mass, year end reflection with the RMI3 dec. 30
St. John lists three – sensual lusts, enticement for the
eyes, and a pretentious life. These are
in the world and in a way entices us away from God so as to attach ourselves
even more closely to the world.
First, sensual lust.
Sensual lust is not just disordered sensuality. It refers above
all to the attitude of softness; it refers to the attitude of laziness in the
person so that in his choices he will always be enticed to do the easiest; it
is a value that would always search for the most pleasurable way, it will run after shortcuts, even at
the expense of fidelity to God. This is
the characteristic of the worldly person.
She will always choose the easiest task in the community, he will always
find shortcuts to his work and responsibilities even to the point of deceiving
others and himself so that he could rest or do the things he loves doing.
Remember when we were young kids? To hurry our housecleaning chores we would
sweep the floors and hide the dust under the carpet. When I was prefect I would
insist that the high school work hard by scrubbing the floors with a coconut
husk, and one sign I would be looking from them was a wet shirt – wet because
of perspiration. They discovered that
and so they went to the bathroom and simulate perspiration with water. They are kids, and we were kids then, we were worldly,
attracted to pleasures, we would do all we can to avoid hardships or at least
shorten them. But we could not remain on
that level.
St. Thomas Aquinas calls this the vice of delicacy. A person
becomes accustomed to enjoy pleasures and it is, therefore, more difficult for
him to endure things that are not pleasurable. It is very difficult to
assign him or her to places and convents he finds inconvenient – whether in the
conveniences of the place or in the company he will be with, or with the people
he will work with. Because of this. St.
Thomas says, the person with the vice of delicacy is also less persevering.
He cannot endure toils or anything that diminishes pleasure.
So what are we to do. To be detached from the world we have to
follow the injunction of St. John of the Cross.
If you want to grow in your spiritual life “Do the most difficult, the harshest, the less pleasant, the
unconsoling, the lowest and most despised, want nothing, look for the worst.” You fight sensual lust with this principle – do
the most difficult. Which is more difficult – to clean the comfort room or the
sala. Choose the most difficult. Which is more difficult, to keep quiet or to
say something – choose the most difficult.
Second, what is it in the world that
attracts us and makes us cling to the world?
It is the enticement of the eyes.
In Hiligaynon our dialect we have the term lapad mata. If you translate it literally it means wide
eyes, eyes that see more than what it should see. You see there is a big discrepancy between
what the eyes believe it can finish and what the stomach actually can. A person who is lapad mata sees a lot of food
on the table, different kinds of food and in his greed he puts so many things
in his plate only to realize that he could not finish everything. The estimation of the eyes is much, much
bigger than the actual need. And so the
real meaning of lapad mata is greedy, a person who gets more than what he could
finish, a person who gets more than what he needs. He is enticed by the eyes so that it becomes
a disordered desire for material things.
He is enticed by the eyes so much so that he could no longer see the
needs of the spirit.
How do we counteract this attitude
which is characteristic of the world?
There is an expression in Latin which says tantum quantum which means “in
so far as.” It is the attitude of
indifference – everything is of value in so far as I use them for my goal
– a things Is important in so far as it will bring me closer to my goal - and
what is the goal? God, heaven is the
goal.
God
is the goal. Look what happens when
reputation for example becomes the goal - we pretend, we lie, we become
affected even by some minor mistake.
Look what happens when riches, ambition or power is the goal. Look what happens when our only good is in this
world, in this life - we cannot see that God is our goal
Religious
life is not the goal. It is just my way
to the goal. Will religious life bring
you to heaven? – if so go ahead. If not,
then leave. Riches and health are not
the goal. These are just helps to make
us reach our goal. Tantum quantum – in
so far as they serve my goal which is God.
If it does not help you to become holy then throw it away.
To fight greed it is important to
put God always at the center. When the
center is clear everything should be used in relation to that center.
Third, a pretentious life. It
consists of basically two things - boasting of what I have (this can include
talent, intellect, power), and second it is boasting of what I have
accomplished. A person who is
pretentious believes that he or she is self-sufficient. Confident of himself, he does not feel the
need for God anymore. Such pride causes you to put one’s faith in oneself rather
than in God. Therefore, such pride will ultimately cut us off from the grace of
God. And if there is one thing God is
powerless to do, it is to be in front of a pretentious person.
If we have been blessed with positions and possessions,
we must be careful not to put our confidence in them but to be always conscious
of what John tells us in the following verse – that these things will not last.
In times past when the Pope is crowned in the
Vatican, he would be carried on the papal chair, the gestatoria and with all
the trappings of royalty he will be carried before the people complete with
trumpet blasts, with royal salutes and even peacock feathers. But then in front of the moving throne a
lowly Franciscan monk burns hay and reminds the pope saying – sic transit gloria
mundi – this is how the glory of the world passes. Nothing last except the love and mercy of God
for us. The passing world should teach
us humility, this should make us humble, this should make us more dependent on
God.
And so we end, as I have said, with a warning
from St. John’s first letter: Do not love the world or the things of the world. For there are in the world sensual lusts and to
counteract it we choose the most difficult; then there is the enticement for
the eyes and to counteract this tendency we value things tantum quantum, that
is in so far as they bring me to my real goal who is God; and lastly there is
the tendency to live a pretentious life and to counteract this tendency we
always put in mind that nothing lasts forever, that the thought of this passing
world can only make us humble and dependent on God.
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