Welcome, brothers and sisters, to our Lenten series entitled “Junk in the Yard.” Today, we are reflecting on the sin of pride, and one of the visible marks of this sin is an attitude of being highly critical about others, being judgmental, attaching tags easily, gossiping, and being spiteful about other people’s dress, attitude, words, conduct, political and religious views, or individual opinions. Have you noticed this attitude in yourself or in others? How easily do we develop a judgmental, critical, hateful, spiteful, and very negative view of another person? This sin is also visible when we are ridiculing others, putting them down in conversations, or treating others in a condescending way.
Let’s think about how many sarcastic and cynical comments we’ve made about others, gossiping, speaking badly, just trying to elevate ourselves in confrontation with a person who committed a mistake or is not as good as we think he or she should be. We feel superior. This is a very superficial and primitive way of elevating our own status in the eyes of others by diminishing those who are next to us. Let’s be clear, this is a sign of a prideful person. This individual has a major problem in going to confession, finding his or her sins, naming them, being sorry, repentant for his or her sins, and doesn’t even see a problem with why others might have difficulty with him or her. That’s a mark of a person who justifies himself or herself, playing a little innocent victim but being very harsh and judgmental when it comes to others’ mistakes, especially dealing with one’s own person. Once again, the virus of pride surfaces in this aspect. Did it happen to us that we were exactly like that? If we caught ourselves being highly critical, judgmental, gossiping, speaking with sarcasm and cynicism about other people, ridiculing them, making sure that others are diminished and we are growing in confrontation or in comparison with them, these are the signs we are dealing with our interior virus called Pride. What is the divine medicine God would like us to apply when we recognize that we are dealing with this manifestation of pride? Number one, let us remember that every time we jump into judgmental attitude or are critical about other people, we are cutting off the grace of the Holy Spirit from our lives. We are basically sending God away from us because these sinful judgmental attitudes are against charity, against love. Another aspect that could help us is to ponder: How does God think about me? What does He say about my life? How does He perceive me? Is He so harsh, judgmental, and critical about me for any mistake I have committed? When we go to confession, is He unrelenting, unforgiving, and fire and brimstone is being sent upon us? In dealing with this vice, we need to have in front of our eyes our own faults and mistakes. Let’s not be so quick to say, “I really have nothing to confess, nothing to think about that could be problematic with me.” Oh no, let’s remember our faults, how other people suffer because of us, having our sins present and at the same time being repentant for them. We are also called to notice the good in others, as God sees good in us, that He has stored in our lives. We need to pray to the Holy Spirit to see and be grateful for the gift of the person whom we would like to judge.
Let’s pray to look at the other individual and notice the positive aspects we would like quickly to judge or to criticize, or even to turn away our head. And instead, we can praise God for the good things He stored and let the other person have in his life. As we begin this day and journey through Lent, let us ask the Holy Spirit to look at other people with the eyes of God, noticing good, not condemning, not criticizing, but praying for them, giving thanks to God for placing those individuals who are different, who may not be according to our liking, in our lives. God bless you, brothers and sisters, as we continue our Lenten reflections on “Junk in the Yard.”
