Danger of Vanity

In order to avoid vanity, I will not do outside what I could do in a room. (OOCC, X, p. 540; STA, 100)

Vanity consists of a person giving himself an honor which he does not deserve. It implies that a person pretends to have a quality which he does not have. Hence a person, infected with the vice of vanity, attempts to show off his personality as something very great when it is not. Vanity is a very dangerous vice, because it kills a person spiritually and prevents a genuine growth in him. When a person attempts to show himself off as someone great when he is not, he denies the actual nature of his personality. When a person attempts to hide what he really is and puts on the mask of being someone else, he cannot make any progress in his life. Hence, the vice of vanity completely blocks every forward movement in one’s spiritual life. Thus, the person who suffers from vanity is practically a spiritually dead person. It is for this reason Jesus called people with the hypocritical attitude as ‘whitewashed tombs’. St. Vincent Pallotti realized the danger of vanity in his spiritual life, and to avoid this vice he lived the practical principle: “I will not do outside what I can do in a room.”

Do I suffer from vanity? Do I realize that vanity prevents me from knowing the true nature of myself? Do I realize that I deny myself a genuine growth in my spiritual life because of vanity? What concrete measures do I need to take to free myself from this dangerous vice?

Woe to you, Pharisees, and you religious leaders – hypocrites! You are like beautiful mausoleums – full of dead men’s bones and of foulness and corruption. You try to look like saintly men, but underneath those pious robes are hearts besmirched with every sort of hypocrisy and sin. (Mt. 23: 27-28)