"Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened" said the shepherds one to another. "And they went and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in the manger." - Luke 2:15 - Let us, too, go in spirit over to Bethlehem and see Jesus and through seeing breathe into our soul His strong preference to be hidden, simple and ordinary. There is no visible glory about him, no dazzling splendor, nothing extraordinary.

Jesus looks and behaves like any other new born babe. He will be the same in Nazareth as a boy and later as man; He will be so much like the rest of the village children and the village young men that people will say of him: "Is not this the carpenter's son? Where did this man get all this?" - Matt. 13:55 - From this opinion of his townsmen about him we can conclude that He had made no 'hit' in Nazareth, done nothing that was outstanding or sensational during his many years there. He had been like the rest of his townsmen, just ordinary, simple. All that was extraordinary in him, He had hidden successfully.

These and other events in the life of Jesus reveal to us His attitude to honor, prestige and the glory of a great name. When the mission on which His Father has sent Him calls for it, Jesus works miracles, He speaks out with authority. His listeners are amazed at His knowledge captivated by His eloquence. There is a stir in the whole countryside far and wide! As long, however, as His mission does not require that He manifest His powers and show Himself to the world, He prefers to be hidden, unknown. He speaks and He acts only "to please His heavenly Father" "that He may be glorified." "I do always the things that are pleasing to Him" Jesus told the Jews in the temple. - John 8:29 - He silenced Satan when he tempted Him to put His powers to spectacular use. - Matt. 4:5 -

These preference of Jesus to conceal or hidden, for the exercise of His great powers only in the cause of the mission He has received from His Father, Jesus has gifted to you through your baptism. It is this spirit of His that prompts you to be silent about yourself, not to boast, not to defend or justify yourself even to allow yourself to be overlooked. This spirit of Jesus, it is that made the saints - those men and women in whom the spirit of Jesus operates freely, without obstruction - want to be small, to shun the limelight, to avoid pushing themselves front stage.

This same spirit of Jesus is inviting you now to prefer to be satisfied and be contented with being just of the rank and file, to be just plain and ordinary, just yourself, to think, it is no big tragedy, if you are thought little of and even overlooked in 'honorable mentions.' Does His invitation attract you? If you hear His voice harden not your heart. Pleasant peace and joy and a tension free life await you if you generously follow His attraction to be a 'small man' 'a hidden man' an unobtrusive and unassuming person. But the cost is high; it is the sacrifice, or doing without, of a precious earthly good, the glory of a name, to which our ingrained social sin (or social mores) has given such extraordinary importance and status.

This brings us to what in term on spirituality is called "vainglory."
It is important to have a correct idea of it.

What is "vainglory"? It is one of the evil tendencies we have all inherited from Adam. It is a deviation of the human need of being accepted by our social groups. It is a huge, self-centered and subtle seeking and enjoyment of the world's glory, of its recognition and applause and approval and praise, particularly of that group in which we live and move. It makes one hungry for admiration which in its turn leads to boasting and show-off.

Boasting is of two kinds: positive and negative. The positive type of boasting leads a person to talk about his achievements, qualities, occupations, social contact, etc, for the pleasure of being impressive. This pleasure is the pay-off or gain sought after. The negative type prompts him to call undue attention to his shortcomings and failures, to be unjustifiably apologetic and self-depreciate, apparently in self-blame but really in self-praise, more for the pleasure of hearing the listener say, 'your performance was splendid' than for the purpose of receiving honest criticism of it. This negative type of boasting is often called 'humility with a hook' because the humility is in reality a hook to fish praise with; it could also be called 'hypocrisy in reverse'!

This hunger for admiration and praise, which is the core of vainglory, also tempts a person to seek the limelight, to manoeuvre himself into positions of honor and command, to want to be talked about, to strive after effect, to want to make an impression. From it, too, comes cowardice, human respect, the fear of what people might say, a dread of failure and of the loss of public image, and an over dependence on the approval of others and a fear of their disapproval.

You can now imagine what damage vainglory does to the spirit of Christ in the soul. What the thorns did to the seed in the parable of the sower - Matt. 13:7 - that the secret desires of prestige and good public image do to the Christian spirit within. They choke it. It is not the Christ-spirit that motivates the actions and words and projects of a prestige seeking person, but the prospect of gaining human praise, the ambition to maintain it or the fear of losing it.

And the damage to the person himself? For all his great exertions, for all his projects and praise seeking enterprises he gets only 'vainglory' an empty or passing satisfaction, no lasting merit. Christ Himself has told us so:

Beware of practicing your piety before men in order to be seen by them; for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you give alms, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. - Matt. 6:1-6

The irony of it is that he finds himself cheated of the very approval he sought, for experience teaches that no one ever fully succeeds in pleasing all and winning the approval of all. He will return a sad and disappointed person who starts out on the impossible task of pleasing all, of avoiding all criticism.

Modern Psychology has unearthed for us the root of vainglory. The root is in the deprivation of esteem and appreciation which are a basic need of our human nature. If one is starved of this basic need for appreciation, approval and assurance, one develops a poor self-image and deep-seated feeling of insecurity in oneself. One is then driven to bolster up one's poor self-image and fight one's innate insecurity by leaning on the approval and assurance of others as on a crutch.

Of this negative self-image the demon of vainglory makes capital use to try and damage the spirit of Christ in us-viz. It has been described that the subtle ways it uses for it and His presence for concealing or hidden and to be small.

When we see what the root of vainglory is we being to understand that the conquest of vainglory will require as a first step for the healing of this negative self-image. This is done by the process of counselling. There are various models of counselling. Spiritual Directors are all familiar with them nowadays. They help you first to become aware of your poor self-concept. But that awareness is only part of the process. The final and deeper healing must come from Jesus and the Lord Jesus alone. We can only cooperate and cooperate we must with this healing action of Jesus. How?

First, do what the apostles did, what the saints have done. Keep close to Jesus, fix your eyes upon Him; see Him act; hear Him speak; slowly, even unknown to yourself, you will imbibe His spirit, you will begin to think and speak and act like Him. Attentive and prayer-filled reading of the life of Jesus Christ - and of His saints - will give you an interior knowledge and love of His spirit.

Next, try, as the occasions come, to practice what you learn in your personal prayer and in your study of the lives of saints. The following are some lessons the saints have left us for becoming humble like Christ:

1. - Prefer to be silent about yourself and your opinions unless the interests of Christ, namely the need of others or the claims of truth suggest that you speak up.

2. - Resist the temptation to be apologetic or self-depreciative before others; be honest enough to ask yourself what precisely you are seeking by the devious art of self-depreciation.

3. - Avoid the limelight, prefer to remain in the background unless the need of others, which you only are capable of fulfilling, summons you out of your hiddenness.

4. - Mix with others, work with them and you will realize how much greatness there is in others, how much good there is in you also, and how all the aptitudes there are in everybody have all been distributed to each one according to the function God has allotted to them among the people of God, and in the Body of Christ.

5. - Do not be ashamed to be yourself. You owe it to God who has made you, to the Church who needs you, and to your personal well-being and fulfillment to be true to yourself, to speak out your thoughts clearly, to follow your good inclinations confidently, and exercise your aptitudes with competence.

6. - Finally, to save yourself needless uneasiness of soul over 'thoughts and feelings of vainglory' read this note attentively and keep faithfully the practical rule that follows it. It tells you what to do with feelings of "pseudo vainglory."

It is common experience to 'feel proud' 'elated' or 'happy' when notice is taken of us or when we have done well a job that was assigned to us. All of us often 'feel nervous' before a public appearance which we have to make, or disappointed with ourselves after a performance. We need not delay here to make an analyze study of these feelings. It is enough to say that they are good feelings; they have meaning. They are signs of our social nature, of our human need and the acceptance, for the satisfaction of success. They are an expression also of our need of God in everything that we undertake; they are the voice of weak nature crying to the powerful God for support. But with all these good feelings there can also be mixed-up feelings that comes from vainglory, and you may become anxious whether you are being moved by the good spirit of Christ's humility or the evil one of vainglory. Keep the following practical rule; it will free you of all uneasiness occasioned by these feelings.

A practical way of coping with vainglory.

1. - Before the action: Make sure that your action has God's approval. Ask yourself: "Does it arise out of my office?" "Is it required or suggested by true charity?" Affirmative answers to these two questions are sure indicators of God's approval.

2. - During the action: Put your whole heart and your whole mind into it. Fix your attention on the 'object' before you; take it off the 'subject' that is, yourself. The nagging feelings you experience can be safely ignored; in fact they are best ignored.

3. - After the action: Plunge into the next task awaiting you with maximum concentration as described in number 2.

4. - At the time of the day's review (or examination of conscience): Examine not whether you felt proud or vain, but whether the actions you did or the projects you undertook were truly God's will and whether you did them in a manner worthy of God's service - with concentrated attention and tenacious perseverance.

The following conclusions study on Christ's spirit of humility will further clarify this question of 'vainglory' so troublesome to all of us in our first steps in the spiritual life.

1. - Suppose you are called out to sing at a get-together. You are congratulated by the community. You 'feel proud.' Is that feeling 'vainglory'? No, it is not. Your action is an act of charity, a social duty. The congratulation of the community is an expression of its pleasure and its thanks. The community is God's dwelling. The community's action is God's action expressing His pleasure and His thanks to you. When you look at your community - the Church - with eyes of faith, its appreciation of your service appears, as it truly is, as God's appreciation of it.

2. - Are politicians who make campaigns to be elected to parliament moved by vainglory? They may be, they may not be; it depends upon their intention. A person who feels he has a good ideas and administrative abilities would be obliged to enter politics. It would be a duty towards his/her country, and all his efforts to obtain acceptance for his ideas and for himself would be truly a service to God's people, and all the service he would render and all the tribulation he would endure in rendering it would be a part of his collaboration with God in managing and administrating His world. It would be far from vainglory.

3. - Are God's chosen people, the prophets, ordained priests and religious, like the singing nun, the farmer priest, etc, who try new projects that make headline news led by vainglory? It depends upon their intention, upon what spirit moves them. If the situation demands this service from them and they are able to give it, they would, in fact, be failing God's people and God's Himself, if they were to refuse or ignore it.

BY  REV.  J.  B.  FERNANDES  S.J.


My brothers, you were called, as you know, to liberty; but be careful, or this liberty will provide an opening for self-indulgence. Serve one another, rather, in works of love, since the whole of the Law is summarized in a single command: Love your neighbor as yourself. If you go snapping at each other and tearing each other to pieces, you had better watch or you will destroy the whole community.

Let me put it like this: if you are guided by the Spirit you will be in no danger of yielding to self-indulgence, since self-indulgence is the opposite of the Spirit, the Spirit is totally against such a thing, and it is precisely because the two are so opposed that you do not always carry out your good intentions. If you are led by the Spirit, no law can touch you. When self-indulgence is at work the results are obvious: fornication, gross indecency and sexual irresponsibility; idolatry and sorcery; feuds and wrangling, jealousy, bad temper and quarrels; disagreements, factions, envy; drunkenness, orgies and similar things. I warn you now, as I warned you before: those who behave like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. What the Spirit brings is very different: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness and self-control. There can be no law against things like that, of course. You cannot belong to Christ Jesus unless you crucify all self-indulgence passions and desires. - Gal. 5:13-24 -

Since the Spirit is our life, let us be directed by the Spirit. - Gal. 5:25 -

Do not delude yourself into thinking God can be cheated: where a man sows, there he reaps: if he sows in the field of self-indulgence he will get a harvest of corruption out of it; if he sows in the field of the Spirit he will get from it a harvest of eternal life. - Gal. 6:7-8 -

So then, my dear friends, continue to do as I tell you, as you always have; not only as you did when I was there with you, but even more now that I am no longer there; and work for your salvation "in fear and trembling." It is God, for his own loving purpose, who puts both the will and the action into you. Do all that has to be done without complaining or arguing and then you will be innocent and genuine, perfect children of God among a deceitful and underhand brood, and you will shine in the world like bright stars because you are offering it the word of life. - Phil. 2:12-15 -

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Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -