Pride

"Pride sets subtle snares. Whenever we imagine that we are in control of life - our own or someone elses's - we have fallen prey to the ancient whisper in the Garden: 'You shall become like gods.' " From September Magnificat, p130

Sirach 10: 7, 12-13a, 15-16

"Odious to the Lord and to men is arrogance, and the sin of oppression they both hate. The beginning of pride is man's stubbornness in withdrawing his heart from his Maker; for pride is the reservoir of sin, a source which runs over with vice. The roots of the proud God plucks up, to plant the humble in their place: He breaks down their stem to the level of the ground, then digs their roots from the earth."