Don’t Be A Smarty Pants

We’ve been living in the world of vaccines over the past 3 years as the battle with Covid has raged. What are vaccines? “Vaccines contain weakened or inactive parts of a particular organism (antigen) that triggers an immune response within the body”. In other words, I’m now able to resist the particular disease I’ve been vaccinated against…. vaccines give me immunity. 

If you move out of the medical field, there are other things that can give us immunity. If you root for a really lousy team that almost never wins, you may become immune to feeling crummy when they lose again …. yep the same ole (fill in the blank).”   Or you may remember Harold, the Big Man On Campus; well, Harold’s bad breath made the girls immune to his charm.  

Here’s another example. Sometimes a “surface explanation” of a particular truth can make it difficult to receive the “deeper understanding” of that same truth at a later time. I become immune or resistant to a fuller understanding. Hmmmmmm. I’m not sure that is very clear.

Here’s another thought on this. Sometimes I hear, “Dave, you need to read this book, or you need to listen to Fr Smith’s Podcast, or boy you should have been on this retreat where the speakers  do a great job of discussing  pride and humility and  repentance. Sometimes when I hear this, I can put up a barrier thinking , “I’ve heard that before, I already know that, I’m really beyond that point in my life…bla,bla,bla.” It’s as if I’ve been vaccinated with a little bit of information on the topic and am now immune to hearing more, to going deeper. 

This is not a good situation. It’s often pride raising its ugly head. When we discover this happening, we need to quickly invite the Holy Spirit to help us.  Hopefully, we come to our senses and open our hearts to whatever the Lord is offering to us and not live in this arrogance. Hopefully we realize  that we may know something, but the Lord has so much more for us, so much more. “Lord, take me deeper…. help me to receive your love more fully, help me to love more deeply. Please root out my arrogance and pride. Help me Lord.

When we recognize this “evil vaccine of pride”, these dangerous moments can become great moments. They can become moments of conviction and repentance and hope. It can be a moment of gratitude where we thank God for others who have gone deeper and can show us the way. I recently was on retreat where I had one of these “evil immunity” moments where I was resistant to hearing more about what I thought I already knew ……. bla,bla,bla. I knew it was a wrong attitude but it wasn’t easy to shake. Thankfully thru prayer and the help of other brothers, I was able to clear my head and receive the love and wisdom shared by the good and holy man giving the retreat. 

This BLOG seems a bit discombobulated but I really don’t have time to sort it out. So in summary, don’t be a “know it all”. There’s always more to learn and the Lord in his great love will help us. Welcome the Lord in whatever ways he comes to visit…. thru a trial, thru a book, and thru a wonderful retreat. And all will be well with our soul.