There is No Duplicity In Him II

From Regnum Christi

March 2, 2012

Friday of the First Week of Lent

Father Alex Yeung, LC

Matthew 5:20-26

"I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven. You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, ´You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment.´ But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment, and whoever says to his brother, ´Raqa,´ will be answerable to the Sanhedrin, and whoever says, ´You fool,´ will be liable to fiery Gehenna. Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court with him. Otherwise your opponent will hand you over to the judge, and the judge will hand you over to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Amen, I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny."

Introductory Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for this time I can now spend with you. You constantly fill my life with so many blessings. How ungrateful I am at times! I wish to collaborate more perfectly in establishing your Kingdom on earth. I love you Lord, and with the help of your grace I will strive to become someone to whom any soul can come in order to discover your truth, your life, your love. Take my life, take this day and make it yours. Amen.

Petition: Father, help me to shun hypocrisy and seek true holiness.

1. Subjective Impressions: How much righteousness would it take to surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees? Not much, we suspect. Theirs was holiness in appearance only, which is to say no holiness. And what would one discover on the “inside” of such a soul? Plenty of self-deception; plenty of self-indulgent complacency in a subjective impression of holiness; a repugnant holier-than-thou demeanor. It’s easy enough for us to read the Gospel and wrinkle our noses at those bad ol’ Pharisees. In fact, it’s about as easy as telling ourselves that we could never come under the spell of our own subjective impression of holiness. That is why we must always be ready to examine ourselves, before Christ and with an acute awareness of our misery and limitations. Do I live my life engaged in a genuine pursuit of holiness or in a genuine pursuit of my own vanity and self-glorification?

2. Humility is the True Test of Holiness: Pride and personal holiness mix about as well as oil and water. Where our ego is, little if any room is left for God. What does it mean to be a disciple of Christ but to be someone who fills himself totally with God in order to bring him within the reach of everyone. But what union, grace or friendship with God can there be in a proud soul? What fervor, what degree of holiness? There is no possible compromise between God and a proud soul – either the soul would have to let go of itself, or God would have to stop being God.

3. Integrity is the Heart of the Matter: At the heart of genuine holiness is the virtue of integrity, a virtue rich in nuances and meaning. Integrity means being a person with only one face, a person who is the same on the inside and on the outside: “what you see is what you get”. Indeed, integrity is foundational for holiness, because it constitutes the very essence of personal honesty and sincerity, which are fundamental for the moral life and the seedbeds for a host of other virtues. In our pursuit of holiness, we should never tolerate duplicity of any kind in our behavior. We should avoid like the plague the least hint of ambivalence in our motivations, or incongruity between our thoughts, judgments, choices and actions. There can be no holiness without integrity. In fact, there can be no genuine human happiness unless it lies on the bedrock virtue of integrity.

Conversation with Christ: Lord Jesus, I want you to be the meaning and center of my entire life. Let me disappear and you appear more and more in my life so that, with a holiness that is genuine, humble and true, I will always be an instrument for the salvation of all people. Amen.

Resolution: I will take a hard look at my life to identify the areas where duplicity manifests itself and take a concrete step toward living with more integrity.

What's the Real Issue?

Here's a perspective to consider on the HHS mandate. This blurp comes from a weekly e-mail I receive entitled "A Higher Call"

Religious freedom is front page news this week. President Obama’s administration moved to implement the part of the national health care program that requires all employees to include free contraceptives in their employee’s health insurance. The faith community rose up against the mandate, citing the First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion. Although true, the free exercise argument falls flat if the battle is not taken to a deeper level—to the level of right and wrong, to moral and immoral . . . to good and evil. For nearly anything can be labeled as "religion" in today’s culture. "Honor killing" by Muslim men comes to mind. Sound crazy? A short tour overseas will find places where crazy is the accepted norm.

Christians should not be afraid to call evil evil and good good. How do people know what is good and what is bad? The beginning is usually a good place to start a journey! A look at The Ten Commandants is the beginning.

There is No Duplicity In Him

Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Here is a true Israelite. There is no duplicity in him.” John 1:47

The comparison of duplicity verses integrity recently came to my attention. 

du·plic·i·ty [doo-plis-i-tee, dyoo-] noun, plural du·plic·i·ties
1. deceitfulness in speech or conduct, as by speaking or acting in two different ways to different people concerning the same matter; double-dealing; the state or quality of having two elements or parts; being twofold or double.

in·teg·ri·ty [in-teg-ri-tee] noun,
1. adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty. 2. the state of being whole, entire, or undiminished: being one unit

I admit, I own you an apology. An apology that I have been complaining about my life being hard, wanting to be elsewhere, and no so much as readily accepting that I am here in the here and now. I have recently been convicted that in order to be happy with where I am at, I need to convince myself that I am happy where I am. How does this happen and what does this have to do with duplicity or rather, integrity?

Almost two weeks ago, a current student teacher who hails from a near by town e-mailed me to confirm or question a rumor he heard in a brief trip home. Basically it came down to, "are you planning on sticking around Inman, because I've heard about you wanting to go into youth ministry and that you could be leaving in the near future...". Hmm. I pretty well confirmed that I've considered other options, but at this point in time plan on sticking around, so long as that's what God wills for me. 

Later, it dawned on me. If people from a town six miles away are aware of my considering religious life, of which I've only told to a handful of people, what has my administration heard? Also, what do my students think from day to day? Do they consider that I will still be around next year? Do I portray duplicity or integrity? What do my actions say? Do my words match my actions? Do my actions match my words? Finally, praise God, this "rumor" is not some thing terrible or incriminating. Though, I admit, I'm not sure how a predominately Mennonite community reacts to such an idea. 

My spiritual director, the good priest that he is, once handed me the following excerpt from Abandonment to Diving Providence, by Jean-Pierre de Caussade. I have yet to delve into the book, for my spiritual directors speaks highly of the writer. These such promptings are helping me to live more fulling in the present. Mamma keep you.

"In reality, holiness consists of one thing only: complete loyalty to God's will."

"Perfection is neither more nor less than the soul's faithful cooperation with God."

"Our only satisfaction must be to live in the present moment as if there were nothing to expect beyond it."

"You are seeking for secret ways of belonging to God, but there is only one: making use of whatever he offers you."

"If we only have sense enough to leave everything to the guidance of God's hand we should reach the highest peak of holiness."

"The great and firm foundation of the spiritual life is the offering of ourselves to God and being subject to his will in all things."

"The truly faithful soul accepts all things as a manifestation of God's grace, ignores itself and thinks only of what God is doing."

"Let us love, for love will give us everything."

"If we are truly docile, we will ask no questions about the road along with God is taking us."

"God truly helps us however much we may feel we have lost his support."

"The more God takes from the abandoned soul, the more he is really giving it... the more he strips us of natural things, the more he showers us with supernatural gifts."

"To all his faithful souls, God promises a glorious victory over the powers of the world and of hell."

You're Funny

These are the words that came out of my mouth, out loud, in Hastings last night. I was perusing through town grabbing a few items, some for school, some for myself, and decided it would be alright to go ahead a get the second season of Gilmore Girls - not the most moral, but many good related life lessons happening. Gilmore Girls first aired in 2001, and I enjoyed watching it from time to time throughout high school. It aired on the WB, and if I'm not mistaken, on Tuesday nights, which was often a sports night. 

Last night, no one was around me, and I don't know if any one heard me, but I was telling God that He is funny, because, of course, there was no second season to be found on the shelf. You see, I purchased season one on January 24 and was finished watching all 12 or so episodes by February 4. That might have been a tright excessive. For someone who has watched little to no tv in the last 12 months, I may have felt a bit deprived. I've considered not watching any more episodes until after Lent, but have also considered getting season two watched before lent begins. So our dear Heavenly Father, knowing my lack of discipline and self-control in relation to Gilmore Girls, has kept season two out of my reach at this point in time. Perhaps if I had it, I would not be blogging right now or anticipating spending most of my Saturday at school, tomorrow. With FFA week quickly approaching, there is much to be accomplished and prepped in addition to the typical teacher planning. Thus, God is helping me to practice prudence. Isn't he funny?