Predominant Pride
The Jews said of Jesus, “What kind of wisdom has been given him? What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands! Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon?” And they took offense at him. Mt 11:25-30
14th Ordinary Sunday Cycle B
We always tease those from Negros as being “tikalon” – that is boastful. One parish priest claimed, “I am the only Ilonggo priest who is humble.” He was clearly contradicting himself.
In the novitiate (the year before one’s first religious vows) novices were brief on the different types of pride. In the bible there are six types, named as follows: a. A Desire to Be God (Isaiah 14:13-14); b. Moral Self-Righteousness (Luke 18:11); c. Confidence in One’s Accomplishments (Daniel 4:28-37); d. Ambition for Prominence (Mark 10:35-45); and e. Lack of Teachability (Hebrews 13:17).
Pride, as one of the 7 capital sins, is the source of all other sins. No one can deny he/she is not proud. Even our parish priest has pride.
The Jews who refused to listen to Jesus’ wisdom in spite of the miracles He had performed were too proud to accept that Jesus could be the Messiah since He was coming from their neighborhood. Mk 6:1-6
In the first reading Ezekiel was sent to the Hebrews whom Yahweh described as hard of face and obstinate of heart, much like their ancestors who have revolted against Him ever since. Why so? Again, like in Jesus’ time, they resisted to know that a prophet has been among them. Ez 2:2-5
Again no one of us can deny that we are no different from those hard-headed Jews. And we shall remain stubborn all our life as St. Paul realized with himself when he wrote to the Romans: “That I, Paul, might not become too elated, because of the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan, to beat me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it might leave me.” 2 Cor 12:7-10
Yet in spite of this fact God assures us all that if only we keep up till the end, we would survive our weakness, faults and failures. And the reason is this as Jesus revealed to Paul “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”
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