Here, then, is the long list of symptoms that reveal that a person has succumbed to the vice of pride. It is an evil with an obvious physical aspect: the proud man is haughty, has a ‘stiff neck’, that is, he has a rigid neck that does not bend. He is a man easy to judge disdainfully: for nothing, he makes irrevocable judgments on others, who seem to him hopelessly inept and incapable. In his arrogance, he forgets that Jesus in the Gospels gave us very few moral precepts, but in one of them he was inflexible: never judge. You realize that you are dealing with a proud person when, if you give him a little constructive criticism, or a totally harmless comment, he reacts in an exaggerated way, as if someone had offended his majesty: he flies into a rage, shouts, breaks off relations with others resentfully.
Little can be done with a person sick with pride. It is impossible to talk to her, much less correct her, because deep down she is no longer present for herself. You just have to be patient with her, because one day her building will collapse. An Italian proverb says: “Pride goes on horseback and comes back on foot.” In the Gospels, Jesus deals with many proud people, and he often went to unearth this vice even in people who hid it very well. Peter boasts to the fullest of his fidelity: “Even if everyone abandons you, I will not do so” (cf. Mt 26:33). However, he will soon experience being like the others, also fearful of the death that he did not imagine could be so close. And so, the second Peter, the one who no longer lifts his chin but cries salty tears, will be medicated by Jesus and will finally be able to bear the weight of the Church. He used to display a presumption that was best not flaunted; Now, however, he is a faithful disciple to whom, as a parable says, his master “will make him steward of all his possessions” (Luke 12:44).
Salvation passes through humility, the true remedy for every act of pride. In the Magnificat Mary sings of God who disperses with his power the proud in the sick thoughts of their hearts. It is useless to steal something from God, as the proud hope to do, because in the end He wants to give us everything. That is why the Apostle James, to his community wounded by internal struggles originating in pride, writes: “God resists the proud, but gives his grace to the humble” (James 4:6). Therefore, dear brothers and sisters Let’s take advantage of this Lent to fight against our pride.