4th week in Lent, Thursday – 31st March 2022 — Gospel: Jn 5,31-47
Seeking Vainglory
Seeking to please others is an obstacle to faith: “How can you believe, when you accept praise from one another and do not seek the praise that comes from the only God?” (Jn 5,44). Seeking the praise of other people blocks our way of loving God and others. When we act in this way, we shine light on ourselves instead of on Jesus Christ. Jesus has already warned, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven” (Mt 6,1). Belief in Jesus will mean a movement from selfishness to selfless, domination to service and fear to love and not many are inclined to make this change. It is not easy to believe in Jesus, because such a belief calls for a radical change in one’s life orientation. The antidotes to vainglory are humility and purity of intention. We can purify our intentions by considering what motivates us most: love of God and neighbour, or love of ourselves and the attention we are seeking from doing good things. Therefore, we must pay attention to this unhealthy habit and resolve intentionally not to seek praises. We need to consciously change our motivation and prefer to live God and our neighbour.
