That the Temptation to Vainglory Assails Not Only Beginners, but Also Those Who Are Well-Advanced in Virtue

ST. CYPRIAN, speaking of the second temptation with which the devil assailed Christ our Lord, when he took Him to the pinnacle of the Temple and said to Him: Jf thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down (Matt. iv. 6), exclaims: “‘O execrable malice of the devil! The malignant fiend thought to overcome by vainglory Him Whom he had not conquered by gluttony!” He wanted Him to fly through the air, to be a spectacle of admiration to all the people. He thought to succeed with Him as he had with others. He knew by experience and had proved it many times, that he had overcome by the temptation of vainglory and pride those whom he had not been able to overcome by other temptations, vainglory being a harder thing to overcome than gluttony. It is hard not to take delight in hearing oneself praised. As there are few who like to hear themselves ill-spoken of, so there are very few who do not take satisfaction in others’ thinking and speaking well of them. Hence we see that this temptation of vainglory touches not beginners and novices alone, but even the most ancient in religion, men well versed in perfection; indeed, it is more properly their temptation.

The holy Abbot Nilus, who was a disciple of St. John Chrysostom, relates of those old and experienced Fathers that they brought up and instructed novices differently from seniors. On novices they enjoined great attention to temperance and abstinence, because they said that he who lets himself be carried away and overcome by the vice of gluttony will easily be vanquished by the vice of lust; for how shall he resist the greater enemy, who does not know how to stand out against the less? But the seniors they advised to be very watchful to defend and guard themselves against vainglory and pride, as seamen have to take precaution against sunken rocks at the mouth of the harbor. It often happens that after a prosperous voyage vessels come to shipwreck in the harbor; so many who have voyaged well through the whole course of their life, overcoming and mastering all the temptations they met with, at the end, when nearing the harbor, confident in their past victories and taking themselves to be secure, have waxed proud and careless and so come to a miserable fall; and the vessel that had not sprung a leak nor in any way behaved ill on so long a voyage over the open sea, has come to mishap and shipwreck in port. That is the doing of vainglory, and so the saints call it a storm in harbor; others compare it to one who goes on board a ship, well-provisioned and laden with merchandise, and scuttles and sinks it.

Therefore those ancient Fathers did not instruct beginners and novices to be on their guard against vainglory, for they thought it was not necessary. Just come in from the world, running with blood and with the wounds of their former sins still unclosed, beginners carry with them matter enow of humility and confusion; to these their instructors preached abstinence, penance, and mortification. It was the seniors who had deeply bewailed and lamented their sins and done much penance for them, and had had long exercise in the practice of virtue, that needed these warnings against vainglory. But as for beginners, who were void of virtue and full of passions and evil inclinations, and who had not yet done with duly lamenting their sins and their past forgetfulness of God, these gave no ground for attacks of vainglory, but much for sorrow and shame. That treatment was quite right. Hence they may gather occasion of great confusion who, having many things to humble themselves for, yet for one point in which they shine and think they do very well, vaunt themselves and give themselves airs. Here we are much mistaken; one single defect ought to be enough to confound and humble us, but with us it is the other way about—all the many faults and defects we have are not enough to humble us, but one good point that we fancy we find in ourselves is enough to make us proud, and desire to be honored and esteemed on the strength of that. Herein well appears the malice and subtlety of vainglory, since it lets nobody off, but assails people who present no grounds for it. As St. Bernard says: “Tt is the first sin we fall into, and the last we overcome.” Therefore, brethren, says St. Augustine, let us all arm ourselves and forestall the attacks of this vice, as did the Prophet David, saying: Turn away my eyes that they behold not vanity (Psalm cxvili. 37).