Citizen Columns
Question
Which sin do you think modern society is most guilty of?
Answer
First, we are all part of modern society. The tendency of us religious folk is to set ourselves apart from the rest of the mass of humanity, and that illustrates the sin that we all are most guilty of, the same cocktail that has most plagued human beings in every age and every society: pride, selfishness, self-congratulation, vanity, narcissism, egotism, arrogance, looking down on others and thinking we’re better.
We live in our own little worlds seeking to satisfy our own interests in each of the bigger circles of self to which we belong, beginning with “me” and moving on to my family, my religion, my country, my, my, my…
As religious people we claim that God brought the world from non-existence into being. But He did so out of generosity, as an outpouring of His desire to share life and the web of connections that was meant to bring us. We were meant to be connected to each other, to creation and to God. But instead we perpetually cut those cords, and the result is the same. The more we try to rid ourselves of these relationships, the less human we really are, and the less happy we find ourselves.
The Christian claim is that God poured himself out again for his creation by sending Jesus into the world. In spite of certain rejection, “He emptied himself, taking the form of a servant” (Philippians 2:7). We believe that we can influence society by beginning with ourselves and resolving to imitate Jesus in his self-emptying love. And we can begin to do this in the most practical of ways. We can start each day by asking ourselves the question, “How can I be a blessing to others today? How can I serve their needs and interests, and not just my own?”
Father John Jillions
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