"Pride? Why? Before long (maybe years, maybe days) you'll be a heap of rotting flesh, worms, foul-smelling fluids, your shroud in filthy shreds...and no one on earth will remember you."
St. Josemaria Escriva can be pretty blunt about things and this is one of them.
Pride, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, "is the excess love of one's own excellence."
Now you can be proud of your Country or your favorite Curling team and that's fine. The pride that we need to look out for is when you consider yourself greater that anyone else..even God. That pride is considered not only one of the seven deadly sins, but the deadly sin; since the rest can come from it.
Satan's pride was his downfall. I believe the story goes (this is tradition, with a lowercase t) God showed the angels His plan of salvation and the angels had a choice to follow or not follow. Lucifer did not follow because God was going to send Jesus and Lucifer said that He should send him because he is the greatest of the angels (Lucifer literally means "light-bearer). Thus bringing Lucifer and a third of the angels down into Hell.
Now we remember Satan, but I know a bunch of people who are remembered and are not prideful. They are the Saints. They are probably the most humble people to walk on the earth. Look them up. They have stories that will live on forever. And none of them were prideful.
Also there is Jesus. He is the King of kings, the Lord of lords. But He was born in a manger. He deserved to be born in a castle fit for a king, but was born in a place fit for farm animals. He washed His disciples feet. He did enter Jerusalem with fanfare and people placing palms down. But He rode on a donkey("See how humble our Jesus is: a donkey was His throne in Jerusalem" - The Way #606) and a week later died by the hands of those who welcomed Him.
Be humble. Ash Wednesday's Gospel talked about humility. Humility can be defined as "A quality by which a person considering his own defects has a lowly opinion of himself and willingly submits himself to God and to others for God's sake." If we are humble, we say to God that we need Him. And we know we NEED Him. We will be more open to Him. It's a better way to live.
For more info on Humility click here.
