Pride vs. Truth
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
In today’s Gospel Jesus says, “do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul, rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.” There are many who can kill the body through violence, neglect or nefarious scheming. But there is only one who can destroy both body and soul. Who is that one?
Many people read this passage and think that it refers to Satan. Satan is the “tempter,” the “accuser” and the “father of lies” who wars against us trying to draw us away from God and destroy us. He is a fallen angel, cast out of heaven down to earth, the “prince of this world”, according to the Scriptures. He knows he cannot harm God, so he wants to destroy God’s beloved creatures, us. But with all that said, Satan is not the judge. He does not have that kind of power. The Creed tells us rather that we will come before Jesus for final judgement, “he will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead.” Yet the Scriptures tell us that God “desires everyone to be saved and come to the knowledge of truth” (1 Tim 2:4). It seems that it is our own ultimate choices that will determine our final outcome.
Yes, the devil wars against us and through his evil maneuverings tries to draw us away from God. We often think that our moral weaknesses, our giving in to temptations of food, drink, sex, gossip, or anger will be our ultimate undoing. Of course, such sins require us to repent and seek the mercy God offers, and to pray for God’s grace to overcome such vices. But ultimately it is our pride that will likely be our undoing. Pride can convince us that we have all the answers, that we can save ourselves, or even worse, that we do not need to be “saved.” It is this hardness of heart that prevents us from humbling ourselves before the Lord, that can fix our eternal outcome.
God and His word of truth is being more and more pushed aside today. Our institutions: schools, government, businesses, communications media, and entertainment industries have, to a large extent, rejected divinely revealed truth and assumed a prideful posture that not only befriends vices, but even denies the existence of sin, and even the existence of God. Pride is the deadly sin that can blind us to the need for repentance.
Our choices that flow from pride and the spiritual state of our “heart” will be the evidence placed before the Judge at the end of our lives. Remember, the devil and his demons are not the wardens of hell but will be its inmates. It was pride that caused their fall and pride that has sealed their fate. Don’t let pride be the sin that causes you to spend eternity with them.
Sincerely yours in Christ Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life,
