Not You, But I Am Their Judge
By: JOHN J. FLYNN III
Pride is blind to itself. Hence, the one in the grip of pride is unmoved to repent and reform. Though there are traces of pride in every sin, no other sin is quite so blinding, or so dangerous. And when the sin of pride infects a soul who professes the faith, the consequences are dangerous not only to the sinner: The soul is no longer only in the danger of persisting in the sin, but now also in danger of giving scandal, since the face of the Lord is so badly disfigured by spiritual pride and self-righteousness.
Just a few years before her death in 1380, St. Catherine of Siena wrote the profoundly illuminating spiritual classic, The Dialogue, in which Catherine related insights provided to her by God the Father. On the response to the sins of others, the Father told Catherine:
“When you cannot see clearly and openly whether the sin is deadly, you must not pass judgment in your mind, but be concerned only about my will for that person. And if you do see it, you must respond not with judgment but with holy compassion. In this way you obtain perfect purity, for if you act in this way your spirit will not be scandalized either in me or in your neighbors. For you cast contempt on your neighbors when you pay attention to their ill will towards you rather than my will for them. Such contempt and scandal alienates the soul from me, blocks her perfection, and to some extent deprives her of grace – in proportion to the seriousness of the contempt and hatred she has conceived for her neighbor because of her judgmental thoughts.”
So, if you would attain the purity you ask of me, there are three principal things you must do. You must be united with me in loving affection, bearing in your memory the blessings you have received from me. With the eye of your understanding you must see my affectionate charity, how unspeakably much I love you. And where the human will is concerned, you must consider my will rather than people’s evil intentions, for I am their judge – not you, but I. If you do this, all perfection will be yours. This, if you remember well, is the teaching my Truth [Jesus, in the Gospel] gave you.
Now I tell you, dearest daughter, those who have learned this teaching taste the pledge of eternal life even in this life. If you keep this teaching in mind you will fall neither into the devil’s trap (for you will recognize it) nor into the traps you asked me about.” (The Dialogue, § 100, emphasis added.)
The devil’s trap is pride, producing in the believer an especially unholy and manifold effect: As the grip of pride intensifies, so does the believer’s conviction of his own righteousness, and with it the death of compassion, of mercy. And as the fire of love burns lower and lower, and perhaps even dies, still all the externalities of faith remain in motion, though empty of grace, of divine life, and the heart of flesh given by God is soon restored to stone. No grace enters or escapes the stone; there is no blood within to shed. No one who lays eyes on us in that condition will see the Redeemer. They will either see us, or see themselves, but they will not see the One they seek. And if, because of our pride and our hardness of heart, they fail to see the Lord, or worse, reject him because they have mistaken us for him, and they walk away from the Church because they have seen only faithless and cruel-hearted lip service, who will be at fault, and who will answer for the scandal given?
