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Father Eugene Hemrick writes for the Catholic News Service column "The Human Side." (CNS file photo/Bob Roller)
Aug. 27, 2019
Father Eugene Hemrick
Catholic News Service
Whenever I recite Verse 10 of Psalm 90, the Italian word "pazzo" comes to mind. The verse reads, "Seventy is the sum of our years, or 80, if we are strong; most of them are toil and sorrow; they pass quickly, and we are gone."
We see why "pazzo," meaning crazy, strikes me when we also read in Ecclesiastes, "For here is one who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill, and that one's legacy must be left to another who has not toiled for it."
How might we remain composed considering these depressing thoughts?
Seeing them through the eyes of wisdom is one way.
A Chinese proverb states the fewer interests a man has, the more powerful he is. In contains the very wisdom of which we speak.
Father Romano Guardini observes we live in a world of interests. He asks, "How, then, does a man live who is ruled by interests?"
He replies that when a person is ruled by interests, he tends not to "turn toward another person with simplicity and sincerity, but always has interior motives. He wishes to make an impression, to be envied, to gain an advantage or to get ahead. He praises in order to be praised."
This kind of person renders a service in order to gain something in return. He does not really see the other as a person, but only wealth or social position.
In psychology, we speak of the vital need of I-thou relationships in life.
We are encouraged to put aside self-interests to be one with thou, to adapt ourselves to the situation and its demands, whether it be a conversation, collaboration, joyfulness or the endurance of misfortune, danger or sorrow, to get out of our myopic world to see the bigger picture.
The desires to make a name, look dapper and seek esteem are normal. In one way, we distract ourselves from thoughts about the brevity of life. Self-esteem is life-giving and energizing.
But too much self-regard can also take possession of us, causing us to look inward instead of outward, to be overly concerned with our needs rather than the needs of others, to think we control our life when God actually controls it.
Being exaggeratedly self-concerned can circumscribe us within our own little world.
We can become locked into too much of "me," which creates claustrophobia. By considering the shortness of life and emptiness of possessions, we are encouraged to go beyond a self-centered life and to get a real life.