Men's Rosary

We are all important in our own minds. We think that certain things would not be possible without us. I was standing and watching a dapper fellow moving along with great confidence and purpose against a background of immense traffic, people, and business as usual. It was then that this thought came to mind and I told myself, “We are all important, until we are not.” No matter who we are, the world goes on when we are gone. So why do we work so hard to be important in the world?

The drive to worldly importance is most often pride. We begin to think we are more important than we really are when we are nothing. St. Thomas Aquinas says it is when a man aims higher than he is…for he who wishes to overstep beyond what he is, is proud. Pride is a capital sin along with greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth. Aquinas and St. Gregory the Great have called it the Queen of the sins as it is the catalyst to the others. Pride lets us think we are better than others. Worse, it can have us feel as if we are too important or busy to help others. We overlook the needs of others, assuming they can and should do for themselves, that we should not be bothered with them. What a tragedy! “Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.” (Galatians 6:2-3) It is too common to get caught up in ourselves and self-praise. We focus on our looks, what our socio-economic status is, our connections, resources, and possessions are. This is shallow and easy! Shallow because it is self-centered and easy because we set the bar and judge the actions. Would it not be better to find that praise comes from outside of ourselves based on our actions and the bar that others set for us – like the bar that Christ sets for us? “Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips.” (Proverbs 27:2)

The remedy to this trap is the practice of the opposing virtue – Humility. It is in the company of charity, chastity, gratitude, temperance, patience, and diligence. These are the capital virtues, humility being the catalyst of the others. St. Teresa of Avila called humility the Queen of the virtues. It is here that we can put away the self-love and arrogance and see others as more important than our wants and desires. It is here that we can consecrate our work to God for the benefit of all and not for our own satisfaction and the approval of the world. “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” (Colossians 3:23-24)

The best way we can step away from pride and embrace humility is by spending more time with Christ. Beyond prayer, we can do this in Adoration. To pause life and place ourselves in the presence of Christ is to humble ourselves. It will put things into better perspective. We will truly see that he is God, and we are not. We will come to understand he is of ultimate importance, and we are not. We will come to see others as Christ and be able to humble ourselves before them and serve their needs. This is where we can begin to live our lives and complete our work in the light of our Faith and as an act of worship and service. In Adoration, we become Christ-like. “Adoration is the first act of the virtue of religion. To adore God is to acknowledge him as God, as the Creator and Savior, the Lord and Master of everything that exists, as infinite and merciful Love. “You shall worship the Lord you God, and him only shall you serve,” says Jesus, citing Deuteronomy.” (CCC 2096)

In just a couple minutes, the thought of our great nothingness entered my mind, and I was disappointed in how much I did not understand and embrace that nothingness. My hope would be that we all can focus less on ourselves and more on others. To focus on the eternal, the everlasting; and not on the world and all things temporary. To sit before our Lord, owning our nothingness and asking to be more through becoming more like him, rather than a better version of ourselves. That we remember, he is God and we are not.

“Self-love is like the worm that gnaws at the root and destroys not only the fruit, but even the very life of the plant.”

“The Traitor that we have to fear most is self-love, for self-love betrays us as Judas betrayed our Lord with a kiss. He who conquers self-love has conquered all.”

(St Mary Magdalen de Pazzi)