(Eighteenth Sunday of the Year (C): This homily was given
on August 4, 2019 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I., by Fr. Raymond
Suriani. Please Read Ecclesiastes 1:2;
2:21-23; Psalm 90:3-27; Colossians 3: 1-11; Luke 12: 13-21.)
[For the audio version of this homily, click here: Eighteenth Sunday 2019]
In
the movie “The Devil’s Advocate,” Al Pacino plays a devious and
highly-persuasive Satan, who sets out to destroy a young, ambitious
lawyer. He tries to capitalize on the
lawyer’s pride, and even though he fails to achieve his ultimate goal during
the film, it’s clear at the end that he hasn’t given up! He begins a brand new attack, disguising
himself as a news reporter who’s looking for an interview. His strategy (which isn’t immediately obvious
to the lawyer or the audience) is to make the lawyer famous, and then use his
fame to destroy him. At first the lawyer
says “no” to the interview, but as the film concludes he gives in, and promises
to talk to the reporter in the near future; then he walks away. At that point the reporter turns to the
camera, his face changes to reveal his true identity, and he says to the
audience, “Vanity, it’s my favorite sin.”
How true!
Vanity
(which is a form of pride) is Satan’s favorite sin, because it lies at the root
and foundation of every other sin.
When pride creeps into something good, it immediately
corrupts it.
Consider
the rich man in the parable Jesus tells us in today’s Gospel text from Luke 12:
Was it wrong for this person to think about providing for his future? Certainly not! It was reasonable and prudent. It would have been fine for him to have an
IRA or a 401k. But, unfortunately, this
was his only concern in life! As Jesus
indicates in the final line of the story, the man was not at all interested in
growing rich in what matters to God; his sole concern was his own personal
comfort and well-being! He—and not the Lord—was at the center of
his universe. That’s pride! If he were alive today, this man would no
doubt be a big supporter of research which involves the destruction of human
embryos, because that research might help him
live longer. In all likelihood he would also
support Planned Parenthood’s practice of selling fetal body parts to the
companies that do this research. He wouldn’t
care in the least that innocent human beings were being killed in the
process. If he were a modern
businessman, he would cheat his employees out of a just wage—and cut corners
whenever possible—to line his own pockets with more money.
Here we see how something good—namely, a desire to provide
reasonably for one’s future—gets corrupted by vanity!
Consequently, we need to take seriously the advice St. Paul
gives us in today’s second reading from Colossians 3, when he says, “Put to death . . . the parts of you that
are earthly: immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and the greed that is
idolatry.” Pride is one of those
“earthly things” that we must “kill” before it puts us to death spiritually (and perhaps even physically!). I like the final scene of “The Devil’s
Advocate” because it reminds us that Satan is always on the offensive in these
matters: we may kill pride successfully in one situation, but Satan will always
try to resurrect it in another—as he did in the life of that lawyer. So the “killing” must go on continually! (This, by the way, is the only time you’ll ever
hear me promote “killing” in a homily!)
And how do you put pride and those other sins to death in
your life? There really is only one way:
through humility! The truly humble
person will admit his sin whenever he needs to, and bring it to Confession as
soon as possible! He won’t hide it, or
deny it, or rationalize it away (that’s what proud people do!). And, in humility, he will realize that he
needs God’s grace to resist temptation and avoid sin in the future;
consequently—in humility—he will seek the Lord’s grace through prayer, frequent
reception of the Eucharist, and through acts of penance, fasting and
self-denial.
Satan
says, “Vanity, it’s my favorite sin.”
The
response of every Catholic Christian should be, “Humility, it’s my favorite
virtue: because through it I receive forgiveness—and the grace I need to put
vanity and pride to death in my life.”