Pharisaism

The first is pharisaism.  No one is more contrary to the Gospel than someone who considers himself honest, because he has no need of Christ.  The Pharisee lives without any tension, because he himself establishes the measure of what is right and he identifies it with what he thinks he is capable of.  As a defense, he uses violence against anyone who is not like him.

So the second symptom is readiness to lie.  On the one hand he justifies himself, and on the other hand he hates and condemns his neighbor.  But there is one further consequence of what we have said.  There can be many different moralities, and the intentions that form them can all seem just in theory, but man is impotent before the ideals that he himself lays down as a path to follow on his journey. 

Who is capable of morality?  In his weakness, every man is a sinner.  If we lack the awareness of being sinners we cannot approach anyone without injustice, presumption, pretension, aggression, calumny, and falsehood.  Awareness of being sinners makes us capable of discretion, keen on the truth for ourselves and for others, hopeful that at least the other might be better than oneself, and humble.  We cannot establish any true relationship unless we begin from the awareness of being sinners, of what we lack and of where we fail.