Homily 2 January 2005 By Fr. Hathaway FSSP Mater Dei Latin Mass Community
Most Holy name of Jesus
On Love is not Ambitious
St. Paul writes,
“Love is not ambitious,” (1 Cor. 13:5) which St. Alphonsus (The
Practice of the
Love of Jesus Christ) explains, “Those who love Jesus Christ aspire to
nothing
but Jesus Christ.”
St. Alphonsus says those who love God do not seek the esteem
or love of anyone else.God is their
love; and they love everything else in and through God.
St. Alphonsus relates the story of the Franciscan Brother
Justin.This friar was regarded as
having reached so high a degree of contemplation that Pope Eugene IV
invited
him for an audience where he showed him every mark of affection.Well, this went to Brother Justin’s
head.Returning to the friary, Brother
Justin’s pride swelled; he demanded more and more privileges.Thus, one day, St. John Capistrano lamented,
“Brother Justin, you left an angel, but returned a devil!”In the end, Brother Justin murdered one of
his brothers with a knife; abandoned the religious life; fled to Naples
where, after committing other evils, he died in prison… unrepentant to
the end.
St. Alphonsus says lovers of God must beware of worldly
ambition.Worldly ambition seeks to
surpass others in honor.St. Teresa of Avila
says, “Where the quest of honor prevails, the spirit will never be.”
St. Alphonsus says many Catholics profess to live a spiritual
life but in fact worship their own self-esteem.They appear to have some virtue; but they desire to be praised
for all
that they do and if they do not receive praise from others, they praise
themselves.In short, they desire to be
regarded above their fellows; if their self-esteem is wounded, or if no
one
affirms them in their conceits, they lose all peace of mind, they stop
receiving
Communion, they abandon their devotions, they disquiet everyone around
them…
and so it goes until they feel they have recovered their former
standing.
St. Alphonsus says true lovers of Jesus Christ don’t act this
way.True lovers shun the esteem of the
world nor do they praise themselves; they hide from the world and
become sad if
the world should praise them.Moreover,
and
just like a saint, St. Alphonsus says that the true lover is pleased
when
others have a low opinion of him.
St. Francis of Assisi
used to say, “What I am in the eyes of God that is what I am.”
What I am in the eyes of God – that is what I am.A
swell motto.Although the entire world
should praise me,
what is this if I am at enmity with my Creator and Redeemer?
In contrast, if I am loved by Almighty God; if I have His friendship,
what does it matter if the world holds me in contempt and despises
me?
St. Alphonsus says the saints desired to be unknown and to
be despised by everyone.St.
Francis de Sales writes, “What wrong do we suffer when people have a
bad
opinion of us since we should have this opinion of ourselves?” then he
keenly
observes, “Perhaps we know we are bad, but yet still want others to
take us as
being good.”
St. Alphonsus says the secret to avoiding the temptation of
ambition is to seek to be unknown.Our Blessed Savior already gave us this
example.He was passed over by the inn
and born in a manger; He lived thirty years in obscurity, unnoticed in
a
workshop.Thus the saints lived.To avoid the desire to be known, the saints
hide
themselves in deserts and caves.
St. Vincent de Paul warns against the love for attention and
to be addressed with flattery; he says the desire to be praised, the
desire to
hear that our work is blossoming, “is an evil that makes us forget God,
contaminates our most holy actions, and proves the vice most damaging
to the
spiritual life.”
Love is not ambitious.St. Alphonsus says that if we wish to advance in divine love, we
must combat
the desire to be popular. How?St. Mary
Magdalen de Pazzi tells us that the desire for popularity consists in
being
well regarded by everyone; to conquer this desire we must keep
ourselves
hidden, so as not to be known by anyone.Until we die in this manner we will never be true servants of
God.
Again, St. Alphonsus says, to be pleasing to God we must
beware of the ambition to be seen and adored by the eyes of the world.We must also, however, free ourselves from
the desire to dominate others; this too is ambition.St. Teresa reported that she would sooner
have her whole convent burn down (with its nuns) than to see the spirit
of
ambition sauntering its halls.
Thus, if she ever discovered one of the nuns desiring to be
superior, she would expel her from the community… or lock her up in her
cell.
St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi says the honor of a spiritual
person is her desire to be considered the lowest of the low and in
having a
horror of being preferred over others.
Finally, St. Alphonsus mentions the type of ambition the lover
of Jesus Christ does need.The true
lover of God should be ambitious to exceed all others in humility.St. Paul
says it, “Let nothing be done through contention,… but in humility, let
each
esteem others as better than themselves. ”(Phil 2:3)
Worldly ambition says, “do great things for self,” “make a
name for yourself,”“be popular with
men.”Godly ambition says, “do great
things for God,” “make a name for God,” “be popular with God;” or, as
St.
Alphonsus puts it, “Those who love God must aspire to nothing but God.”
The next mark of divine love working in the soul is “Love seeks
not her own” which St. Alphonsus explains, “Those who love Jesus Christ
seek to
detach themselves from every created thing.”This will be our topic next time.