- In what ways have you been tempted with vanity?
- Have you ever wondered whether religious still have to struggle with vanity?
- Fr. de Caussade says that we must “examine peacefully this frightful interior ugliness.” How can one do this? What is frightful about it?
- How does one honor God with his or her body, which is a temple of the Holy Spirit (cf. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20), and not fall into vanity?
- Has your personal piety ever led you to vanity?
Ca: oh, it’s everywhere-as well as the discontent of comparing yourself to others continually
Sep 21 2014, 7:39 PM
Sister Susan Marie: Do you think the fitness craze is health related primarily or other related
Sep 21 2014, 7:39 PM
Ca: and SKINNY
Sep 21 2014, 7:39 PM
Ali: I think the older you get, the less you care about what others think
Sep 21 2014, 7:39 PM: I think the older you get, the less you care about what others think
Ali:I definitely think looks related first
CaPhysically anyway. It’s always tempting to be too concerned about other’s opinions-sometimes we do need correction, but sometimes it’s just a difference that’s really okay
Sep 21 2014, 7:40 PM
Sister Susan Marie: That’s a good sign of maturity- probably feeling comfortable with oneself is a sign of healthy integration of personality
40 PM
Alit: although i exercise and do it for health, getting thinner is a bonus
: i have always thought that the way you look is not so important
its just how you were born- not an accomplishment
Sister Susan Marie: True- but of course in a broader way vanity can also be expressed over a talent, or knowledge or anything
PM
Car: Yes, unless it’s something we can control, like weight gain from overeating
Sister Susan Marie: I tend to relate vanity to pride- I don’t know if that is accurate but it seems to be in the same dept
PM
Ali: true Sister. I guess vanity can be anything
Sep 21 2014, 7:44 PM
C: I feel the same
M
Ali: in that case, arent we all guilty?
Sep 21 2014, 7:45 PM
Sister Susan Marie: Yes and that’s why knowing how to work against it as De Caussade suggests is important for all of us
Sep 21 2014, 7:45 PM
Alit: I can even feel that way about being Catholic
Ali: oh those poor folks dont have the real faith- you know what i mean?
Sister Susan Marie: Something to think about!
Sep 21 2014, 7:46 PM
Ali: i nee to work on vanity related to other things too of course
Sep 21 2014, 7:47 PM
Sister Susan Marie: That’s why the Fr suggested this short prayer “Lord, You can do all things, have pity on me
Al: but doesnt our Lord want us to have a good feeling about things we do well?
Sep 21 2014, 7:48 PM
Sister Susan Marie: Is there alot of that
Sep 21 2014, 7:49 PM
Sister Susan Marie: Yes but to thank Him have a grateful heart
Sep 21 2014, 7:49 PM
Sister Susan Marie: and a trusting one
Sep 21 2014, 7:49 PM
At: i see – yes
Sep 21 2014, 7:49 PM
Ca: Yes, I’m not sure where it came from, but people out here are suddenly speaking about how the Church has fallen away and only a small remnant has kept the true faith, always including themselves as part of the only true ones
Sep 21 2014, 7:50 PM
Ali: and belonging to the traditional Latin mass also
Mary Roberta Viano: Hello! Is vanity the topic?
Sep 21 2014, 7:55 PM
Ca: From the few real life cases I know, annulments are almost impossible to get, and can be denied. So what is a faithful person to do? Does Christ really exclude them or is it human law that excludes them
Sep 21 2014, 7:55 PM
Sister Susan Marie: Yes vanity beyond the physical too
Sep 21 2014, 7:55 PM
Sister Susan Marie: But we moved into vanity of being a Catholic and part of a remnat and here we are
Sep 21 2014, 7:55 PM
Al somehow we got on Church- vanity about being Catholic
plenty to be vain about!
Sep 21 2014, 7:56 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: the vanity of assuming your Catholic rights – i.e. the “right” to receive Holy Communion?
PM
Mary Roberta Viano: the vanity of assuming your Catholic rights – i.e. the “right” to receive Holy Communion?
Sep 21 2014, 7:57 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: so humility is the opposite of vanity, right?
Sep 21 2014, 7:57 PM
Sister Susan Marie: I think so- do you
PM
Ali: i am afraid to be too humble7 PM
: people will walk all over you!
Sep 21 2014, 7:58 PM
Cathink we started off with “my persona viewpoint of Catholicism is the only right one” and I’m the Truly Faithful” as though God is not the judge of that
Sep 21 2014, 7:58 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: So I can never assume, then, that anything is “due” me, right?
14, 7:58 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: Everything is gift.
Sep 21 2014, 7:58 PM
Alic: yeah thats the tricky part
: I think God does give us gifts to enjoy
Sep 21 2014, 7:59 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: – even tho’ it doesn’t look to me like a gift I really want!
Sep 21 2014, 7:59 PM
Cas, because we often feel we are owed things by other people or by life in general But all is really a gift from God,
PM
Mary Roberta Viano: I like to get basic: Each breath, each beat of my heart is a gift.
Sep 21 2014, 8:00 PM
Sister Susan Marie: from Caussade: You will never be at rest till you have learned to distinguish what is from God from that which is your own; to separate what belongs to Him from what belongs to yourself. You add, “How can you teach me this secret.” You do not understand what you are saying. I can easily teach it to you in a moment, but you cannot learn to practise it until you have been made to feel, in peace, all your miseries. I say, in peace, to give room for the operations of grace.”
Car: Everything comes from God, so we should always be grateful for our gifts, and that we can use them for His kingdom
2 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: The thing I wonder about vanity among religious is how the habit has come to be seen as a vanity. Strange!
Sep 21 2014, 8:12 PM
Sister Susan Marie: Ah interesting again!
Sep 21 2014, 8:12 PM
Ali: not all wear one
Sep 21 2014, 8:12 PM
PM
Mary Roberta Viano: not jewelry or makeup but wearing something out of the ordinary, like a habit
Sep 21 2014, 8:12 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: It’s like the priests I’ve talked to who don’t want to wear their clerical collar.
Sep 21 2014, 8:13 PM
Alic i guess anything could be vain then
Sep 21 2014, 8:13 PM
Sister Susan Marie: Or priests with cassocks- the older priests don’t get it and the younger one wear them
Car: I suppose clerical garb or habits could be a vanity-if we’re overly proud of wearing one, and forget why we’re wearing one
Sep 21 2014, 8:15 PM
Sister Susan Marie: I have a feeling that might be happening in some cases
Sep 21 2014, 8:15 PM
Ali well then maybe i feel special in my nursing uniform!
Sep 21 2014, 8:15 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: It’s hard in orders where some sisters want to continue wearing habits, but others don’t.
Sep 21 2014, 8:15 PM
Alt: should i stop wearing one? no
Sep 21 2014, 8:15 PM
Sister Susan Marie: Special but vain too?
6 PM
Al: yes Sister probably
Sep 21 2014, 8:16 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: Our motives can always be mixed ones.
Sep 21 2014, 8:16 PM
A: but i need to wear it
Sep 21 2014, 8:16 PM
Ca Yes, it’s vain if we ourselves think of ourselves as special and set apart/above others
Sep 21 2014, 8:16 PM
Sister Susan Marie: Yes true. Maybe I should have looked up the definition for vanit
PM
Mary Roberta Viano: The sisters said there was a special prayer they said before donning the habit every morning to remind themselves of what it meant. M
Mary Roberta Viano: Right,
Sep 21 2014, 8:17 PM
Ali how to humble ourselves? I know you said to give God thanks but can we still be vain after that?
Sister Susan Marie: Yes each part had a prayer with it- the traditional habit did
Sep 21 2014, 8:18 PM
Can: To me it is a sign of service
Ali: maybe i should pray before putting on my uniform?
Sep 21 2014, 8:18 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: Good idea!
Sister Susan Marie: 1.excessive pride in or admiration of one’s own appearance or achievements is the first def
Ali: i think it is too Sister. I will do it
Sep 21 2014, 8:18 PM
Ali: i think it is too Sister. I will do it
CarYes, and pray for each patient and family you will meet
Sep 21 2014, 8:19 PM
Sister Susan Marie: beautiful idea
Sister Susan Marie: excessive is the key adjective
Alic: Ca do you have any vanity
Mary Roberta Viano: I like SFdS’s comment on vanity: “Vain glory is that which we assume to ourselves, either for what is not in us, or for what is in us but not of us, or for what is in us and of us but does not deserve that we should glory in it.”
Ca: ah, excessive pride—so some pride in achievement is appropriate
Sister Susan Marie: Yes. Is vain glory vanity
Mary Roberta Viano: It all comes from God and belongs to Him.
Alict: is vanity the same as pride in ones abilities?
because when i accomplish something, i am really pleased with myself
Mary Roberta Viano: Maybe rather than pride, we should simply give thanks to God for whatever it is we’ve done well.
Ali sounds good
Can: a much safer plan
PM
Mary Roberta Viano: When our sisters get compliments, they say, “Thank you, Jesus!” 014, 8:22 PM
Ali thats a nice thing to say
what about ambition?
Sister Susan Marie: I know I have vanity but I do recognize it so I ask forgiveness- but one needs to grow out of it- so gratitude is a good way
Ali: can you be determined to achieve on your own
Mary Roberta Viano: Rather than ambition, maybe the desire to serve others the best we can
Sep 21 2014, 8:24 PM
Sister Susan Marie: Ambition if it is God;s Will for you to do a certain thing
Ca: without some ambition we wouldn’t even try something? PM
Al bingo Ca! M
if i sat and waited- i would just sit and wait
Mary Roberta Viano: SFdS says vanity/ambition is really “listening to what the enemy (Satan) suggests.”
Ca: in the middle of the road, crying, instead of following Jesus…oh, wait, that’s me!
Sep 21 2014, 8:25 PM
Ali hahaaa
Mary Roberta Viano: But it’s St. Paul’s ambition to “run the race so as to win an imperishable crown.”
Ali: true Sister
Sep 21 2014, 8:26 PM
Sister Susan Marie: That which you so often repeat nteriorly, “Lord, You can do all things, have pity on me,” is a good and a most simple act; nothing more is required to gain His all powerful aid; keep constant to these practices and interior dispositions; God will do the rest without you perceiving it.”
– Jean Pierre de Caussade
p 21 2014, 8:26 PM
Alt: i love that!
Sep 21 2014, 8:27 PM
Sister Susan Marie: I think its cooperation between us and God
Sep 21 2014, 8:27 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: Yes, so true!
27 PM
Ca: so there is a positive and a negative to everything. healthy image of self/vanity, perserverance/stubbornness, ambition/stewarsdhip
Sister Susan Marie: Well put!
PM
Ali Ca- you are a smart cookie! or Little Debbie!
Mary Roberta Viano: In a sermon SFdS sadi: “Eve, the first woman, on merely being told that she was created in the image of God, became so presumptuous that she wished to make herself like Him.”
28 PM
Car I don’t feel so smart….can I have chocolate? PM
Mary Roberta Viano: I want God to make me and mold me into what He wants me to be – not what I want me to be. PM
Sister Susan Marie: That’s the essence!
Sep 21 2014, 8:29 PM
Alt: i do too Sister. But how do i know it is Him talking to me and not myself?
Sep 21 2014, 8:29 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: Run for that stash of Little Debbies!
Sep 21 2014, 8:29 PM
Ca: because He created us with a specific thought in mind and we can’t understand the whole of it
M
Mary Roberta Viano: We can never see God’s big picture of ourselves. M
Ali: i just need a snippePM
Mary Roberta Viano: By repeating the prayer Sister suggested, we’ll get to where God wants us to be.
Sep 21 2014, 8:31 PM
Car so when we are vain, or putting ourselves down too, we are thwarting His efforts, however unintentionally
2 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: Right. Holy Father SFdS says stay by the cross, and then we’ll be OK. PM
Ca so, since God is working on each of us, in the monastery or not, there is no place for vanity inside or out
Sep 21 2014, 8:33 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: “When I am by the Cross, what tranquility I feel,” he says.
Alict: when i pray, i feel at peace
Sep 21 2014, 8:33 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: Right, Carol. We just move forward doing the next selfless and loving thing.