{"id":48376,"date":"2014-06-20T10:48:46","date_gmt":"2014-06-20T15:48:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.austincnm.com\/?p=48376"},"modified":"2014-06-21T00:30:54","modified_gmt":"2014-06-21T05:30:54","slug":"transparency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2014\/06\/transparency\/","title":{"rendered":"Transparency, Not Hypocrisy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sometimes the Scripture is approached as if Jesus was an authoritarian parent, giving us demanding lists of do’s and don’ts. \u00a0As I was listening to the\u00a0readings<\/a> at daily Mass on Wednesday, and to the priest’s beautiful homily that followed, I could\u00a0see how someone might only hear the do’s and don’ts. Don’t blow trumpets when you give alms, do give alms in secret; don’t pray on the street corners, do pray in your inner room; don’t neglect your appearance when you fast, do anoint your head with oil. *** My first instinct towards this way of receiving the scripture was reactionary and negative, like the whole point would be missed and the gospel misunderstood.<\/p>\n

Moral & Spiritual Development<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yet as I reflected further, in regards to moral development and the maturation of the soul, solid parental rules are<\/em> the best place to start (although authoritative parenting is considered the best, not authoritarian, but that’s another blog post…). When we are just beginning to learn morals as young children, according to Kohlberg’s Moral Development Theory,<\/a>\u00a0we learn what is right and wrong in a black and white way, pending consequence and punishment. Early moral motivation is also very ego-centric, according to\u00a0natural developmental stages. It’s necessary for children to develop a healthy ego. So perhaps in regards to\u00a0interpreting scripture and learning Christian morals, \u00a0hearing Christ’s word through a rule-based filter isn’t necessarily a bad thing – it’s just a starting place.<\/p>\n

However, it is just<\/em> a starting place: a beginning point that should act as the basis of eventual higher spiritual and moral development. As children advance through Kohlberg’s moral stages, they learn to base right\/wrong action based on broader social principles, on the “Golden Rule” of reciprocation, and eventually on the basis of a “social contract.” We start to move beyond our own needs and ego to consider other’s well being.<\/p>\n

The last stage of moral development, which Kohlberg said most people don’t ever reach, is one where right\/wrong action is based on universal principles and intrinsic motivation; individuals in this stage are committed to upholding the universal principals even when they suffer unjust punishment by laws that violate these universal principles. Furthermore, Kohlberg says that children don’t “skip” stages; you have to grow through<\/em> each stage sequentially into the next one.<\/p>\n

While there are more recent theories about moral development and significant criticisms<\/span>\u00a0<\/a>of Kohlberg’s research, I think this is a helpful sketch\u00a0for understanding how people advance in spiritual growth. ** Our soul matures and is capable of greater love and deeper relationship according to how we accept God and humble ourselves to learn from Him. In the beginning, we need the solid black and white parameters to give us a solid base. But after that solid base is established, Christ calls us further. He invites us to embrace the Love and Reason that are behind\/above\/beyond those rules. For example, last week\u00a0we heard this very call as Christ says rather than\u00a0just not commit adultery, let us go above and beyond the mere avoidance of adulterous action to\u00a0pursue a clean heart and pure thoughts (last Wednesday,<\/a>\u00a0Thursday<\/a> and\u00a0\u00a0Friday<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\"Transparency<\/a>

Doodle by Rachel Elisa Gardner<\/p><\/div>\n

Transparency, Not Hypocrisy\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

What could those higher levels of spiritual realization look like? In this Wednesday’s gospel,\u00a0Jesus used the word “hypocrite<\/strong>.” The priest explained how part of the etymology for the word hypocrite<\/a> is rooted in Greek theatre, and refers to someone who is impersonating someone else, or wearing a mask, merely “acting.” Christ is teaching his disciples how to take off their masks, how to live transparently, free\u00a0before men and before God. This is the healthiest and the fullest way to live.\u00a0A Catholic psychologist friend of mine once said that\u00a0the best therapy is honesty before God. When are honest, we are who we are, nothing more or less. It’s not that our first ego is a bad thing or even a false thing, if we learn to let it be transformed. But when we hold on to those first rules and our first ego and refuse to grow, when we hide behind the mask of our showy moral actions for our own personal glory – then we have become hypocrites, we have invested in a false ego – and we reject our true selves\u00a0whom Christ calls us to become.<\/p>\n

Thus, while we first receive Christ’s teachings as a moral foundation, we are called to\u00a0eventually follow Him higher, on the\u00a0real path towards inner freedom.<\/em> When we go into our “inner rooms” to pray, we are divested from ulterior motives or false pretense not because we are above them, but because we can see through<\/em> them, to the reality of God. Though in our early years we need to develop a strong and healthy ego, we are eventually called to grow beyond the limits of our ego – not by denying self-interest or indulging in false humility, but by seeing through it. We see through – <\/em>so we give alms in secret, we pray in our “inner rooms,” and our left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing – our choices and our lives are\u00a0not motivated any longer by punishment or what other’s think, but by God alone.<\/p>\n

With God as our only and primary motivation, our actions can be free, and our love, unhindered. Our spiritual life becomes deeply relational.<\/strong> No masks, no impersonations, just the transparent life of a person who loves God and\u00a0is guided by His love. Yet in order to grow into such a place of transparency and deep relationship,\u00a0we have to start at the ground level of learning about sin and grace through healthy guilt and just consequences by following Christ’s word.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday when I went up to receive communion after the priest’s homily, I was completely struck but the transparency and sincerity\u00a0of his<\/em> face. His old, warm Irish voice, saying “the Body of Christ,” and his kind, caring eyes – he was totally\u00a0present to me in that moment,\u00a0not mumbling off a routine or hurrying the line of people along- just present<\/em>. As he was present, so the Spirit was present, and I saw a glimpse of God, shining transparently through his face.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

**<\/strong> Disclaimer:<\/strong>\u00a0This is mostly where I see the comparison ending.\u00a0Kohlberg’s model is really about individual’s moral choices before\u00a0others, before laws, and in regards to society as a whole. It mostly has a horizontal dimension, with the only vertical dimension being this idea of universal ethics. However when we talk about morality in the Christian sense, we must talk about the relationship between individuals, society, and God, so there is a definite vertical element, a vertical relationship with the Person of God.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

***Gospel\u00a0MT 6:1-6, 16-18<\/a><\/h4>\n
\n
Jesus said to his disciples:
\n\u201cTake care not to perform righteous deeds
\nin order that people may see them;
\notherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father.
\nWhen you give alms, do not blow a trumpet before you,
\nas the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets
\nto win the praise of others.
\nAmen, I say to you, they have received their reward.
\nBut when you give alms,
\ndo not let your left hand know what your right is doing,
\nso that your almsgiving may be secret.
\nAnd your Father who sees in secret will repay you.\u201cWhen you pray, do not be like the hypocrites,
\nwho love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners
\nso that others may see them.
\nAmen, I say to you, they have received their reward.
\nBut when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door,
\nand pray to your Father in secret.
\nAnd your Father who sees in secret will repay you.\u201cWhen you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites.
\nThey neglect their appearance,
\nso that they may appear to others to be fasting.
\nAmen, I say to you, they have received their reward.
\nBut when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,
\nso that you may not appear to others to be fasting,
\nexcept to your Father who is hidden.
\nAnd your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.\u201d<\/div>\n

 <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sometimes the Scripture is approached as if Jesus was an authoritarian parent, giving us demanding lists of do’s and don’ts. \u00a0As I was listening to the\u00a0readings at daily Mass on Wednesday, and to the priest’s beautiful homily that followed, I could\u00a0see how someone might only hear the do’s and don’ts. Don’t blow trumpets when you… [Read More]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[55,127,2401,2399,37,703,168,2403,2402,2404,1118,446,165,74,2405,1660,859,2400],"class_list":["post-48376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-blog","tag-catholic-2","tag-children","tag-christs-teaching","tag-christian-ethics","tag-gospel","tag-grace","tag-holiness","tag-hypocrites","tag-interpreting-the-bible","tag-moral-development","tag-morality","tag-morals","tag-parenting","tag-prayer","tag-sing","tag-spiritual-life","tag-spirituality","tag-word-of-god","entry","has-post-thumbnail"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":115481,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2015\/05\/sunday-says-may-24-2015-mass-readings-and-reflection\/","url_meta":{"origin":48376,"position":0},"title":"Sunday Says – May 24, 2015 Mass Readings and Reflection","author":"Crist\u00f3bal Almanza Herrera","date":"May 23, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Pentecost Sunday - May 24, 2015 Lectionary: 6 (NAB Translation) This is the great celebration of Pentecost, the joyful end to the season of Easter. 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