The Best Way to Conquer Pride

standing here in the Magnificent Abbey of Monte Casino which is really the mother Church of the whole Benedictine movement around the world we've been immersed in the world of Benedict because we're filming for this part of our pivotal players series we were at Santa Anselmo a couple days ago in Rome which is one of their headquarter churches yesterday a magnificent trip to subiaco which is the cave where the young Benedict stayed for several years kind of preparing himself for a spiritual life and then here where he established this first really great Monastery and it's been the as I say the mother Church of the Benedictine movement all over the world we talked a bit about the rule today in my stand-ups at the heart of the rule is of humility Benedict talks about his famous degrees of humility the principal virtue you might say of the monastic life is humility now why well because pride is the is the mother of all sin if pride is the great sin of Adam the correction to that is humility now what doesn't it mean it doesn't mean a sort of um willful self-abligation it doesn't mean what we call the false humility rather it's an emptying out of the self so as to allow God to act Thomas Merton talks about the false self that's the ego that most of us operate out of most of the time it's my projects my plans my aspirations uh you're standing the way of what I want to achieve that's how most of us live our lives well that's the phony self or the false self when that self is put down or put to death then the true self can emerge which is what Paul talks about it's no longer I who live but Christ who lives within me a new center emerges and now we can say with Saint Paul there's a power already at work in me that can do infinitely more than I can ask or imagine see that I that old eye is is the is the false self what I can ask or imagine who cares empty that out and now God can accomplish what he wants to and you'll be far more yourself when you let that happen see there's the Paradox of the spiritual life a lot of people get stuck at an earlier stage they might say oh that religion is all about just you know putting yourself down and you know I'm nobody no no that's the preparation that's like going through training to get ready for the for the season it's the necessary ascetical emptying out of the old self to allow the true self to emerge and see when you do that great things can happen think of Benedict coming here with a few you know followers and from his spiritual commitment comes the whole Benedictine movement across the centuries just a last thought as I stand Here we were here three years ago filming for the Thomas Aquinas episode because the young Thomas Aquinas so some what 800 years after Benedict came here to this place he was born not that far from here and the young Aquinas spent nine years here at Monte Casino learning the rudiments of the Benedictine life I just love that sense of of the spiritual life unfolding now across the centuries and now what some eight centuries later here we are to talk about both Aquinas and Benedict so it's the beauty of it it's The Wonder of it how God's spirit unfolds now across the ages so it's been very moving for all of us to be at this holy place and many others and we continue to pray for all of you at these places please keep praying for us and God bless you

Channel: Bishop Robert Barron

Views: 90,639

Keywords: Bishop Barron, St. Benedict, Subiaco, Pivotal Players, Italy, Catholicism, Catholic Church, Preaching, Homilies

Id: HQrK7PuwU5k

Length: 3min 42sec (222 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 14 2017