I really love this reading today from James in which he
reminds us, “Beloved: Where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is
disorder and every foul practice.
But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then
peaceable, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, without
inconstancy or insincerity. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for those who cultivate peace.”
Jealousy and selfish ambition is the stuff that creates
tyrants, not just the tyrant that sits on a throne dictating his presence among
his subjects, but to anyone in any walk of life can become a tyrant. For instance the teacher who loves to listen
to themselves and never hears the students, to the coach who coaches with an iron
fist, to the priest, dare I say it who has already purchased his Monsignor
cassock only to now sell it since Pope Francis has done away with careerist
ambitions, to the police officer who is a bully because of his badge and gun,
and to any person in any walk of life who seeks glory, honor, and praise for
the wrong reasons becomes a tyrant and tyrants are full of every foul
practice. Please do not misunderstand me;
all of us are guilty of selfish ambition, to greater and lesser degrees because
of our human weakness, as the fathers would call it, “concupiscence.”
However, as Jesus points out to the Apostles, that the
least among them and those willing to serve are the ones who are the greatest,
not the one who has achieved rank, dignity or class necessarily, because though
one could be both, of high rank and also very good man, though such a person is
rare, a person Aristotle would refer to as, “The Virtuous Man.”
Even amongst the clergy, this sense of selfish ambition
exists. St. Augustine would often be very
hard on himself because he knew he spoke well and through his gift of public
speaking and the art of persuasion or better put, the art of argument/debate,
he knew no real equal in his time. He
had to balance the fact that he knew he was good but also at the same time
understanding that it was God speaking through him, so in reality the credit
belonged to God. He had this fear of
giving too much credit to himself. Maybe
he was too hard on himself, but his motivation was not to build up a cult of
personality around himself, since he knew Jesus was the center and that he was
just the messenger.
Selfish ambition does not only plague or tempt clergy,
but all peoples in every walk of life.
It is more noticeable among those in the public domain, i.e.
politicians, clergy, entertainers, athletes, etc. Nevertheless it is a temptation which none
are exempt.
When ambition is based on bettering oneself and
based on service then that is healthy and virtuous ambition. God gave us ambition so that we could use it
towards virtue – to become holy and to help others do so. God is and never will be against someone
becoming the best that they can be at no matter what it is they do, be it the
person who cleans up schools at night as a janitor to the person who makes
executive decisions as our President, each has been given drive and motivation
to be the best they can be.
A reflection for us is, how has my ambition served God
and others or has my ambition only served me?
Why do I desire to be the best, is it to give praise and glory to God or
for my own pat on the back? If our
ambition is based on Jesus then it will be as James said, “(it will be) first
of all pure, then peaceable, gentle, compliant, full of
mercy and good fruits, without inconstancy or insincerity.” Amen! FJ
The image above is that of Jesus rebuking James and his brother John for trying to lobby for a position of prestige, to sit at Jesus left and right.
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