Hypocrisy, discretion and our inconsistencies

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

WE are precisely reminded of these points in that gospel episode where Christ issued a series of “Woe to you’s” to some people of the time precisely for their hypocrisy and their very narrow, shallow and outright erroneous understanding of what is right and wrong in their practices. (cfr. Mt 23,13-22)

Hypocrisy, of course, is sinful and should be rejected, since it is an intentional break between what one believes and teaches, and what he practices. It is meant to deceive others and is often motivated by pride, envy, lust, laziness, etc.

Discretion is an act of prudence which allows us to hide certain things for these things ought not to be known. There is such thing as secrecy of office, for example, where confidential information should not be indiscriminately spread, or where some pieces of information are withheld since a person asking for them may have no right to know those pieces of information.

There is also the case of our inconsistencies that are due to our weaknesses, limitations, and sin. That’s when we fail to practice what we believe or preach. These inconsistencies are not necessarily sinful. They are a fact of life, part of our wounded condition here on earth, but we should learn how to handle them properly.

In all these, what is most important to remember is that we should try our best to develop a keen sense of transparency and accountability. These traits assure us that we are on the right path. That is to say, we have nothing bad to hide, and more, we are seeing to it that we are responsible for what God has given us, making these God-given gifts fruitful and productive.

A good sense of transparency will help us develop and sustain our integrity in life. It means that everything that we do is good, that is, morally good. This sense of transparency can only take root when it is based on our faith in God who sets all the laws in our life, and therefore, all that is good for us.

Besides, God actually sees everything. Before him, nothing can be hidden. We therefore have to adapt a lifestyle that would make us do everything in his presence. In fact, we are not simply meant to do things in his presence. It is more to do everything for God’s glory. Thus, when we do things without God in mind, let us be warned that we are already doing things wrongly.

We have to learn to be brutally sincere in everything that we do, and especially when we go to confession and to spiritual direction. We have to learn to lay all our cards on the table so that the human instruments used by God to help us in our spiritual life, can truly help us.

We should not be afraid or ashamed to do so, because in these occasions, it is indeed God who is acting through the human instrumentalities. We have to approach confession and spiritual direction with a strong supernatural outlook, because it is only then that we can go beyond our human respect.

To put it bluntly, we can only be in the truth and at the same time discreet and able to properly deal with our occasional inconsistencies when we are with God. Outside of him, let’s wish ourselves sheer luck, because the most likely thing to happen is to slip from the truth. It´s like chasing the wind. For all the excitement and advantages a Godless pursuit of truth gives, everything would just turn out to be vanity.

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com