The futility of hypocrisy

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

CHRIST has warned us about the futility of hypocrisy. At one point, he said, “There is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. Therefore, whatever you have said in the darkness will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed on the housetops.” (Lk 12,2-3)

We have to be wary of this danger of hypocrisy since we are very prone to it, since it always promises us some instant relief from anything that can cause us some discomfort or inconvenience. But we should be brave enough to let ourselves suffer for a while if only to tell the truth or to show things as they really are. Such suffering, to be sure, will give us tremendous benefits that are far greater than what hypocrisy could give us.

What we should rather do if we want our life to be truly good is 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.

As our dictionary would put it, human respect is “a kind of fear of the judgment of others…one acting from this motive lacks courage or fortitude…it seeks honor rather than the works worthy of honor.”

There is really no reason to fall into human respect when we go to confession and spiritual direction. God is a father who will always understand and love us. He is always ready to forgive us of whatever sin and failures we may commit. He is always there for us, to defend and protect us. His judgments will always be with mercy.

To be truly sincere is not only to say facts and data. It is to probe into the motives of all our actions, especially our sins and misdeeds. In the end, it is to see what the spirit is behind all our actions. Is it the spirit of God or is it another spirit?

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com