How We Too Can Overcome Pride

So we can escape the snare of this most evil spirit if, in every virtue in which we feel we are making progress, we say these words of the apostle: “Not I, but the grace of God with me,” and “By the grace of God I am what I am,” and “It is God who works in us both to will and to do, according to his good pleasure.” As the author of our salvation himself also says, “If anyone abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit; for without me you can do nothing.” And, “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.” And, “It is vain for you to rise before light.” For “it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who has mercy.” [a]