I think we all have fighting instinct.  Some have it under control, some struggle to control it, while some are under its control. We who are under the control of our fighting instinct are often not keen to feedback because we see it as an attack or a criticism. As a result, we receive less and less feedback because others do not want to tell us anything anymore.  What’s the use of telling us something that we refuse to hear?  In the end, we will live on our little island, alone.

When Cardinal Joseph Bernardin was the archbishop of Cincinnati, he was confronted by a group of young priests who told him that he was not adequately focused in his spiritual life, and that he was not a man of prayer, as he was supposed to be. He didn’t naturally take it well; he felt insulted because at the time, he was the president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops and some of the young priests who delivered the feedback were ordained by him.

But thank God, he did not fight them, instead, he looked within and discovered the truth of this rebuke.  Behind his packed ministerial duties lurked a lazy soul; he was becoming complacent, and had not spent much time with Our Blessed Lord.  He took the rebuke as a wake-up call and started implementing changes to his schedule: No matter how busy he was, he would spend an hour each day praying. 

Just imagine what would happen if he had refused to listen to them and fought back.  He would have missed a great deal of spiritual blessings, not to mention the problems that he might have created due to his dried spiritual condition.  So much to gain if we just stop.

In his book, The Strangest Way, Bishop Robert Barron defines pride as essentially “self-regard.” If I may add, pride is rigid and close-off self-regard, so rigid and close off that it can’t hear a different tune, much less make some changes. Pride can only fight, period! 

Pastor Paul