Be guarded against self-righteousness

By Fr. Roy Cimagala*

GIVEN our strong tendency to fall into self-righteousness, everyday we should devise some kind of plan or strategy to protect ourselves from it. That effort that definitely requires a lot of sacrifice and self-denial, would always be worth it.

Self-righteousness is a danger most common among the so-called ‘good’ or ‘pious’ people. The descriptive words are in quotations since the goodness and piety of those afflicted with this vicious spiritual disease is only apparent, since it lacks the real substance of the real righteousness.

And that’s because their idea of goodness and piety, their idea of righteousness is not properly based or grounded, nor is it properly oriented. Instead of having God as principle and end of their life and actions, as shown and taught by Christ and actualized  through the abiding action of the Holy Spirit, they only rely on their own ideas that can be developed through some complicated and attractive ideology and philosophy, or some tradition and culture that are not properly inspired.

This spiritual anomaly of self-righteousness can show itself in many ways, like being quick to judge, to brand, stereotype and condemn people, slow to understand others and to forgive, not wanting to be corrected, being highly opinionated and wanting to have the last word always, to dominate others, etc. It is notoriously impatient.

That’s why, we should never let go of our duty to be humble and to find ways to make humility always grow and deepen, because that’s the antidote to pride and conceit, the very virus of self-righteousness. All our thoughts and intentions, our words and deeds should have God as the beginning and end. Thus, we have to continually devise ways of keeping God always in mind, and of referring everything to him.

St. Paul, for example, keenly aware of his high dignity and responsibility as an apostle, highlighted the indispensability of humility. “My speech and my preaching was not in the persuasive words of human wisdom, but in the showing of the Spirit and power.” (1 Cor 2,3)

And in another instance, he said that he preached Christ crucified, “a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,” (cfr. 1 Cor 1,23), to emphasize the fact that the real righteousness that comes from God is never triumphalism according to worldly standards.

That’s why St. Paul gloried in his weakness. “It’s when I’m weak that I am strong.” And, “If I must glory, I will glory of the things that concern my infirmity.” (2 Cor 11,30) We should never think we are something, since everything good that we have comes from God. Let’s always remember that the only thing we can contribute on our own—without God—is evil, is sin.

We have to be most careful when we start to use our reasoning. Reason without faith and charity—in short, reason without God—is very dangerous. We can deftly use reason by citing all sorts of proofs, arguments, evidence, examples, doctrine and principles, stats, but if it is not inspired by faith and charity and delivered in humility, then it easily becomes a tool of pride, envy, hatred, revenge, deceit, etc.

Reason and truth should always be given in charity—“veritas in caritate,” as we have been reminded in an encyclical of Pope Benedict quoting St. Paul. It’s actually charity, the very essence of God (Deus caritas est), that gives reason and truth their true life and purpose, their living substance. 

The real righteousness has charity, as shown by Christ, as its very soul!

* Chaplain Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE), Talamban, Cebu City

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com

The self-righteous tend to be fault-finders

By Fr. Roy Cimagala *

THIS observation is clearly illustrated many times in the gospel. Many of the leading Jews in the times of Christ did not believe in Christ, and their idea of what is right and wrong was simply very subjective, held with a certain consensus among themselves. As a consequence, they always found fault in Christ and in his disciples for what they considered as violations to the law as they understood it. (cfr. Mk 3,1-6)

We have to be most wary of this spiritual anomaly that can come to us anytime. It usually takes advantage of our natural inclination to seek the truth, the good and the beautiful in life—in short, what is right—and corrupts that inclination because it is not properly rooted on the ultimate source of righteousness who is God himself. It’s so blinding that it can even assume the appearance of holiness.

Most prone to this illness are those with some special endowments in life, be it intelligence, talents, wealth, fame, power, health, beauty, etc. When all these gifts are not clearly grounded and oriented toward God, the source of all righteousness, the problem starts.

This is the irony of ironies because one can earnestly pursue the path of holiness and does practically everything to be good and holy, and yet ends up the opposite of what is intended. That’s when one practically has the trappings of goodness and holiness and yet misses the real root of righteousness who is God.

Nowadays, there is so much surge of self-righteousness, such that the source of what is good and evil, fair and unfair, human and inhuman is not anymore God the Creator, but us. The distinction is not anymore made by God, but by us. We are now in the world of pure subjectivism.

Everything is now based on our views and opinions, our preferences and current understanding of things. If we can manage to have some kind of consensus, then that’s it! We can now consider as good what actually is inherently bad, and we make a world of make-believe that sooner or later will burst.

People now follow their own light, a very beguiling and unreliable light. They have forgotten what Christ said: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (Jn 8,12)

Because it is an understanding of righteousness that is not based on God, it is lived and pursued also without charity. It is always accompanied by the tendency to be fault-finders, negative and critical thinkers, etc. It tends to generate contention and division in society.

We should always be wary of this common tendency of ours, and fight it everytime traces of it start to appear. This, of course, will require a lot of humility among us, so we can always feel the need to refer things to God rather than considering them solely according to our criteria and standards.

We have to understand that since God, being the Creator, is the standard of everything, we should regard him as the very substance of what is good, true and beautiful, what is fair and just, what is perfection itself.

Thus, to combat this tendency to be self-righteous that would lead us to be fault-finders, etc., we really need to develop an abiding and intimate relation with God!

* Chaplain Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE), Talamban, Cebu City

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com

Fighting self-righteousness

By Fr. Roy Cimagala *

          THOSE gospel episodes where Christ bewailed the

self-righteousness of the leading Jews of his time remind us that we

really need to be aware of this common anomaly, called

self-righteousness, and do everything to fight it.

          Self-righteousness is a common disease, since all of us have

our share of pride and arrogance. We may not acknowledge it—a more

insidious situation to be in, since pride has a tremendous blinding

power—but we can fall into it from time to time, especially when we

make rash judgments, easily jump to conclusions, stereotype people,

making a habit of finding fault at others, etc.

          What is worse is when it is not only quiet and secretive,

but rather open and loud, and can even get physical, or when it

defines the very character of a person. It is shown in the way he

carries himself, how he looks at others, how he speaks and reacts to

things. He oozes with over-self-confidence, with a tone of voice that

cannot be other than bossy and strident.

          The source of their problem are the gifts given to us, when

we would not know how to handle them properly. Instead of being

humbled by them and always aware that the gifts are meant for God’s

glory and the good of others, we make these endowments a source of our

pride. We become highly opinionated. We like to dominate any

discussion. We would want always to have the last word.

          We have to be most careful of this spiritual virus. The

moment we see the slightest signs of its onset in us, we have to react

immediately and strongly, deepening our humility and strengthening our

desire to always glorify God and to be at the service of others.

          We should reflect the attitude of Christ who said that “the

Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his

life as a ransom for many.” (Mt 20,28) We have to learn how to pass

unnoticed even as we are determined in carrying out our tasks and

duties in life.

          The awareness of our gifts or special charisms should also

intensify the awareness of the great responsibility we have to fulfill

because of them. Because of this, we should always feel the need to go

to God, convinced that it can only be with him that we can do things

properly. We should never think we can simply rely on our own powers.

          And then let’s start to figure out how to reach out to

others and serve them the way God wants them served through those

God-given gifts. When we see a self-righteous bully, let’s pray for

him and offer sacrifices for him, and do everything to help him

discover his proper place and use his gifts rightly.

          We should never think that our talents, gifts, blessings and

other privileges and advantages we can have in life are a right to

lord it over others, or to be proud and vain, or to expect more

privileges. They are never meant to make us feel superior to others,

turning us into conceited persons.

          If ever, these things should only make us more aware of the

greater responsibility we have to contribute to the common good. That

consideration, which we should try to be with us always, should sober

us and stop us from making fantastic, baseless ideas of ourselves.

* Chaplain Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE), Talamban, Cebu City

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com