Monday 23 June 2008

Thomas Merton again from "Unity and Division" in "New Seeds of Contemplation.

And now I am thinking of the disease which is spiritual pride. I am thinking of the peculiar unreality that gets into the hearts of the saints and eats their sanctity aways before it is mature. There is something of this worm in the hearts of all religious people. As soon as they have done something which they know to be good in the eyes of God, they tend to take its reality to themselves and to make it their own. They tend to destroy their virtues by claiming them for themselves and clothing their own private illusion of themselves with values that belong to God.
Who can escape the secret desire to breathe a different atmosphere from the rest of people?
Who can do good things without seeking to taste in them some sweet distinction from the common run of sinners in this world?

It is a worm. Working without being notices...just winding itself away through the very center of who we are so that our center becomes rotten. We can be so filled with the notion of being and doing good and being considered holy that it becomes the power of separation from others. In other words, the designation of being holy becomes the root of our sin when holy is just another award given to something we have done rather than who we are in and through all times. I found these last two questions to be worth a bit of silence contemplation. I will return to these tomorrow.

Connection: Outsiders call people in the church hypocrites and judgmental and pompous. Well, when we take what is God's and put it on ourselves, we often use that as ways to separate ourselves from the rest. Religious folk have to be aware of this temptation on a moment to moment basis.

Blessed Lord, heal us. With you word of grace and mercy and hope remind us of the gift of life that you hand to us to and then invite us to become. Amen.