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Holy Cross Abbey

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Tuesday of the 14th Week

July 9, 2024 by Fr Joseph

There is fundamentally only one category of sin that inevitably separates us from God, and places us outside the ambit of God’s grace; and that sin is pride. All other sins have at least the potential for becoming moments of grace, and a repentant turning back to the God we have offended. In addition, every sin, but pride, has the potential to become an occasion for growth in true humility. And in this, one thinks of Evagrius’ notion of driving out one vice with another vice; and so, for example, as he illustrates, sins against chastity—or any other sins that evoke shame in us—have a natural way of driving out pride and arrogance. And in this we see an instance of what the Pharisees accused Jesus of doing: Driving out demons by the prince of demons. This is, of course, not the sense in which the Pharisees meant their accusation, but nevertheless this understanding offers one way of extricating ourselves from the web of sin. At the same time, it is not to suggest that we intentionally sin in order to cultivate humility, only that once having sinned let us pray for the grace to open ourselves to growing in humility, rather than allow a wounded pride to merely discourage and sadden us and tempt us to despair.

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