I loved his book too! It’s intense, but great reading!
Now on to the spiritual pride thing. What exactly is spiritual pride? Can someone give me an exact definition? Because again Christianity seems to want to condemn any feel good actions. If I do my confirmation or first communion and happily tell everyone I know, am I being prideful? If I happen to convert someone (you have better luck converting an atheist than a Protestant by the way), and I tell a few close friends, am I being prideful? Or in your case, doing your best to snatch a person from the claws of beelzebub, and managing to convince them that being baptized is a good idea, is that prideful? Or just a sense of accomplishment, as it’s no easy feat with things that deal with faith and religion.. is that prideful? I get bragging on Facebook, and I get feeling superior, but being genuinely happy and sharing happy news with others is now a bad thing? Since when?
Let’s take the human person holistically. All of them, not just physical or spiritual side. Can we take into account that everyone on this earth needs some sort of validation / attention / approval / cheerleading / love from others? I’m not talking about narcissistic self absorbed tik tok validation either. If I get a good grade at school, can I share that with someone, to get a congratulations and an acknowledgement of my hard work paying off? Or would that also be considered pride? We are made to be social creatures (much to my chagrin I might add), and try as I might, even I need some of the aforementioned validation approval etc from time to time. So is there anything truly wrong with feeling proud of one’s accomplishments?
As far as questioning methods, I’m not sure I’d have gotten hackles (lol! Love that word, it’s hilarious!!) up. More like I’d be worrying if after all that effort I missed something and it’s not valid. Yes my scrupules rearing their ugly head.
I side with you regarding the sister as well. If no one can be bothered to “visit the sick”, let alone a fellow sister, what sort of example are you setting and giving? Because that sounds (to me anyway) a case of do as I say, not as I do. And I think it’s obvious from other responses to your blog that I despise hypocrisy more than anything (and if I’m ever inadvertently being that, I’d appreciate it if you or one of your readers calls me out so I can set myself straight).
If someone falls off a train and they’re not missed, what message does that send, not only to the person who fell off, but to the ones who did in fact notice… and the ones that didn’t notice? I’d be horrified too, to be honest. So much for the family that prays together stays together….
As far as Father J giving the benefit of the doubt, I’ll have to disagree. It’s nice of him, but in reality a broken femur, at an advanced age, is a serious matter and the sister would have been in the hospital for a hot minute. And not one person missed her? Or asked where she is? I give the benefit on one day events, like when friends forget it’s my birthday. Heck, even I forget it’s my birthday. I get it. It’s called adulting. But I can guarantee you that if someone I’m supposed to see often all of a sudden disappears, I’m going to start asking questions, not just shrug my shoulders and say “o well / can’t be bothered”.
Not visiting the lady who passed away, I can relate, and feel just as guilty. And I just caught myself in hypocrisy, look at that. Then again, how would you have known she was going to be called Home? You can’t. But someone sick / broken boned in a hospital? You can at least call. Or send flowers. Or have everyone sign a card. Something!
Wow, a lot to unpack! So, no, I don't think you're prideful when you "do your first communion or confirmation" and tell everyone about it. But then, it's not really something you *do* anyway; it's more like it's being done to you. And it's not prideful to emergency-baptize someone, but then to go and tell everyone and their cat about what you did and how you saved someone's soul (even though it's JESUS who saves souls, and it was probably the Holy Spirit who gave you the idea to do it in the first place), that IS prideful.
Remember Matthew 6:1-4: “Be careful not to perform your righteous acts before men to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."
Whether it's almsgiving or other "good deeds," the principle is the same. If you go and brag about it, you get praise and accolades from the world, but not from the Father.
That being said, I am very happy that the Holy Spirit told me to emergency-baptize my friend—one of the residents in the nursing home I used to work at—because she passed away just a week later. And, thanks be to God, this time I was there and got to spend her last day with her.
And no, I don't think there's anything wrong with feeling good about our accomplishments... as long as we give God credit for our skills and abilities. The stuff we're good at, we are good at thanks to Him. He gave me a certain level of artistic ability, and I'm very grateful for that. So if I write a bestseller, I'll have to give Him credit. Same with our perseverance, patience, kindness, you name it... those are all gifts from God.
Catholicking can be hard, for sure. I struggle every day (hence the *stumbling* saint). :)
As for the Carmelite lay sister: We only meet in person once a month and otherwise, we're on a prayer message thread. But my indignation, in hindsight, felt a little like the Pharisee praying, "O dear Lord, thank you for not making me sinful like that tax collector over there." Which is kind of the definition of "spiritual pride." After all, each of us has a lot to apologize for. If that weren't the case, we wouldn't need confession. :)
I loved his book too! It’s intense, but great reading!
Now on to the spiritual pride thing. What exactly is spiritual pride? Can someone give me an exact definition? Because again Christianity seems to want to condemn any feel good actions. If I do my confirmation or first communion and happily tell everyone I know, am I being prideful? If I happen to convert someone (you have better luck converting an atheist than a Protestant by the way), and I tell a few close friends, am I being prideful? Or in your case, doing your best to snatch a person from the claws of beelzebub, and managing to convince them that being baptized is a good idea, is that prideful? Or just a sense of accomplishment, as it’s no easy feat with things that deal with faith and religion.. is that prideful? I get bragging on Facebook, and I get feeling superior, but being genuinely happy and sharing happy news with others is now a bad thing? Since when?
Let’s take the human person holistically. All of them, not just physical or spiritual side. Can we take into account that everyone on this earth needs some sort of validation / attention / approval / cheerleading / love from others? I’m not talking about narcissistic self absorbed tik tok validation either. If I get a good grade at school, can I share that with someone, to get a congratulations and an acknowledgement of my hard work paying off? Or would that also be considered pride? We are made to be social creatures (much to my chagrin I might add), and try as I might, even I need some of the aforementioned validation approval etc from time to time. So is there anything truly wrong with feeling proud of one’s accomplishments?
As far as questioning methods, I’m not sure I’d have gotten hackles (lol! Love that word, it’s hilarious!!) up. More like I’d be worrying if after all that effort I missed something and it’s not valid. Yes my scrupules rearing their ugly head.
I side with you regarding the sister as well. If no one can be bothered to “visit the sick”, let alone a fellow sister, what sort of example are you setting and giving? Because that sounds (to me anyway) a case of do as I say, not as I do. And I think it’s obvious from other responses to your blog that I despise hypocrisy more than anything (and if I’m ever inadvertently being that, I’d appreciate it if you or one of your readers calls me out so I can set myself straight).
If someone falls off a train and they’re not missed, what message does that send, not only to the person who fell off, but to the ones who did in fact notice… and the ones that didn’t notice? I’d be horrified too, to be honest. So much for the family that prays together stays together….
As far as Father J giving the benefit of the doubt, I’ll have to disagree. It’s nice of him, but in reality a broken femur, at an advanced age, is a serious matter and the sister would have been in the hospital for a hot minute. And not one person missed her? Or asked where she is? I give the benefit on one day events, like when friends forget it’s my birthday. Heck, even I forget it’s my birthday. I get it. It’s called adulting. But I can guarantee you that if someone I’m supposed to see often all of a sudden disappears, I’m going to start asking questions, not just shrug my shoulders and say “o well / can’t be bothered”.
Not visiting the lady who passed away, I can relate, and feel just as guilty. And I just caught myself in hypocrisy, look at that. Then again, how would you have known she was going to be called Home? You can’t. But someone sick / broken boned in a hospital? You can at least call. Or send flowers. Or have everyone sign a card. Something!
Wow, a lot to unpack! So, no, I don't think you're prideful when you "do your first communion or confirmation" and tell everyone about it. But then, it's not really something you *do* anyway; it's more like it's being done to you. And it's not prideful to emergency-baptize someone, but then to go and tell everyone and their cat about what you did and how you saved someone's soul (even though it's JESUS who saves souls, and it was probably the Holy Spirit who gave you the idea to do it in the first place), that IS prideful.
Remember Matthew 6:1-4: “Be careful not to perform your righteous acts before men to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."
Whether it's almsgiving or other "good deeds," the principle is the same. If you go and brag about it, you get praise and accolades from the world, but not from the Father.
That being said, I am very happy that the Holy Spirit told me to emergency-baptize my friend—one of the residents in the nursing home I used to work at—because she passed away just a week later. And, thanks be to God, this time I was there and got to spend her last day with her.
And no, I don't think there's anything wrong with feeling good about our accomplishments... as long as we give God credit for our skills and abilities. The stuff we're good at, we are good at thanks to Him. He gave me a certain level of artistic ability, and I'm very grateful for that. So if I write a bestseller, I'll have to give Him credit. Same with our perseverance, patience, kindness, you name it... those are all gifts from God.
Catholicking can be hard, for sure. I struggle every day (hence the *stumbling* saint). :)
As for the Carmelite lay sister: We only meet in person once a month and otherwise, we're on a prayer message thread. But my indignation, in hindsight, felt a little like the Pharisee praying, "O dear Lord, thank you for not making me sinful like that tax collector over there." Which is kind of the definition of "spiritual pride." After all, each of us has a lot to apologize for. If that weren't the case, we wouldn't need confession. :)