Striving to Move Beyond Pride and Shame

This morning’s Office of Readings proffers one of the all-time greats as challenge to all who would be zealous for the proclamation of the Gospel. While the whole passage is to my mind priceless, I’d like to focus on the central paragraphs of this great gift to us from Pope St. Gregory the Great:

“Beloved brothers, consider what has been said: "Pray the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into his harvest." Pray for us so that we may have the strength to work on your behalf, that our tongue may not grow weary of exhortation, and that after we have accepted the office of preaching, our silence may not condemn us before the just judge. For frequently the preacher’s tongue is bound fast on account of his own wickedness; while on the other hand it sometimes happens that because of the people’s sins, the word of preaching is withdrawn from those who preside over the assembly.

With reference to the wickedness of the preacher, the psalmist says: “But God asks the sinner: Why do you recite my commandments?” And with reference to the latter, the Lord tells Ezekiel: “I will make your tongue cleave to the roof of your mouth, so that you shall be dumb and unable to reprove them, for they are a rebellious house.” He clearly means this: the word of preaching will be taken away from you because as long as this people irritates me by their deeds, they are unworthy to hear the exhortation of truth. It is not easy to know for whose sinfulness the preacher’s word is withheld, but it is indisputable that the shepherd’s silence while often injurious to himself will always harm his flock.”

I don't think it is sufficient to say that it is because of our sins, those of the preacher and those of the people, that teaching is withheld, that certain folk turn their backs on the foundation stones of moral teaching. I think we have to identify that sin or those sins which translate into hardness of heart and the rejection of Christ's invitation to share life with Him in His Kingdom. More often than not, I think that at the origin of the shepherd's silence or the flock's deafness is some variation on the theme of the fall of our first parents, Adam and Eve. It is the tragedy of pride which falls and then shame-facedly tries to cover itself.

There's a very lively part of the Catholic world out there, which is very much electrified in the midst of pre-election debates in the US by the abortion issue and the nature of truth, and which finds itself pained to hold for truth and cast light on falsehood, as such. In facing this world and speaking to the often limp or disheartened defenses of the unborn child and the elderly infirm, I found consolation in the words of St. Paul from Ephesians 4:17-32:

"So I declare and testify in the Lord that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds; darkened in understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance, because of their hardness of heart, they have become callous and have handed themselves over to licentiousness for the practice of every kind of impurity to excess. That is not how you learned Christ, assuming that you have heard of him and were taught in him, as truth is in Jesus, that you should put away the old self of your former way of life, corrupted through deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self, created in God's way in righteousness and holiness of truth. Therefore, putting away falsehood, speak the truth, each one to his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun set on your anger, and do not leave room for the devil. The thief must no longer steal, but rather labor, doing honest work with his (own) hands, so that he may have something to share with one in need. No foul language should come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for needed edification, that it may impart grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the holy Spirit of God, with which you were sealed for the day of redemption. All bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling must be removed from you, along with all malice. (And) be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ."

The relativism of our times is little more than pride's attempt to stifle its own shame and excuse its wrongdoing and failures. Relativism's seeming or so-claimed respect for the erring conscience of those who refuse moral or any other truth through ignorance (vincible or invincible) is in the end most hard-hearted. It is as if to say, "well, let him or her go their own way... let them hang themselves for all I care". People's acquiescence to a relativist stance and subsequent tolerance of the loss of others to goodness, truth and that beauty which reflects the divine image is more than cowardice or indifference and it is indeed as culpable in the lives of those who should know better as would be outright killing or letting die through some act of omission. I cannot help but think of the gripping descriptions by St. Therese of Lisieux and by the little children of Fatima of countless souls being carried off into the fires of Hell like fallen leaves caught up in the whirlwind... We cannot exempt ourselves from trying to save others from damnation, albeit seemingly by their own choice.

As I myself strive to live the fullness of truth about human life and our presence in a world created by God, I cannot reduce that truth to a position arbitrarily held. If my own sins and failings cover me with shame and to the extent that in more honest moments I recognize my misery, then I have to get up and move toward home, as did the Prodigal Son, swallowing my pride and shame, opening up to the Father's waiting embrace and seeking His forgiveness and favor.

Good teaching continually reminds us of the example of the family and friends who carried the man paralyzed by his own sins over all obstacles so as to present him to Jesus for forgiveness and healing, letting him down before the Lord through a hole they opened (by violence) in somebody else's roof. There is nothing respectful or honest in my allowing the other to just lie there in his or her sin and moral deprivation.

It is evident from Pope St. Gregory's words that he had no illusions about the necessary success of the repentant and sanctified preacher's words. We can't always shout our way successfully through another's deafness. When, however, I think of the number of babies' lives who have been saved through friendship extended to a young woman and a comforting hand held during an ultrasound test revealing the beauty of that little life already treading the path which will shortly lead to the light of day and all kinds of possibilities for exchanges face to face, I see the need for an ever greater outreach on the part of us who have put on Christ in baptism and realize the consequences of that grace: "That is not how you learned Christ, assuming that you have heard of him and were taught in him, as truth is in Jesus, that you should put away the old self of your former way of life, corrupted through deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self, created in God's way in righteousness and holiness of truth. Therefore, putting away falsehood, speak the truth, each one to his neighbor, for we are members one of another."

May this Year of Faith not only bring new encounters with the Gospel and with Christ's Church, conquering ignorance and engaging in battle against personal sin, but may it be occasion to conquer fallen pride (there is no other kind) which has us immobile and covered with shame. From the grave the victorious Christ drew forth with Himself unto Resurrection our first parents. Pray that He extend a merciful hand to our fallen world of today and that we might dedicate ourselves as laborers in His harvest!