Using Outward Piety to Judge Others

A friend of mine told me about an uncomfortable situation at a Tridentine Mass where he was reprimanded for not kneeling during the Epistle - a custom that is by no means universal. I have also found that there are certain Catholics who will indeed judge the spirituality of others based on these outward practices.

I believe that there is a tendency in Catholicism to collect "remote sanctity." Instead of loving our neighbor, biting our tongue, encouraging the downtrodden, struggling patiently through trials, in short, taking up the cross daily, there is a temptation to find sanctity in things that are good and pious. Rosary on the rear-view mirror, wearing the scapular so that it's visible, being seen with priests or religious in public, etc.

Some of the nastiest people are those have holy cards falling out of their books and who talk about all the pilgrimages they've made. And the reason they are nasty is that their criticisms are made in the language of piety.

"He doesn't receive on the tongue...Perhaps he'll learn to grow in his love for the Blessed Sacrament."

I've seen this in my own heart and it frightens me. There is a tendency to think that if you carry a Holy Rosary in your pocket, purchase Holy Mass intentions for others, and know what Saint's day it is, then you're de facto holy. But we reveal our lack of charity when use those things to belittle others or justify to ourselves that we are a notch above that other person.

Sacramentals and pious devotions are cetainly means of grace but God forbid if we hold them up as a yardstick against others.

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