The Priest at Prayer for July 31, Ambition

The Third Part - Vices and Virtues

Ambition

First Meditation - Christ's Example and Precept

I. Christ is our Model, and He was not ambitious. As St. Paul says:

"His nature is, from the first, divine, and yet he did not see, in the rank of Godhead, a prize to be coveted."

He did not wish to make His divine dignity over­whelmingly conspicuous at every hour to the minds of the men with whom He conversed. He was not like those kings of old, of whom it was said: They took their crown and sceptre with them when they retired for the night's rest. On the contrary:

"He dispossessed himself, and took the nature of a slave, fashioned in the likeness of men, and presenting himself to us in human form." (Philip ii, 6-7)

The Archangel Gabriel had foretold that He would be great, with all the greatness of the Son of the Most High God; that to Him would be given the throne of David, His ancestor in the flesh, and that He would reign in the House of Jacob forever. And yet, knowing that the people were looking for Him on a certain occa­sion in order to snatch Him away and make Him King, He mysteriously slipped out of their hands. When sum­moned before Pilate He did not indeed deny His King­ship, but He took pains to explain that His Kingdom was quite different from the kingdoms of this world; it was not based on physical force, pomp and circum­stance. (Cfr. John xviii, 36).

We might be tempted to say that, in becoming man, Christ forgot to bring the crown of His Godhead with Him, and left it behind in Heaven!

What a contrast! God fashioned in the likeness of a slave, and man's ambition to be treated like God!

II. And what were Christ's ideas and teaching on the subject of commanding and bearing rule? On several occasions, particularly at His solemn farewell during the Last Supper, He allows His disciples to bring up the thorny question of precedence, after they had quar­relled among themselves about which of them was to take the first place (Luke xxii, 24); and this is the solu­tion He gave:

"The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who bear rule over them win the name of benefactors.

"With you it is not to be so; no difference is to be made, among you, between the greatest and the youngest of all, between him who commands and him who serves." (25-26.)

Eve thought she was going to be like God; and we, her children, so often cherish in our hearts and even bring to our lips the claim to preferential treatment, that, lest this new doctrine, so opposed to common practice at the time, should sound unduly strange and harsh to His disciples, Christ appeals to His own example:

"Tell me (He continues) which is greater, the man who sits at table, or the man who serves him? Surely the man who sits at table; yet I am here among you as your servant." (27)

Jesus had just got up from washing His disciples' feet; His cheeks were still flushed from the strain and the fatigue.

III. Let me now spend a few moments taking stock of my inmost convictions on this subject:

What do I think of that anxious longing for honour and rank, which St. John lists as one of the three con­cupiscences, one of those three types of gratification which, in their totality and admixture, build up what Christ calls the world, His great enemy; and what the beloved Disciple calls the pride of life, the "empty pomp of living"? (l John ii, 16.)

Do I not consider them very fortunate, those that have obtained and enjoy high honour and dignity? Even though my lips may not betray me, do I not, in my heart, envy them?

Haven't I fostered in my heart the same ambitions, but, as it were, in the disguise of strange "dreamforms," like a snake hiding in the grass? Don't I often feel pangs of grief and sadness when I see how my dreams of office and advancement elude my grasp, like a youngster chasing in vain after butterflies?

And to think that twenty centuries of Christianity have elapsed, during which the ideas of the God-Man have filtered down through so many layers of civilisation, and I, who am not only His disciple but also His priest and imitator by profession, am still so backward that I continue in the worship of those vain idols of power and prestige, as though I were just another of Nero's pretorian guards or centurions!

Resolutions
1. If so far I haven't succeeded in occupying the dignity or place of my ambitions, and if at the same time I see clearly that they are beyond my reach, I shall struggle with my pride until I have come by that peace of mind which follows from a true spirit of resig­nation; so that I can say with Job, and say with all sincerity: in nidulo meo moriar: this is my little nest, and here I'm going to end my days, if God so wills.

And when all is said and done, what do the highest ranks in the Church and the richest of flowing robes mean to the vast unbelieving modern world?

2. If, due to my merits or another's good offices, I happen to have been raised to some degree of hier­archial dignity and have many people at my beck and call, I shall not forget that I am my mother's son, flesh and blood like any other of my subordinates, and that I, the same as they, am among those whom Christ calls servants - "to whom his master will entrust the care of the household, to give them their food at the appointed time." (Matt. xxiv, 45.)

And so, instead of being exces­sively concerned about my dignity in the things which depend upon others: due honour and respect, perhaps to the point of expecting them to cringe before me, as to an infallible and superior sort of being, etc., I shall concentrate on the things that come under my control: the exact discharging of my duties and func­tions, kindly dealings with everyone, trying to dis­simulate any disregard for my personal convenience; because this, too, is included in the command: forgive, and you shall be forgiven. (Luke vi, 37.)
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Adapted from The Priest at Prayer
by Fr. Eugenio Escribano, C.M. (© 1954)
Translated by B.T. Buckley, C.M.

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Please pray for our priests and pray for vocations to the priesthood!