Even though he's not completely Thomistic in his treatment of the virtues, C.S. Lewis brilliantly explains in chapter 2 of Mere Christianity the difference between vanity and pride: That is why vanity, though it is the sort of pride which shows most on the surface, is really the least bad and most pardonable sort. The vain person wants praise, applause, admiration, too much and is always angling for it. It is a fault, but a childlike and even (in an odd way) a humble fault. It shows that you are not yet completely contented with your own admiration. You value other people enough to want them to look at you. [...]

Many seminarians and potential-seminarians to the Catholic Church are thrilled about salvation history.  And this is a good thing.  Indeed, new seminarians love to study how Joshua and Caleb took the Holy Land from the pagans.  We all love how the underdogs could beat the Canaanites and all surrounding tribes.  We all know the spoils of the Land of Milk and Honey did not go to merely the legalistic, but to the courageous.   In fact, Joshua and Caleb were the only two of the original twelve spies to even enter what we now call "Israel."  They obeyed the call to execute great fortitude against all odds: Have I not [...]

It hath also seemed good to the holy Synod, to subjoin, to the preceding doctrine on penance, the following on the sacrament of Extreme Unction, which by the Fathers was regarded as being the completion, not only of penance, but also of the whole Christian life, which ought to be a perpetual penance.—Council of Trent, Chapter 14, On the Sacrament of Extreme Unction, Second Session. The key words I want to focus on from Trent above is that "the whole Christian life...ought to be a perpetual penance."  Why does this sound distasteful to even traditional Catholics? First, even good Catholics today tend to see Christianity through a post-Protestant-revolt lens.  One [...]