III
We are explicitly warned by our Blessed Saviour against two copious sources of waste of time and labor.
1. The first regards actions which appear to be very reasonable and virtuous; for instance the exercises of kindness to our friends and relatives, or the practice of any other natural virtues in human intercourse. Of all these Christ said: “If you love them that love you, what reward shall you have? Do not even the publicans this? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you do more? Do not also the heathens this?” (St. Matth. v, 46-47). We ought to love our friends for God’s sake.
2. The second source of waste is a very copious one among men, even among religious; namely doing what is quite proper, but only to gain the esteem of others.
This regard for the good opinion of our fellow-men is not sinful in itself, as is erroneously supposed by some pious writers, who would have penitents accuse themselves in Confession of vanity when they have said or done anything to attract favorable attention or gain praise. Every sin is essentially a violation of a law of God. But there is no law of God forbidding us to seek the approbation of sensible persons. Does a boy sin by trying to please his parents? Does a student sin by trying to gain a prize? Jansenists would think so, but such is not Catholic doctrine.
The desire of praise is a constant encouragement to the practice of the natural virtues. Sin enters when praise is sought for doing what is unreasonable, or when we take all the credit of good conduct to ourselves, forgetting that our very goodness is a gift of God. For this is blamed by St. Paul: “What hast thou that thou hast not received? and if thou hast received, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received?” (I Cor. iv, 7). There is unfortunately plenty of sin in the world; but we must avoid increasing it by forming false consciences.
Yet, even when reasonable praise is sought, and no sin committed, there may be great evil in the loss of merit for Heaven; and the imitation of Christ will teach us to avoid that evil. He acted in all things for the glory of His Heavenly Father. “I seek not my own glory,” He said to the Jews; and again: “He that sends me is with me,—for I do always the things that please him” (St. John viii, 50, 29). By imitating the Saviour in this, we become more and more like unto Him, and we lay up abundant treasures for Heaven.
But He earnestly warns us not to lose such precious merit, saying: “Take heed that you do not your justice before men, to be seen by them; otherwise you shall not have reward of your Father, who is in Heaven” (St. Matth. vi, 1). And speaking, in the next verse of the hypocrites who gave alms that they might be seen by men, the Saviour adds: “They have received their reward.”
But the loss of supernatural reward is not the only evil resulting from the seeking of human praise; for, though, as we have seen, seeking such honor is not in itself a sin, still it is very often the cause of sin, even of mortal sin. For praise is very apt to affect the mind somewhat as intoxicants affect the body; it arouses an inordinate greed of more and more of the stimulant. The more we get of it, the more are various passions aroused within us, and we are likely to become ambitious of honor and of superiority over others, conceited and contemptuous of others, becoming infatuated with our supposed good qualities; in a word we gradually become proud, and a proud man is an abomination to the Lord, or, as St. Luke expresses it: “That which is high to men is an abomination before God” (xvi, 15).