Pride - Thief Of The Holocaust

Book excerpt: Father Charles Hugo Doyle presents spiritual conferences to nuns (adaptable also for use in religious communities of men) on the virtues of humility, purity and the love of God. Most of the conferences are on humility and its opposed vice of pride. The Gospels, the saints and spiritual writers are drawn on, particularly St. Thomas, St. Bernard and St. Benedict. Although doctrine is expounded, the talks are basically practical and directly addressed to the present situations of religious life. The author stresses the dire effects of the offshoots of pride, presumption, envy, vainglory, boastfulness, hypocrisy, disobedience and discord. He distinguishes pride from legitimate self-esteem and desire for the esteem of others, and suggests concrete tests for the detection of pride in complex human motivations.