Pride
- The gospel of self-esteem, self-sufficiency, self-reliance, self-help, O.K.-ness, self-acceptance, self-actualization is being preached everywhere. An arrogant person is one who makes unwarrantable claims to dignity, authority, or knowledge.
- One psychologist urges us to think "you are worthy because you say it is so." A manual of self-love says: "You'll believe so much in you that you won't need the love or approval of others to give you value." These sound like we are gods. Indeed, one of Eric Fromm (one of the most prominent psychologists and authors) books is entitled: "You shall be as Gods." Will Schutz, another popular psychologist, writes, "I am everywhere, I am omniscient, I am God." A participant in an EST seminar will be told, "You are the supreme being." M. Scott Peck, a psychiatrist, advises his readers of his book The Road Less Traveled :
- "Nonetheless, as soon as we believe it is possible for a man to become God, we can really never rest for long, never say, 'O.K., my job is finished, my work is done.' We must constantly push ourselves to greater and greater wisdom, greater and greater effectiveness. By this belief we will have trapped ourselves, at least until death, on an effortful treadmill of self-improvement and spiritual growth. God's responsibility must be our own."
- And have we heard of "gay pride"? Yes, they are proud in their abominations before God! Didn't Lucifer fall because he said: "I will ascend above the height of the clouds, I will be like the Most High"? (Isaias 14:14). Didn't Adam and Eve fall because they listened to Lucifer's advice: "you shall be as gods"? (Genesis, 3:5). Indeed, we are being tempted by the Great Tempter to revolt against God. And mankind is about to fall when Lucifer in the person of the Anti-Christ appears with his tempt. Again, this time it also begins with many Eve's.
- What are the consequences of pride? Ecclesiasticus 10:7: "Pride is hateful before God and men." 1 Peter 5:5: "God resisteth the proud, but to the humble he giveth grace." Proverbs 16:18: "Pride goeth before destruction: and the spirit is lifted up before a fall." Proverbs 18:12: "Before destruction, the heart of a man is exalted."
- Remedy is : "All of you practise humility towards one another, for 'God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble'." (1 Peter 5:5.)
Covetousness
- The flaunting of this vice on T.V. everyday incites watchers to go after money and material goods. Everyone aspires to become millionaire despite the fact that is not God's will for most of us. But the message is that everyone can become a millionaire if only we adopt the right techniques, strategies, or investments. Recently, a multimillionaire whose life story is on the front page of the national Parade Magazine told a group of high school students: "If I can succeed, anyone can." All are simply a matter of personal effort.
- How many times have we heard of "self-made millionaires" despite God's injunction: "good things, life and death, poverty and riches, are from God" (Ecclus. 11:14)?
- Are we content with "food, and wherewith to be covered" (1 Tim. 6:8) ? Or let the materials possess us instead of using them for our own salvation? Doesn't St. Paul say that "covetousness, which is the service of idols"? (Col. 3:5)
- Next to pride, covetousness is extremely detrimental to our faith as St. Paul says: "For covetousness is the root of all evils: which some desiring, have erred from the faith, and have entangled themselves in many sorrows." (1 Tim 6:10).
- Luke 18:25. "For it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God."
- Matthew 6:19-21, 24. "Lay not up to yourselves treasures on earth: where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through, and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in heaven: where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also... No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."
- (Note: Mammon... That is, riches, worldly interest.)
- How many times have we heard of parents, both working to buy a bigger house, have no time for their children who are babysitted and who learn moral values from the T.V. shows and movies? If the parents neglect their own work towards salvation, how can the children be taught about faith, about meaning of life? It is to this group of faithless young people that the Anti-Christ will be most appealing. He will deceive many by a false promise that he will material prosperity.
- Matthew 6:31-34: "Be not solicitous therefore, saying: What shall we eat: or what shall we drink, or wherewith shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the heathens seek. For your Father knoweth that you have need of all these things. Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God, and his justice, and all these things shall be added unto you. Be not therefore solicitous for to morrow; for the morrow will be solicitous for itself. Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof."
- Matthew 16:26: "For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?"
Lust
- The society is constantly bombarded with the message in the movies or on T.V. that it is O.K. to do it when people are in love. Thus fornication is no longer frown upon as a sin. The result is disastrous. According to some surveys, among high school students in America, 70% of the male and 50% of the female have had sex by the age of 15. Live-in, co-habitation before marriage is rising and accepted by the society.
- The consequence of fornication and other impurity is Hell. Galatians 5:19-21. "Now the works of the flesh are manifest: which are fornication, uncleanness, immodesty, luxury, idolatry, witchcrafts, enmities, contentions, emulations, wraths, quarrels, dissensions, sects, envies, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like. Of the which I foretell you, as I have foretold to you, that they who do such things shall not obtain the kingdom of God."
- Apocalypse 22:12-15. "Behold, I come quickly: and my reward is with me, to render to every, man according to his works. I am Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. Blessed are they that wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb: that they may have a right to the tree of life and may enter in by the gates into the city. Without are dogs and sorcerers and unchaste and murderers and servers of idols and every one that loveth and maketh a lie."
- St Paul says clearly that the cause of shameful lusts such as homosexuality and lesbianism is the sin of idolatry -- the worship of false gods (money, power, fame, science and technology, human reason, and the like):
- Romans 1:18-27: "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and injustice of those men that detain the truth of God in injustice: Because that which is known of God is manifest in them. For God hath manifested it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made. His eternal power also and divinity: so that they are inexcusable. Because that, when they knew God, they have not glorified him as God or given thanks: but became vain in their thoughts. And their foolish heart was darkened. For, professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. And they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of the image of a corruptible man and of birds, and of fourfooted beasts and of creeping things. Wherefore, God gave them up to the desires of their heart, unto uncleanness: to dishonour their own bodies among themselves. Who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. For this cause, God delivered them up to shameful affections. For their women have changed the natural use into that use which is against nature. And, in like manner, the men also, leaving the natural use of the women, have burned in their lusts, one towards another: men with men, working that which is filthy and receiving in themselves the recompense which was due to their error."
- (Note: God delivered them up... Not by being author of their sins, but by withdrawing his grace, and so permitting them, in punishment of their pride, to fall into those shameful sins."
- Remedy: Colossians 3:5-6. "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth: fornication, uncleanness, lust, evil concupiscence and covetousness, which is the service of idols. For which things the wrath of God cometh upon the children of unbelief."
Anger
- "Get even", "revenge" and "retaliation" are the themes promoted by T.V. shows and movies. But God says: "Revenge belongeth to me, and I will repay." (Heb. 10:30; Rom. 12:19; Deut. 32-35). Anger generates discord, division, conflict, and violence. And we have plenty of these in our family, society, and our world, thanks to the promoters of this vice. The remedy for this vice is forgiveness and blessing.
- Luke 6:27-29: "But I say to you that hear: Love your enemies. Do good to them that hate you. Bless them that curse you and pray for them that calumniate you. And to him that striketh thee on the one cheek, offer also the other. And him that taketh away from thee thy cloak, forbid not to take thy coat also."
- 1 Peter 3:9: "Not rendering evil for evil, nor railing for railing, but contrariwise, blessing: for unto this are you called, that you may inherit a blessing."
- 1 Thessalonians 5:15. "See that none render evil for evil to any man: but ever follow that which is good towards each other and towards all men."
- Luke 17:3-4: "Take heed to yourselves. If thy brother sin against thee, reprove him: and if he do penance, forgive him. And if he sin against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day be converted unto thee, saying: I repent: forgive him."
- We should imitate Pope John Paul II who, after being shot by Mehmet Ali Agca in the Vatican City on May 13, 1981 but survived, visited the latter in prison to say to him that he forgave him and blessed him.
Envy
- This arises from the lack of satisfaction with our lot, with what God has deigned to give us. "Let every man abide in the same calling in which he was called." (1 Cor. 7:20). "Godliness with contentment is indeed great gain." (1 Tim. 6:6).
- We are advised not envy the sinners. Ecclesiasticus 9:16. "Envy not the glory and riches of a sinner: for thou knowest not what his ruin shall be." Psalms 72:3. "Because I had a zeal on occasion of the wicked, seeing the prosperity of sinners."
- Psalms 72:6-7. "Therefore pride hath held them fast: they are covered with their iniquity and their wickedness. Their iniquity hath come forth, as it were from fatness: they have passed into the affection of the heart." (Note: Fatness... Abundance and temporal prosperity, which hath encouraged them in their iniquity: and made them give themselves up to their irregular affections.)
- Psalms 72:12,16-18. "Behold these are sinners; and yet, abounding in the world they have obtained riches.... I studied that I might know this thing, it is a labour in my sight: Until I go into the sanctuary of God, and understand concerning their last ends. But indeed for deceits thou hast put it to them: when they were lifted up, thou hast cast them down." (Note: Thou hast put it to them... In punishment of their deceits, or for deceiving them, thou hast brought evils upon them in their last end, which, in their prosperity they never apprehended.)
- Psalms 72:19-20. "How are they brought to desolation? they have suddenly ceased to be: they have perished by reason of their iniquity. As the dream of them that awake, O Lord; so in thy city thou shalt bring their image to nothing."
- Before we do anything, much less such major decisions as changing our career, profession, or vocation in life, we should "discern what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God." (Rom. 12:2)
- But the spirit of the world tells us that we deserve better and that the institutional structure is unfair and unjust as it was established by a few rich, privileged people for their own interest. Once this idea enters our head, it is just one step away from the class envy which forms the basic motive for the Communist revolution. But this very idea of class envy was created philosophically (through Marx) by the masonic-illuminati forces. The first Communist government in Russia was created in 1917 (through Lenin) with money from the same forces. Now, this idea is being justified "theologically" to become liberation theology. But it is no theology as it is anti-God in its materialist foundation.
Gluttony
- This sin is a consequence of the idea that there is only one life to live. No life after death, so live it up, eat and drink to the excess. As St. Paul observes: "Their god is their belly. Their glory is in their shame, they mind the things of earth." (Phillipians 3:19).
- Few people nowadays believe that immortal soul exists. If man has no rational soul, then he is no better than an animal. However, animal has no free will; it is driven by instinct, by necessity. That's why even if animal kills, it is no sin. The very fact man has free will ,which is part of the rational soul, that Satan can tempt him.
- Mankind now succumbs to this ultimate lie and thus feels free to engage in all kinds of activities that give pleasure the body. So we have seen so much emphasis on fun and entertainment, on bodily health, on diet, on physical exercise to keep the body trim and shapely. But St. Paul says: "bodily training is of little profit." (1 Tim. 4:8). This is because "the things that are seen are temporal , but the things that are not seen are eternal." (2 Cor. 4:18). We cannot see our soul, but it is eternal, as it is the image of God. (Genesis 1:26-27). Neither can we see God, Heaven and Hell in this life. What we can see with our eyes are passing away. Thus we should put our mind on the things in Heaven rather than those on this earth. Colossians 3:1-2. "Therefore if you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth."
- Remedy to gluttony is temperance in all things. Ecclesiasticus 37:31-33. "For all things are not expedient for all, and every kind pleaseth not every soul. Be not greedy in any feasting, and pour not out thyself upon any meat: For in many meats there will be sickness, and greediness will turn to choler." (Note: choler = indigestion.)
Sloth
- Today, few people have courage of going against the tide. It seems everyone is following the trend, the fashion, the fad. It is easier. It requires less work, less effort. The fear of public opinion, of offending the peer group leads many to reject the Catholic Faith. Why?
- Because the true Catholics live in the world but they are "not of the world." (John 17:14). The world is one of the three enemies of our soul. (The others are the flesh and the Devil). The world offers its own maxims about wealth, honor, and power, which goad everyone to follow the wide path to Hell. But the Catholics have to take the narrow path. They have to keep the Ten Commandments. They have to carry the cross after their Master. They have to endure suffering without complaint. They cannot indulge in satisfying the desires of the flesh like the nonbelievers who "sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play." (1 Cor. 10:7). They have to live differently from them. They "are not to walk as the Gentiles walk in the futility of their mind." (Eph. 4:17)(Note: walk = live ; Gentiles = non-Christians). And St. Paul advises them: " with fear and trembling work out your salvation." (Phillipians 2:12.)
- (Note: With fear, etc... This is against the false faith, and presumptuous security of modern sectaries."
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Created 6:33 PM 7/2/99.
LAST UPDATED: 4:11 PM 12/5/99