Pride Kills

Of all the many deadly things that exist in this world, there is no other more potent lethal weapon than the primordial pride. In a sharing among friends some time ago, I have witnessed so hearts break because of pride. Why do we keep our walls up to keep others away? What is with our selves that makes us think we are more than every single thing outside of ourselves? Am I really so important, beautiful, indispensable, powerful, and invincible as I believe?

People bear pride in many ways. Show-offs wear it on their foreheads. The passive ones wear it hidden, dormant like a volcano but cataclysmic when in pressure. But either way, it is dangerous and so toxic it kills relationships. No one is exempted, not even us Religious. In fact, most of those who have it are those who are in the positions of power.

A very good and holy priest told me the secret to defeat pride. “Look at the cross, and tell me what you see.” There on the cross is the God-made-Man, the epic symbol of humility. From the highest heavens, he came to suffer the humiliation of the cross. Who is man to brag before this selfless act of the omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent? Yet we are still so stiff-necked and cold-hearted to accept our own littleness before the infinite greatness of our God.

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