WE have to be wary of this very tricky, subtle spiritual disease. It can come to anyone of us. It usually takes advantage of our natural inclination to seek the truth, the good and the beautiful in life—in short, to be right in life—and corrupts that inclination. It’s so blinding it can even take on the appearance of sanctity.
Most prone to this illness are those with some special endowments in life, be it intelligence, talents, wealth, fame, power, health, beauty, etc. When all these gifts are not clearly grounded and oriented toward God, the source of all righteousness, the problem starts.
The problem festers when one continues to simply be guided by his own ideas of what is right and wrong, then falls to begin rationalizing and justifying wrong things until he comes out with complicated ideologies and systems that are openly opposed to God’s laws.
Self-righteousness is precisely when one derives his goodness from his own self, and not from God. It shows itself in many ways: quick to judge, brand people and condemn, slow to understand others and to forgive, not wanting to be corrected, being highly opinionated and wanting to have the last word always, to dominate others, etc.
That’s why, philosophers and theologians, clerics, teachers and leaders in the different fields of human affairs, be it in the Church or in business or politics or media or sports or the academe, etc., should never let go of their duty to be humble and to find ways to make humility always grow and deepen, because that’s the antidote to pride and conceit, the very virus of self-righteousness.
St. Paul, for example, keenly aware of his high dignity and responsibility as an apostle, highlighted the indispensability of humility. “My speech and my preaching was not in the persuasive words of human wisdom, but in the showing of the Spirit and power.” (1 Cor 2,3)
He echoed this sentiment a number of times in his epistles. And at one point he expressed the reason for this sentiment. “The foolish things of the world has God chosen, that he may confound the wise. And the weak things of the world has God chosen, that he may confound the strong…” (11 Cor 1,27)
That’s why he gloried in his weakness. “It’s when I’m weak that I am strong.” And, “If I must glory, I will glory of the things that concern my infirmity.” (2 Cor 11,30) We should never think we are something, since everything good that we have comes from God. The only thing we can contribute on our own—without God—is evil, is sin.
We have to be most careful when we start to use our reasoning. Reason without faith and charity—in short, reason without God—is very dangerous. We can deftly use reason by citing all sorts of proofs, arguments, evidence, examples, doctrine and principles, stats, but if it is not inspired by faith and charity and delivered in humility, then it easily becomes a tool of pride, envy, hatred, revenge, deceit, etc.
Reason and truth should always be given in charity—“veritas in caritate,” as we have been reminded in an encyclical of Pope Benedict quoting St. Paul. It’s actually charity, the very essence of God (Deus caritas est), that gives reason and truth their true life and purpose, their living substance.
Without charity, they freeze, they become rigid, unable to adapt to the vital flow of the different situations of persons and events. Without charity, their beauty and power remain in the externals, their effects not thoroughly and consistently good.
Thus, even the doctrine of our faith has to be made alive through charity. Remember that the devil also quoted the Scripture to tempt Christ. We can fall in that predicament of self-righteousness if we use doctrine without charity. This has happened many times, especially among theologians and supposedly good and holy people.
Without charity, reason and truth would fail to distinguish between the person and the acts. They would not know how to deal with sin and the sinner, their sense of justice goes without mercy, more penal in character than medicinal, more divisive than constructive. Just look at the political squabblings in the media. Many bright guys without charity!
We need to be vitally united with God through prayer, sacrifice, the sacraments, deepening in the doctrine of our faith, development of virtues, etc.—all of these together—to make our reason and truth share in the very wisdom and life of God and avoid that vicious self-righteousness.
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