“The devil said to him,

‘If you are the Son of God,

command this stone to become bread.

Jesus answered him,

‘It is written, One does not live on bread alone.’”

As we enter into our 40 days of Lent, we see the temptations Jesus faces from the devil. Each of us face the same temptations. The first, here, appeals to pride, “If you are the Son of God…”. The devil is appealing to pride. If you are who you say you are, prove it. A couple of weeks ago, I preached about pride and humility. The Chancellor of the Archdiocese, Dr. Brian Reynolds, recently summarized my homily in an article to Archdiocesan and Parish staff in a newsletter:

In a recent homily, Fr. Jeff Shooner, pastor of St. Patrick’s and Vicar General of the Archdiocese presented a compelling message on humility. He approached the topic of humility through the lens of pride. If humility is being honest and truthful about yourself, pride is a lie about one’s self and can be defined as an excessive form of self-love.

Fr. Jeff mentioned four types of pride: Superiority; Timidity; Sensitivity; Vanity. If we reflect a bit on each type, perhaps we can learn how to avoid the falsehoods or pride and develop greater humility.

Pride of Superiority. This type of pride surfaces when we believe or act like we deserve privilege and then attempt to control the actions of others. Superiority leads to an exaggerated sense of authority, and we can become argumentative, bossy, and are critical of others without seeing our own weaknesses. In scripture the Scribes and Pharisees are often described as having this type of pride.

Pride of Timidity. Those who are timidly prideful are fearful of what others may think about us. We fear embarrassment or failure, so we hide our talents and refuse to lead or serve. Timid persons are self-conscious and this pride tempts us to compare our talents to those of others. Rather than relying on God, those with these feeling overvalue the opinion of others.

Pride of Sensitivity. This pride develops when we are preoccupied with our own woundedness and become distrustful and presume the worst of intentions. This attitude can cause us to develop a false joy from holding on to woundedness. In a sense we enjoy being a victim. We want to feel bad as it gives up permission to carry grudges. We see our pain as worse than anyone else’s. It is difficult to see God’s goodness due to our pride.

Pride of Vanity. In our vanity we seek approval and honor in order to impress others and call attention to ourselves. In the hope of gaining respect, we might brag about our accomplishments or show off, similar to a performer. This can occur in person or even on social media where the counting of followers and messages can be a false measure of our popularity. Instead of relying on and praising God, vanity wants us to take credit for our gifts and abilities.

In the Church, Pride is one of the seven deadly (or capital) sins and considered the “Queen of all vices.” We heard on Ash Wednesday, “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.” May this season turn our pride to ashes and allow us to see the truth of who we are and who God is. We are nothing more and nothing less: the beloved of God.