Pride is a professional at sermonizing about humility. It will put humility in such an unreachable intellectualized framework as to make it into a gnostic ability.

Especially unchallenged by mere mortals - that's key to observe, for the fanatic will claim to have been challenged and tested in God's fire which puts him above the challenge of mortals.

As long as he gets to do the saying and the framing. One is reminded of a person who will go on and on to someone else about his own faults, and if the other person merely nods assent, he'll get mad and say, "Don't agree with me!"

Pride can take on every kind of manifestation of virtue - or vice - as a cloak. One might say that pride is the worst sin because it can go on the longest. The picture of puffed up arrogance, while certainly being a part of it, is not the near resemblance. You cannot really capture Pride.

It can assume powers to itself in the same stroke that it feigns to abrogate them. It can thump its chest in fierce mea culpas and proclaim itself unworthy and below others; it can rip its garments at the drop of a hat. What pride cannot stand is being on the same level as another person, in the very specific sense of sharing in their mere humanity. It will not enter into matter.

This is one of the reasons for the need to have lay and religious women involved in the formation of priests.

The Master is delayed

So lets begin beating the Servant of the Servants of God and get drunk on our feral moonshine doctrine. LOL.

You do of course understand that those wicked stewards say "My master is delayed" not out of some slovenly torpitude. The very implication in saying he is delayed is that they have deduced to know the mind of the master and have been counting on his immediate return. In a word, they have it figured out down to a T. His return ought to have been now, by all accounts - just look at all the wickedness! - so hence, he is delayed. If only Jesus was up to speed on our orthodoxy!

So lets take it to the highest seat, shall we. Lets start beating the Servant of the Servants of God. Lets falsely accuse him of watering down doctrine, and thus excuse our actual disobedient reducing of the same.

Anyways, I've been reading Benson's Lord of the World. It's so Disturbing. LOL, just kidding. It's so Ominous. Just kidding about that too. I'm not that far in, but it seems that for every "prescient" bit there's about eight flubs that either date the book or show the author as a partisan crank. Could be wrong.

I can't help but seeing where a lot of the Catholic subculture war talking points come from. But I think more of them actually come from late hack author Malachi Martin.

I'll continue reading it I suppose, but honestly, I'm more interested in the real encounter with Christ, and not in your arch histrionic prefabricated enlightened absolutist super Catholic reductionism. But thanks! And good luck!