The Death of Pride

"..bend the proud neck of the world to the feet of the Immaculata..."

It has been said, jokingly, that a man is head of the house, but the woman is the neck - because she controls the head. Similiarly, we can say, more realistically, that we claim God as our Head and still have Pride for a neck. This does no good. As long as pride - any amount of it - lies within us unchecked, it will have a certain amount of control over our lives. It will go so far as to attempt to control the Head, our God, and His Will over us. Therefore, we must pray to uproot all pride and for the courage to face our sinfulness in order to submit wholly to the Will of God.

At the same time, many of our brothers and sisters do not realize that they have a Head. They run around "headless" - no sense of direction, no sense of wholeness, no sense of authority, no sense of personal integrity, and unfortunately no sense of the power of our intellect and rationality. They are, individually, and as a whole - controlled then by the neck of Pride. Their eyes are turned inward on themselves, or outward on false riches. All the while they are empty, desperate, and really quite alone.

It is our duty, as St. Maximilian Kolbe reminds us, to "bend the proud neck of the world to the feet of the Immaculata." We first of all must turn our own gaze to her, and the rest will follow. For, when the proud neck bends at the command of the Head, it gazes on its enemy's destruction --- Pride, crushed under the feet of the Immaculate. We are thus free, controlled not by self love, but by the Love of God. We are free to love selflessly and eternally, giving back to the Trinity that great love first poured out on us.

As we approach Christmas we may meditate on the humility of the Holy Family. Mary the virgin mother, Joseph the gentle protector, and Jesus the Infant Savior.