Don't Be a Holy Prick: The Devil was a Holy Prick!

When I was a missionary and even now as a seminarian studying for the priesthood, it drives me crazy when people portray or proclaim their holier than thou attitude.  Either because of their specific vocation (mostly found in religious or holy orders) or even their spiritual accomplishments or studies in the spiritual life (i.e. spiritual retreats/encountered various sufferings), they seem to have a pride that defeats the beauty of their relationship with the Lord or at the very worse it is off-putting.  I've even walked away from people stating "if that's what it means to be in relationship with the Lord, I don't want it!"

Of course as I continue to study the lives of great saints and study the spiritual life, I've come to understand that as you encounter Christ through grace, your sin becomes more apparent and humility guides us in the spiritual life.  The great comparison; a brighter light will reveal in greater details the flaws of the object.  So as we grow closer to the Lord, in light, our own flaws become apparent.  So apparent do these flaws appear, that many of the great saints (not being overly pious) proclaimed they were the greatest of all sinners.  G.K. Chesterton when asked to list the greatest problem in the Church, he responded, "I am!"

The spiritual life brings us to humility, not pride.  Humility is nothing more than acknowledging our rightful place.  Compared to the infinite, I am nothing.  Compared to the eternal, my life doesn't compare.  But when pride kicks in, what happens...

The first and greatest example of someone who was a "holy" prick is the devil! In Ezekiel (28:14) it is revealed that the Devil's name was Lucifer, He was a Cherub one of the highest arch-angels established solely to serve and worship the Lord.  He was holy, being so close to the Lord.  So what happened?  Theologians speculate it was his pride that led to his fall.  I believe and theologians propose, that it was revealed to Lucifer and the other fallen angels that God would choose to become man and by doing so the angels would have to bow to a species that was bodily and lower than their species, which was purely spirit.  Rather then serving below himself, he rebelled.  It wasn't that Lucifer was against serving a higher species, it was just that he wouldn't serve someone lower than him!

Our faith calls for humility and that is why I love our new Pope.  Pope Francis for those who watched his announcement to the Bishop of Rome, he first asked for the blessing of the people before he himself in turn blessed the crowd.  There is a humility in this Pope, which comes even in the name St. Francis of Assisi, that is capturing.  It's his humility that he leads, not his self-proclaimed holiness!

Let us in all humility acknowledge our sin and turn to the Lord to guide us!!!