HYPOCRISY

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At some level, we all feel like hypocrites.  

Every Christian is obliged to share the fullness of Christ's truth and none of us lives up to it.

So, a hypocrite is not someone who hasn't succeeded at Christian perfection.

And, what is the sin of hypocrisy that enrages Christ so dramatically? 

A hypocrite is

• someone who isn't even trying and then worried about appearing to be better than he is.
• someone who pretends to be a good Christian but has no intention of becoming the real thing.
• someone who wants to be seen as a good Christian but refuses to do anything to actually get on the road to deeper conversion and holiness. 
• someone who doesn’t worry about his own sins, but is hyper-critical about the sins of other people. 
• someone who tries to inflate his public image regardless of what’s going on in his private spiritual and moral life.

A hypocrite is inconsistent 

• when it comes to what he says and what he does. 
• He talks about the importance of charity and love, and then he gossips and complains and demands he get his own way all the time. 
• He talks as though God is the most important thing and heaven is the most important goal, and then he spends no time thinking about either one.

• in the way he treats himself and the way he deals with other people. 
• He ties up large bundles and puts them on other people’s shoulders. 
• He constantly laments the speck in his brother’s eye and doesn’t worry about the log in his own. 
• He strains out the gnat, when it comes to other people’s behaviors, and swallows a camel when it comes to what he does.

Avoiding hypocrisy

• Don’t act outraged and shocked when other people do what we know we are guilty of doing ourselves. 
• Don’t be surprised that other people are bad Christians when we ourselves are bad Christians. 
• Don’t act utterly scandalized when the clergy are poor spiritual leaders of the Church when we are such a poor spiritual leaders of our households. 
• Don’t joke contemptuously about the immoral behavior of non-Christians when we act shamefully so often.

We might feel like a hypocrite but we are not

We are weak.  We sin.  But we are not hypocrites because we want to change.  We desire to be all that God wants us to be. We have the right desire.

We only have to do a few things and persevere in them and the Mercy of God will carry us the rest of the way.

1. Daily meditation on the Word of God, and concrete actions flowing from our meditation.  This ensures we are always working to overcome our vices with virtue.
2. Daily examination of conscience. It only takes a few minutes to examine our last 24 hours to see what I have done wrong or failed to do right. 

The ultimate antidote to hypocrisy

To save us from hypocrisy, the good Lord gave us the Sacrament of Confession.

• A sacrament where we go to clearly state our own sins, not other peoples’. 
• A sacrament where we go to just highlight our bad parts, and tell them to another human being – a human being to whom we humble, not exalt ourselves. 
• A sacrament where we face the ugly truth about ourselves, and ask for healing and forgiveness.

If we are worried about being a hypocrite, then go to confession, and be as honest as we possibly can. 

And then be at peace – we still have a lot of sins to work on, but Christ won’t condemn us as a hypocrite.

Source:  The School of Faith Rosary Meditation 5 Jan 2024

https://schooloffaith.com/rosary-archive/hypocrisy