How do I know when I look for God even when I sin?
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What are the social elements that we should never hold onto?
Think about it for a moment and allow the past problems we may have been saddled with to remain deep inside our mortal tissue that refuse to rise to the surface of our judging ability. We might all have some of these that are similar to an adhesive substance that once attached will not go quietly.
Physical desires such as a sweet tooth or the need to always look for the easy way around obstacles that are not evil, but they can become habitual and require most of our precious time to get nowhere. What the one sinful attitude that controls all of our attention is pride.
Vices can be classified according to the virtues they oppose, or also be linked to the capital sins which Christian experience has distinguished, following St. John Cassian and St. Gregory the Great. They are called “capital” because they engender other sins, other vices. They are pride, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony, and sloth or acedia. (CCC 1866).
Holding onto any of the sins that seem to take control of our willingness to outdo or look down on others can destroy their reputation or even become the very tenant that will place our soul in jeopardy.
The tenth commandment requires that envy be banished from the human heart. When the prophet Nathan wanted to spur KIng David to repentance, he told him the story about the poor man who had only one ewe lamb that he treated like his own daughter and the rich man who, despite the great number of his flocks, envied the poor man and ended by stealing his lamb. Envy can lead to the worst crimes. “Through the devil’s envy death entered the world:” (CCC 2538).
We fight one another, and envy arms us against one another…If everyone strives to unsettle the Body of Christ, where shall we end up? We are engaged in making Christ’s Body a corpse. We declare ourselves members of one and the same organism, yet we devour one another like beasts. (St. John Chrysotom).
Within the evil of envy lies the very attachment of hate and anger that pride promotes and very few understand the moral damage they are doing to themselves.
Ralph B. Hathaway
I am an ordained deacon with the Diocese of Pittsburgh, since June 8, 1974. My current ministry is concentrated on writing spiritual reflections and poetry. I am married, with one grown daughter, and 4 grandchildren. I retired from the electrical industry after 58 years as an electrician, contractor, teacher in trade schools, and electrical inspector with a PA State license
