Tuesday of the Second Week of Lent
(Isaiah 1:10.16-20; Matthew 23:1-12)
After scoring the winning goal at the Olympics last week, hockey
star Jack Hughes said that he was proud to be an American. He meant that he was grateful to be part of a
nation that values sportsmanship and excellence. There is nothing sinful about this kind of
pride. It is a love of self and of one’s
loyalties based on truth.
Pride at the same time can be a vice. In fact, it has been called the mother of all
evil. Sinful pride ignores the truth by
an exaggerated assessment of one’s own virtue.
Its love of self goes beyond all warrants as it seeks to garner everyone’s
admiration. Jesus accuses the Pharisees
of this inordinate love in today’s gospel.
He says that they love to wear pretentious clothing, to use misleading
titles, and to seek undeserving places of honor.
As our human legacy, all of us are touched by sinful pride. From the president of the republic to a Mississippi
sharecropper, we tend to think of ourselves as greater than what we are. In
today’s first reading the prophet Isaiah tells us that we might overcome this vice
even if we have exploited it a thousand times.
His antidote is to ingest the word of God. Isaiah says that if we obey God’s commands,
we might enjoy all the goodness that life offers. Jesus tells us the goodness includes eternal
happiness. But if we do not obey, however,
Isaiah warns our pride will lead us to everlasting conflict.
