Mind Not High Things
We are admonished by St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Romans today, to “Mind not high things.” It has always been a natural temptation for the common man to think about and comment on the great events and personalities that affect him. Never has this phenomenon been more commonplace than in today’s society when the Internet brings us more information than we’re able to absorb, and social media accompanies all these truths and lies with literally thousands of opinions and commentary on both. It seems we can’t get enough of these “high things”, especially when each of us has the opportunity to contribute our own witty thoughts and soundbites to the big picture.
As we obsess with the terrible events of the world and the faults of those who control it, we overlook the simple fact that there’s not very much we can do to change anything. No matter how ‘clever’ our commentaries on Facebook might be, we neglect the fact that very few, perhaps nobody, actually reads them. We waste so much time thinking grand thoughts and feeling the need to express them to the world at large, a world that is already so overflowing with news and fake news that it cannot absorb any more. It is a form of pride that we imagine our own opinions are worth more than those of the millions of other people, each of which is equally useless.
It’s a good idea, therefore, if we heed the admonition of St. Paul and “mind not high things.” In this Republic, it is the custom that we vote for people who then administer those high things for us. If we feel the need to complain about the job they’re doing, we may legally protest against them, but the only real power we have is limited to a single vote every year to elect those local and national officials. Sometimes a majority of us make the right decision. Sometimes we don’t and the high things we cherish are devastated and destroyed. Right now, we have been given by Divine Providence a great opportunity to sit back and allow our new President and his chosen officials to mind the high things for us, efficiently and according to God’s laws, while we follow the rest of St. Paul’s advice—“Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.”
As we move forward into this new year and hopefully brave new world, it would be a good idea to turn away for a time from world affairs and turn to our neighbors in need. If we’re not sure if we know any neighbors who are in need, then it’s an indication of how far removed we are from reality. All the time we’ve been spending on high things we cannot affect has taken us away from what we really should be doing, which is loving our neighbor. And if we think our neighbor has no problems, then think again. We all have problems, some trivial, others more serious, but always worries that could be softened by a kind word, a helping hand, the true charity of a Catholic friend in need. Let’s try to be that friend, expending our time and efforts on God’s great commandment to love our neighbor, rather than inflating ourselves into thinking we can affect the running of the world by investing all our time on Tic-Toc. A little humility will go a whole lot further.