On Human Esteem
By Dr. Jeff Mirus ( bio - articles - email ) | Jul 29, 2009
Here’s a nugget from St. Bernard’s “Sermon on the Triple Glory” which I discovered in the Navarre Bible’s commentary on 2 Corinthians 17-18:
Why am I so solicitous for the judgment of another, or for my own, if their opprobrium will not condemn me nor their praises save me? My brothers, if I had to present myself before your tribunal, rightly would I be happy to receive your praise. And if I had to be judged by my own conscience based on my own opinion of myself, I would be glad of my self-esteem. But since I have to appear, not before your judgment or my own, but before the judgment of God, how foolish, how deluded I would be to take refuge in your testimony or in my own, especially since God is such that everything is bare and open to his gaze, and he has no need of anyone’s testimony about man.
If you’ve got a refrigerator and a magnet, you could do worse than St. Bernard.
Jeffrey Mirus holds a Ph.D. in intellectual history from Princeton University. A co-founder of Christendom College, he also pioneered Catholic Internet services. He is the founder of Trinity Communications and CatholicCulture.org. See full bio.
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