I recently uploaded an article entitled "The language, its sins and excesses" a subject that I intend to continue if God willing, but there is another sin that, also like humidity, penetrates and mails the spiritual building, threatening our salvation, such as HYPOCRISY. which due to lack of spirituality is unknown to him and due to that ignorance he roams freely among the Catholics of these times.
Let's start first by defining, according to the Spanish language, the term or word of HYPOCRECY, according to the dictionary : Simulation, deceit or appearance with which one tries to make something appear different from what it is. Here is the meaning according to the interpretation that the world gives to the disastrous word.
We will divide this topic into two sections: some examples taken from the holy scriptures with their interpretations if any; From the theological point of view, taking Saint Thomas Aquinas as a point of reference, may God bless our work.
The Holy Scripture.
a) The Holy Scriptures. In this order, logic requires us to first quote God Our Lord Jesus Christ when, speaking of the Pharisees, he says: “Guard yourselves from the leaven—that is, from the hypocrisy—of the Pharisees. There is nothing hidden that will not be discovered, nothing secret that will not be known. Consequently, what you have said in darkness will be heard in full light; and what you have whispered in the cellars will be trumpeted on the roofs. (70s translation)
Our Savior takes advantage of the huge gatherings to publicly instruct his disciples against the hypocrisy of the doctors and Pharisees. But here there is a special meaning. It is no longer about guarding against the doctrine of the Pharisees and the harm they will do to them, but also that, even if we tried to use hypocrisy, everything will finally be discovered. So we should not fear telling the TRUTH and confessing Christ in all his paradoxes and humiliations, but we should tremble before deforming the doctrine for worldly conveniences, because that is the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit that will not be forgiven.
b) Our Lord Jesus Christ is followed by the apostle of the nations Saint Paul on the Antioch incident: “But when Cephas came to Antioch I resisted him face to face, because he was worthy of reproof. Well, before certain men came from Santiago, he ate with the Gentiles; But when those came, he withdrew and turned aside, for fear of those who were of the circumcision. And other Jews incurred with him in the same HYPCRISY, so much so that even Barnabas allowed himself to be dragged by them in the simulation. But when I saw that they were not walking uprightly, according to the truth of the Gospel, I told Cephas in the presence of all…” Cor. II, 11-14).
This rebuke made by St. Paul to St. Peter was not due to a doctrinal error, but the apostle censures the duplicity in the behavior that could mislead souls.
c) We complete this series of quotes not with one more from the Holy Scriptures but with a comment by Saint Bonaventure theologian and doctor of the Church, on the occasion of the recent feast of the Holy Kings regarding Herod's comment when he says: " Herod, secretly calling the Magi, carefully questioned them about the time of the appearance of the star; and he said to them: Go and find out carefully about this child, and when you find him, tell me, so that I too can go and worship him.”
As he manifested with this, he wanted the Magi to find out about the child, so that he too would go to adore him, but, in reality, he wanted something else. In this way the hypocrite informs himself externally of the virtues and pretends to follow the Blessed Virgin, when he is trying something else.
When you pretend that you are humble, being arrogant; that you are benign, being envious; that you are meek, being angry; that you are devoted, being lazy; that you are chaste, being lustful: believe me, by God, that you are Herod, a name that is interpreted as the one who glories in the epidermis, meaning, by the same token, the hypocrites. How true is what Saint Bonaventure said, we will get a great fruit from them if with the grace of God we meditate these words written by the seraphic doctor.
THE THEOLOGY.
Santo Tomas de Aquinas dealing with this topic sheds a very important light on hypocrisy, he dedicates three articles to this topic that I do not know if we will comment on all of them due to their breadth.
Santo Tomas says points out the vices opposed to veracity or truth puts hypocrisy as the mother and points out the vices attached to her as her children and they are: lies and their sisters who are: unofficial, humorous and pernicious lies.
Following St. Augustine, St. Thomas says that lying is intrinsically bad: words being natural signs of thoughts, it is against nature for one to say the opposite of what one feels. Where it is seen that the malice of the lie does not depend on the damage it causes to the listener, as the obligation to tell the truth is not enough in a title that the listener has; The malice of the lie is in the existing disorder in which a sign is used implying that it means what is voluntarily not meant, in which we speak to externalize our interior and, jointly and voluntarily, we do not externalize it, for example the Herod's words will explain to us what we expressed above: "“Herod, secretly calling the Magi, carefully questioned them about the time of the appearance of the star; and he said to them: Go and find out carefully about this child, and when you find him, tell me, so that I too can go and worship him.” What intention was Herod hiding in these words? The one to adore the Child God or the one to kill him? The facts demonstrated his true intention, hypocrite.
But let Santo Tomas explain it better.
“Hypocrisy is a moral act and, therefore, it has an object and an end since the latter is the object of the will, that is, the end. The proper object of such a statement or moral act is truth or falsity. But the disordered will can have a double intention, namely, to express something false and to deceive another as a consequence of the falsehood. If these three conditions occur at the same time: the statement of something false, willingness to say such falsehood and intention to deceive. As a result of these three conditions, the three elements of the lie are given: material falsehood, by the false saying; formal falsehood, because it is said with a conscious will, and effective falsehood, due to the intention of deceiving. Of the three formal falsehood, or the will to state or say something false is what properly constitutes the lie.That's where its name of lie comes from because it is said against the mind.
To better understand what the angelic doctor tells us, let us turn to the example of Herod, Herod says: go and find out diligently about this child, and when you find him, tell me, so that I too may go to adore him.” The fact of wanting to worship the baby Jesus is the end of his lie, but the object of his lie is in his mind and this consists of wanting to kill the baby Jesus, for this he uses false words with which he deceives the Magi when he says: " Go and inquire diligently about this child, and when you find him, tell me." And here is the hypocrisy of Herod so well expressed by Saint Bonaventure in this very article. Santo Tomas concludes saying that "the desire to deceive is a consequence of the act of lying." (II-II. q. 110)
Once we have already talked about truthfulness and lies, Santo Tomas takes up lying again, but to clarify whether its division into unofficial, humorous and pernicious lies is sufficient. To develop the theme, he cites passage 5, 7: "There are three kinds of lies: some, for the benefit and usefulness of someone, (pious lie), others for pure fun and others for pure evil" in other words, the lie is divided by the nature of the guilt, more or less serious depending on the circumstances and the purpose intended in saying it, such is the pernicious lie. On the other hand, it is less serious when it is ordered to obtain a good, be it delightful, and then the humorous lie is given ; either a useful good, to help another or to avoid some danger, which can be achieved by lyingunofficial. Such is the division proposed above in the psalm.
Herod's lie is per se pernicious, very serious, the other two, that is, the humorous and officious lie will be serious or minor depending on the object to which they refer. The saint continues explaining the division of the three forms of lying more in depth using Saint Augustine, but for our purpose what is written is enough, however, I leave the citation of this article found in the Summa Theologica (II-II q 110. a, 2)
end of article
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