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“VAIN
is the man who puts his trust in men, in created things.
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Sister’s Commentary:
I.
There are few certainties in life, this we know. However few you can
enumerate (and, yes, there are certainties beyond “taxes and death”),
it is unlikely that the following will be among them, although everyone
who endeavors to follow Jesus Christ should grasp it immediately. And
yet, oddly we do not. Since we have such a dearth of certainty, we should,
then, be very grateful and deem it our good fortune to be given one
more thing about which we can have absolutely no doubt whatever, and
it is this:
“You can be certain that if you are on good terms with the world, you
are not on good terms with God.”
This is in striking contrast to our almost instinctual belief that if
we are esteemed by the world, by the many, then surely we are also esteemed
by God. Is not my hard won popularity a testimony to the fact that I
am good? I can bring witnesses to account who will vouch for me, indeed,
many witnesses precisely because I am popular, and not without reason,
for I am good — it is both recognized and consequently rewarded. I please
many people, am I to believe that I do not also please God Who surely
sees my goodness even more clearly than they do, to whom I am good?
What is this insolence?
It is this: “God’s judgments differ from those of men and what pleases
them often displeases Him. If there is good in you, see more good in
others, so that you may remain humble. It does no harm to esteem yourself
less than anyone else, but it is very harmful to think yourself better
than even one.
What is more, if you are on good terms with the world — loved, respected,
honored, esteemed, popular — you must understand that the world is not
on good terms with God. It never was. It never will be. Christ has told
us again and again, as did Saint Paul and all the Saints in the Roman
Martyrology, that if we follow Him the world will hate us.
Ask yourself this: what was the world’s response to Jesus Christ?
It crucified Him! It crucified Saint Peter, and beheaded Saint Paul.
Each road leading to Rome was a thicket of Crosses upon which hung those
who followed Christ (and did not turn away, did not turn back) … and
not the world. Had they been on better terms with the world they would
have, instead, joined the jeering mob at the great “Spectacles” in the
Coliseum when other Christians, on equally poor terms with the world,
were led like lambs to the slaughter, to the beasts, to the sword. Men,
women … and yes, children. Someday, promise yourself to read about Saint
Perpetua.
It was the fulfillment of Christ’s promise to them … and to us: “If
the world hates you, remember that it hated Me before it hated you.
If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because
you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore
the world hates you” 1
If the world loves you, tremble. If you are friends of the powerful
and the renowned, do not rejoice, but fear. You know the ways of the
world and that they are not the ways of God. If you have found favor
with “the world which loves its own”, you are at enmity with
God.
It is inescapable. Power, wealth, privilege, renown … how was it attained?
Over whom was it acquired? DESPITE WHOM was it zealously
pursued (God!) … and at what cost to others, and to their own immortal
souls?
We like to “rub shoulders” with the rich, the powerful, the famous,
as though it were a blessing, and not a contagion, that we acquired
as a result of it — that we may be further esteemed and thought more
important in the eyes of others.
Father Thomas a Kempis speaks well in telling us, “esteem yourself
less than anyone else, but it is very harmful to think yourself better
than even one.”
Think about it the next time you purchase your power or esteem at the
expense of another, to acquire “note” and “good standing” in the world
of men.
Thus was Herod esteemed in his Court and Pilot in Fortress Antonia.
Men of power and means who detested each other. How many sought to insinuate
themselves into their favor and share, in some trifling way, their power
over men. Even the power of life and death ... or so they presumed.
It is very much to the point, and apropos of this chapter, that
Pilate and Herod “became friends” — on the day they Crucified Christ.
2
II.
It
is vanity and great foolishness to run after those in high and influential
positions, or to be blinded and overly impressed with the celebrities
and “stars” of this world.
The inordinate seeking of honours or efforts to ingratiate ourselves
to those in 'offices' those in 'chairs will not bring us honor, but
sorrow, and inevitably lead to great disappointment and disillusionment.
God has a path for each and everyone of us, He alone will bring us to
that state of life in which we have the greatest potential to bring
Him glory and to grow in holiness. If, instead, we force ourselves to
go where we are not called, it will be to our peril. Rather we should
seek to serve God, seek His kingdom, the wealth of His grace, and to
labour to bring Him glory, and to serve the poor among us, in whatever
way they are impoverished — in body, in spirit, or in heart. To such
belong the Kingdom!
One of “the poor” may be a member of our own family, someone struggling
to attain a degree of hope, or a person whose trust has been shattered
by life, or victims of broken and once beautiful relationships. There
is great poverty of spirit in all these situations!
It is not so much that we have wealth, but rather, our attitude toward
it, and the way so many measure their another's value against it. If
we indeed have wealth, we should not glory in it, nor presume ourselves
to be much for having much. Instead, with a humble heart, acknowledge
that apart from God you are nothing and have nothing. Render, then,
thanks to God and pray for guidance to be wise, generous, and loving
stewards with the abundance He has entrusted to us.
How much wealth is achieved through evil means: through the manipulation
and exploitation of others which is nothing less than an attempt to
manipulate and exploit Christ Jesus Who is in
“the least of these” (St. Matthew 25.40). In this chapter
of the Imitation we are being encouraged to turn away from vain and
vanishing worldly interests, indeed, to turn away from our very selves
and to look to something — and Someone — much, much greater: God.
Despite all our most vigorous efforts, our transient physical beauty
will pass, and none in this world ever possessed eternal
youth. But a greater, a wider, a far more majestic door is open to us
all: to grow in spiritual beauty, to grow closer and closer to Christ.
To live in His will, such a person becomes beautiful beyond all words,
and in them we find, beyond all our expectations, that heaven already
begins here on earth.
Let us pray for those possessed of great riches and who know not the
Lord Jesus. They deserve our prayers and compassion, for they walk on
the most superficial surface of human existence, and for all appearances
of happiness and harmony, know neither, for they do not know the joy
of being loved by God, nor do they see anything beyond this world. Is
there a more narrow, hopeless, and sadder existence? Have mercy upon
them. Do not despise them. Rather, earnestly pray for them, that
you may be sons and daughters of the Most High God 3 for
they are, withal, our brothers and sisters and as the most sinful among
us realizes, God’s grace can accomplish all things !
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1
St. John15.18-19
2
St. Luke 23.12
3
St. Mathew 5.45
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Your Little Sister in Christ
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