the proud are out
"I (will) remove from your midst the proud braggarts." —Zephaniah 3:11
The year 2000, the Great Jubilee, will be the greatest jubilee of all (Toward the Third Millennium, Pope John Paul II, 16). The Pope has prophesied that the Great Jubilee "certainly involves a special grace of the Lord for the Church and for the whole of humanity" (Toward the Third Millennium, 55).
We will be part of this great movement of the Holy Spirit if we are "a people humble and lowly" (Zep 3:12). However, if we are proud, we exclude ourselves, for God "is stern with the arrogant but to the humble He shows kindness" (1 Pt 5:5). "Every proud man is an abomination to the Lord; I assure you that he will not go unpunished" (Prv 16:5). "Human pride will be abased, the arrogance of men brought low, and the Lord alone will be exalted, on that day" (Is 2:17). Mary prophesied that the Lord "has confused the proud in their inmost thoughts. He has deposed the mighty from their thrones and raised the lowly to high places" (Lk 1:51-52). Therefore, "bow humbly under God's mighty hand, so that in due time He may lift you high" (1 Pt 5:6).
Learn from Jesus, for He is so "gentle and humble of heart" (Mt 11:29) that He "humbled Himself, obediently accepting even death, death on a cross!" (Phil 2:8) Humble yourself (Mt 23:12).
Prayer: Father, I love You with all my heart. I have no love for the pride of life (1 Jn 2:16, KJV).
Promise: "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; and those who are crushed in spirit He saves." —Ps 34:19
Praise: St. John taught that someone who seeks happiness in the world is like "a famished person who opens his mouth to satisfy himself with air."
Nihil Obstat: Reverend Robert L. Hagedorn, July 21, 1999
Imprimatur: †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, July 29, 1999