Abbey-Roads2

Sycophants 

The word sycophant stuck in my mind after a recent comment on the blog, regarding other people who commented on a certain post.  Which is why I’m thinking of “obsequious behavior”.  I’m fairly confident I could never be accused of this.  No one could ever accuse me of being a people pleaser.  Like the dishonest judge in the Gospel, I have little respect for anyone.  Well, that isn’t exactly true, I do respect people, I’ve never been very good at pleasing people however.  The vulgar term for obsequious is “suck up” - a term I detest, a behavior I despise.

Priests and religious often encounter this behavior in people.  Truth be told, anyone of influence or status is the recipient of obsequious behavior; a professor, a teacher, a manager, etc.  One usually recognizes this - even amongst gangsters.  Oftentimes, it is relatively innocent, the obsequious person is genuinely impressed with the authority figure they fawn over, and want to please them without a great deal of self-interest.  Although, the ambitious and/or the disingenuous are often motivated from the desire of gaining favor, or special treatment.

What motivates 

Sometimes the obsequious person seeks to improve their personal status through the familiarity, and the greater recognition they enjoy with the esteemed person.  (Take my picture with the Archbishop!)  They imagine it elevates their status.  Hence, their exaggerated attention upon the person who will do this for them.

“Church ladies” frequently do this.  Take Hyacinth Bucket for instance, the status climbing heroine of the British comedy, “Keeping Up Appearances”.  Of course she is greatly exaggerated, although I have met her type.  More frequently one is able to see this with younger people, who seem to enjoy having a list of priests they are “friends” with, although I shouldn’t neglect to mention the parish volunteers.  It turns out there is a sort of “celebrity quotient” some Catholics like to assign to priests.  I have met many who enjoy nothing better than to name drop their priest and academic acquaintances.

It isn’t a bad thing, to be sure; many, outside of the respective fields, enjoy the friendship of priests and academics.  In such friendships there is an intellectual, even spiritual component upon which the friendship is based.  Such friendships are not at all obsequious, and these are quite normal.

Pride of place. 

I’m referring to the situation wherein a person seeks to elevate their status through association.  As well as those who want Father to recognize “I’m a good boy.”  Or the authority figure to recognize  the person’s talents, charm, intelligence or accomplishments.  It is not to suggest an employee or parish worker should not try to impress his boss with the talents he has, nor imply the student who produces good research and papers is being obsequious, not at all.

The obsequious person has a deeper need, a need for recognition and acceptance, as well as a desire for affirmation, which can lead to vain glory and pride.  There is a dark side to obsequious behavior, completely disassociated with legitimate commerce, mutual friendship or social cordiality’s.

Tanguerey has this to say about vanity - or vainglory:

“Vanity is an inordinate love for the esteem of others.  It differs from pride, which is pleasure taken in one’s own excellence; although it generally springs from pride.  When one has conceived too high an esteem for oneself one naturally desires the approbation of others.” - The Spiritual Life

Normally, one is not conscious of the behavior.

If you have ever seen the movie, “All About Eve” you will know what I am getting at.  Eve Harrington was the epitome of the obsequious ingenue, although she was aware of her connivance to attain fame, she demonstrates the underlying motives of the obsequious person.  It is always about their self aggrandizement.  Of course, not as sinister as Eve Harrington, nevertheless, the self-seeking can be an obstacle to personal growth, assuming the person is concerned with that.  For the “other directed” that is, the person who experiences their self-worth and self-esteem from the attention or praise of others, this can be a great obstacle to one’s spiritual growth.  Though it must be acknowledged that the desire to please others is not a fault in itself.  Quite to the contrary, especially when practiced out of charity, showing respect to others, while striving to avoid giving offense - that is virtue. 

Spiritual directors must always be on guard for this fault in their clients, especially when they may esteem a gift or virtue, or more basely, the charm  or beauty, a client may posess.  Many penitents/directees will sometimes only present their best side; excusing, even hiding faults in order to appear balanced and in control of their spiritual, as well as moral life.  I think most priests are pretty good at recognizing this.  It is usually only the obsequious person who is oblivious to their own personality trait. 

They innocently may have lived their childhood and adolescence seeking to please a parent, or to measure up to a sibling, or to appear “normal” or even “superior” to their peers, because their home life may have been disordered, even chaotic.  There are many reason why a person develops this trait.  As they mature, most people tend to assimilate the trait into acceptable social behavior, wherein it is less obvious and obnoxious.  Some never achieve such integration however, like poor Hyacinth Bucket.

Sometimes such faults can only be purified through many humiliations, while in extreme cases, only in the dark night - or purgatory if these don’t work.

(Editors note: Unfortunately, I write from experience.) 

Searching for an image of Blessed Mother Anna of St. Bartholomew, whose feast it is today, I came across this image of the Infant Jesus of Beaune, venerated by the Venerable Margueritte of the Blessed Sacrament.  What follows is a brief history.

Spiritual Childhood 

“Spiritual Childhood is a state where the spirit, in faith and silence, in respect and innocence, and in purity and simplicity, awaits and receives the commands of God, and lives from day to day in a spirit of abandonment. In this state, one neither looks toward oneself, nor behind oneself, but is united with the Holy Child Jesus, who accepts all commands from His Father.

Ven. Margaret of the Most Blessed Sacrament (1619-1648), an orphan, entered the Carmel of Beaune (France) at the age of only twelve and a half years, having been noted for virtue and for prayer from the age of seven years. Ven. Margaret found especially attractive the French Carmelite devotion to the Child Jesus, and the divine Child filled the ’small wife of his crib’ with mystical graces.

She concentrated upon the ‘moment of His holy birth’ and upon the first 12 years of His life. Mystically experiencing the joys, purity, and simplicity of that state of the Child Jesus, she reproduced that state exteriorly, as well as interiorly in herself. The practice of the religious virtues, in particular of obedience, astounded all who observed her.

Ven. Margaret did much to spread devotion to the Child Jesus among the common people. In 1636, France was attacked in the north and the east. Nothing seemed to prevent the enemy armies from arriving at Beaune and plundering and massacring all within the small city. The inhabitants were terrified, and the prioress of the Carmel also considered fleeing the danger. Sr. Margaret assured, ‘the Infant Jesus promised that the city would be saved.’ And so it was.

Popular recognition of His protection was manifested by the spread of the Chaplet, or ’small crown’ of the Infant Jesus, recommended by Sr. Margaret as it was revealed to her by our Lord: three ‘Our Father’s’ to thank God for the gift of Jesus, Mary and Joseph; and twelve ‘Hail Mary’s’ to honor the twelve years of the childhood of Jesus.

After some time, France was again in the anguish: King Louis XIII and Queen Anne of Austria, married a dozen years, did not have a child. There was thus no heir for the throne! All France called upon Heaven! Sr. Margaret had a revelation in prayer: she affirmed that the Queen was going to have a son, and accurately predicted the date of birth of the future Louis XIV. The royal family expressed their gratitude to Carmel.

The reputation of Sr. Margaret grew, and a certain Norman lord, the Baron Gaston de Renty went to Burgundy to discuss her spirituality. Gained by her to this devotion, he gave one of the best definitions of it: ‘the spirit of childhood is a state where it is necessary to live from day to day, in perfect mortification of oneself; in total abandonment to the will of the Father.’

Returning to his Norman manor, Baron Gaston de Renty sent Sr. Margaret a Christmas present, a statute of the ‘Small King of glory’ (1643). Carved out of wood, painted and articulated, this statuette can be equipped with exquisite clothing (it has a collection of it), be adorned with jewels, and crowned. To honor it with dignity, Sr. Margaret obtained from her superiors the construction of a small chapel contiguous to the church of Carmel.

Very quickly, a national pilgrimage of the Child Jesus of Beaune developed, which continued each year until the French Revolution. Hidden during the Revolution, it was returned to the Carmelite nuns, and took its place again in 1873 in the church of the Carmel, where it remains to this day. Individual or collective visits follow one after another; an abundant correspondence of prayer requests arrives regularly at Carmel, with thanks for the many graces obtained. The walls of the chapel are lined with votive offerings.

Certain forms of devotion instituted by Sr. Margaret are maintained: On the 25th of the each month, there is a public recitation of the Chaplet of the Holy Infant Jesus. And each year there is a novena, from January 25th to February 2nd, with a homily and the daily recitation of the chaplet.” - Chaplet of the Infant Jesus 

It is love I desire, not sacrifice. 

I was wondering what to ask for in my novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, until I watched a program on EWTN wherein it was said St Catherine de Ricci had asked Our Lord for a new heart, and he gave her the Immaculate Heart of Mary by which to love him.  I liked that.

The Gospel for today’s Mass concerns the greatest commandment, love of God and neighbor.  I concluded that I ought to ask for the highest gift of all, as St. Paul counsels, the gift of love.  After all, the Sacred Heart of Jesus is a burning furnace of charity.

Years ago, my spiritual director helped me understand that a certain sin I had been struggling with was rooted in the lack of the theological virtue of charity - it took me years to figure that out.  This mornings meditation from Magnificat was a text by Richard Rolle, and it suddenly made more sense to me:

“Love is a burning yearning after God, with a wonderful delight and certainty.  God is light and burning.  Light clarifies our reason; burning kindles our will, that we desire naught but him… Love is a stirring of the soul for to love God for himself, and all other things for God, it does away all inordinate love in anything that is not good.  All deadly sin is inordinate love for a thing that is naught: then love puts out all deadly sin.“- Richard Rolle

So as St. Paul writes, “Strive for the greater gift - love.”

And I think it was St. Therese who said, “Do not be afraid to surrender yourself to merciful love.”

Thus, in my novena, besides praying for everyone else, I will ask for this gift - if you are making a novena, would you be so kind as to just mention me to him once?  Thanks.