
in the area of the spiritual life.
Trust God to rid you of any spiritual pride, in His own way and His own time!!
 
I notice that sometimes we may just take things the wrong way. For instance someone might have done something a certain way for a long time and they graduated onto something else and we might mistake it for pride. For instance we might be talking about Daily Mass and someone say they started to go once a week. The next person might say they go three times a week and then the next person who may have gone through all that process might say “I go to Mass everytime the church doors are open!” and whammo the rest of us suddenly feel spiritually inferior. 😛 and the poster may not mean it in that way at all…they may just mean that they enjoy it so much they have to go every day but it could easily come across as spiritual pride. So we have to take into consideration that reading something someone did not mean into their posts is easy…especially when we are not talking face to face to them…

So we should probably give people the benefit of the doubt.

dream wanderer
 
This is always a hard one–we talk about our spiritual practices, and we sound proud if we have good ones! I like to hear what devotions others have, how they pray, etc. Most of my current spiritual practices today stem from the fact that when I was in the seminary, we challenged each other to keep things like Daily Mass, Divine Office, Rosary, Holy Hour, etc, in our lives even if we left. When I recognize that I feel prideful (and how often do I NOT?!) I try to remind myself how blessed I am to have had the training I received and to live in a very Catholic area.
 
Ya know,

It is one thing to be proud of doing what is right, good and worthy of praise. It is another altogether different thing to be prideful about one’s spiritual practices. Discerning the difference in oneself is as easy as finding yourself questioning whether or not you are being so! Here’s what I mean:

Prideful: “Ha HAH!” No one can say this many prayers in a day and live. They’ll never top me. And I know I’m going to Heaven because of all the graces I’ve racked up. I can’t possibly miss! I just don’t know about all those others who can’t keep up with me, what til I tell them about THIS one…etc, etc, etc…" ad nauseum!

Proud: “Thanks be to God I can… I’d never have thought I’d be where I’m at, but…if you’d told be two years ago that I’d be…praise the Lord who has brought me back…I’m amazed I can even…you might try this…”

Does that make it clearer? My point being, if you question what you are about to talk about before you do, then chances are you aren’t bragging. If you feel a twinge of conscience after speaking, perhaps you’re headed in another direction.

Sharing our faith is what we are all called to do, no matter our walk in life. We are all part of the Great Commission! What the devil wants to hear from us is SILENCE so he can work. :bigyikes:

Peace and all good

Thomas2
 
I struggle with the sin of pride in many areas of my life. I know that this is a dangerous sin.

A wonderful priest pointed me to the Litany of Humility in the back of the Pieta prayer book. I try to say this often (informational, not bragging purposes) especially when I am about to enter a situation where I will be tempted to think I am the source of my abilities.
 
I also use the Litany of Humility in the Pieta prayer book. A wonderful priest recommended that I pray it often because I too struggle with pride. As I said in another thread, be careful with this prayer because God takes it seriously!

Peace,
Linda
 
I wasn’t accusing anyone in particular, although what brought it to mind was a thread on fasting where one person was asking for advise on fasting, several people gave varied good advise on how to fast, then one fellow chimed in that the only way to fast was an absolute fast and all other fasts were not really fasts. Frankly, he sounded prideful about how great his fasting was and disdainful of anyone who didn’t measure up to his high standards.
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That was me. It’s ironic that I would be accused of pride in a roundabout way because it seems I never talk about how I pray, keep Sabbath, fail to go to confession and the other sins I commit (lust is a big one for me). It seems I am always on the defensive in that I am going to vote for a candidate who won’t legislate a law against abortion and so forth. Many woulid probably criticize I am in a state of fallen grace for the above and may be right.

I think I was more criticizing “juice fasting”, which is going to have the physiological effect of accelerating hunger by causing great swings in blood glucose. It isn’t going to help matters of fighting hunger. I think I compared it to a “Pepsi Fast” to just make my point that Americans are so used to 3 square meals/day + snacks high in corn syrup, that they don’t realize the human body is designed to go without food for extended periods of time.

Anyway, I guess that was uncalled for.

So, let me one - admit I may be guilty as charged of Capital Sin - Pride.

And two, I hope Catholicism evolves to a less prideful and judgemental group of people (notice I say people, not the religion as meant to be practiced) in the future.

BTW, I only share my fasting point of view here, with others trying to engage in such religious practice. I don’t share my fasts with my patients or friends, just my family.

Okay, my post was a bit defensive and contrite at the same time.

Thank you and God Bless.
 
Dear Scanner,
You are cute. Thanks for sharing!
Siincerely, WhiteDove

P.S. I agree, juice isn’t much better than Pepsi! 😃
 
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