Human Respect Is Not Of God, It Leads Souls To Hell!

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“Whosoever killeth you, will think that he doeth a service to God.” JOHN xvi. 2.
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IN exhorting his disciples to be faithful to him under the persecution which they were to
endure, the Saviour said: “Yea, the hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you, will think that
he doeth a service to God.” Thus, the enemies of the faith believed that in putting Christians
to death they did a service to God. It is thus that many Christians of the present day act. They
kill their own souls by losing the grace of God through human respect and to please worldly
friends. Oh! how many souls has human respect that great enemy of our salvation sent to
hell! I shall speak on this subject today, that, if you wish to serve God and save your souls,
you may guard as much as possible against human respect. In the first point, I will show the
importance of not being influenced by human respect; and in the second, I will point out the
means by which this vice may be overcome.
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First Point On the importance of not being influenced by human respect.
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1. “Woe to the world because of scandals.” (Matt, xviii. 7.) Jesus Christ has said, that through
the scandals of the wicked, many souls fall into hell. But how is it possible to live in the midst
of the world, and not to take scandal? This is impossible. To avoid taking scandal, St. Paul
says, we should leave this world. “Otherwise you must needs go out of this world.” ( I Cor. v.
10.) But it is in our power to avoid familiarity with scandalous sinners. Hence the Apostle
adds: “But now I have written to you not to keep company …. with such an one, not as much
as to eat.” (Ibid. v. 11.) We should beware of contracting intimacy with such sinners; for,
should we be united with them in the bonds of friendship, we shall feel an unwillingness to
oppose their bad practices and bad counsels. Thus, through human respect and the fear of
contradicting them, we will imitate their example, and lose the friendship of God.
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2. Such lovers of the world not only glory in their own iniquities. “They rejoice in most
wicked things.” (Prov. ii. 14); but, what is worse, they wish to have companions, and ridicule
all who endeavour to live like true Christians and to avoid the dangers of offending God.

This is a sin which is very displeasing to God, and which he forbids in a particular manner.
“Despise not a man that turneth away from sin, nor reproach him therewith.” (Eccl. viii. 6.)
Despise not those who keep at a distance from sin, and seek not to draw them to evil by your
reproaches and irregularities. The Lord declares, that, for those who throw ridicule on the
virtuous, chastisements are prepared in this and in the next life. “Judgments are prepared for
scorners, and striking hammers for the bodies of fools.” (Prov. xix. 29.) They mock the
servants of God, and he shall mock them for all eternity. “But the Lord shall laugh them to
scorn. And they shall fall after this without honour, and be a reproach among the dead
forever.” (Wis. iv. 18.) They endeavour to make the saints contemptible in the eyes of the
world, and God shall make them die without honour, and shall send them to hell to suffer
eternal ignominy among the damned.
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3. Not only to offend God, but also to endeavour to make others offend him, is truly an
enormous excess of wickedness. This execrable intention arises from a conviction that there
are many weak and pusillanimous souls, who, to escape derision and contempt, abandon the
practice of virtue, and give themselves up to a life of sin. After his conversion to God, St.
Augustine wept for having associated with those ministers of Lucifer, and confessed, that he
felt ashamed not to be as wicked and as shameless as they were. “Pudebat me” says the saint,
“esse pudentem.” How many, to avoid the scoffs of wicked friends, have been induced to
imitate their wickedness! ”Behold the saint” these impious scoffers will say;”get me a piece of
his garment; I will preserve it as a relic. Why does he not become a monk ?” How many also
when they receive an insult, resolve to take revenge, not so much through passion, as to
escape the reputation of being cowards! How many are there who, after having inadvertently
given expression to a scandalous maxim, neglect to retract it (as they are bound to do),
through fear of losing the esteem of others! How many, because they are afraid of forfeiting
the favour of a friend, sell their souls to the devil! They imitate the conduct of Pilate, who,
through the apprehension of losing the friendship of Caesar, condemned Jesus Christ to
death.
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4. Be attentive. Brethren, if we wish to save our souls, we must overcome human respect, and
bear the little confusion which may arise from the scoffs of the enemies of the cross of Jesus
Christ. “For there is a shame that bringeth sin, and there is a shame that bringeth glory and
grace.” (Eccl. iv. 25.) If we do not suffer this confusion with patience, it will lead us into the
pit of sin; but if we submit to it for God’s sake, it will obtain for us the divine grace here, and
great glory hereafter. “As,” says St. Gregory, ”bashfulness is laudable in evil, so it is
reprehensible in good.” (Hom. x. in Ezech.)
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5. But some of you will say: I attend to my own affairs; I wish to save my soul; why then
should I be persecuted? But there is no remedy; it is impossible to serve God, and not be
persecuted. “The wicked loathe them that are in the right way.” (Prov. xxix. 27.) Sinners
cannot bear the sight of the man who lives according to the Gospel, because his life is a
continual censure on their disorderly conduct; and therefore they say: “Let us lie in wait for
the just; because he is not for our turn, and he is contrary to our doings, and upbraideth us
with transgressions of the law. ”(Wis. ii. 12.) The proud man, who seeks revenge for every
insult which he receives, would wish that all should avenge the offences that may be offered
to him. The avaricious, who grow rich by injustice, wish that all should imitate their
fraudulent practices. The drunkard wishes to see others indulge like himself in intoxication.

The immoral, who boast of their impurities, and can scarcely utter a word which does not
savour of obscenity, desire that all should act and speak as they do; and those who do not
imitate their conduct, they regard as mean, clownish, and intractable as men without honour
and education. “They are of the world, therefore of the world they speak. ”(1 John iv. 5.)
Worldlings can speak no other language than that of the world. Oh! how great is their
poverty and blindness! She has blinded them, and therefore they speak so profanely. “These
things they thought, and were deceived; for their own malice blinded them.” (Wis. ii. 21.)
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6. But I say again, that there is no remedy. All, as St. Paul says, who wish to live in union
with Jesus Christ must be persecuted by the world. “And all that will live godly in Christ,
shall suffer persecution.” (2 Tim. iii. 12.) All the saints have been persecuted. You say: I do
not injure any one; why then am I not left in peace? What evil have the saints, and
particularly the martyrs, done? They were full of charity; they loved all, and laboured to do
good to all; and how have they been treated by the world? They have been flayed alive; they
have been tortured with red-hot plates of iron; and have been put to death in the most cruel
manner. And whom has Jesus Christ the saint of saints injured? He consoled all; he healed
all. “Virtue went out from him, and healed all.” (Luke vi. 19.) And how has the world treated
him? It has persecuted him, so as to make him die through pain on the infamous gibbet of the
cross.
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7. This happens because the maxims of the world are diametrically opposed to the maxims of
Jesus Christ. What the world esteems, Jesus Christ regards as folly. “For the wisdom of this
world is foolishness with God.” (1 Cor. iii. 19.) And what is foolish in the eyes of the world
that is, crosses, sickness, contempt, and ignominies Jesus Christ holds in great estimation.
“For the Word of the cross, to them indeed that perish, is foolishness.” (1 Cor. i. 18.) How,
says St. Cyprian, can a man think himself to be a Christian, when he is afraid to be a
Christian?”Christianum se putat si Christianum esse veretur”(Ser. v. de Lapsis.) If we are
Christians, let us show that we are Christians in name and in truth; for, if we are ashamed of
Jesus Christ, he will be ashamed of us, and cannot give us a place on his right hand on the
last day. “For he that shall be ashamed of me and my words, of him the Son of Man shall be
ashamed when he shall come in his majesty.” (Luke ix. 26.) On the day of judgment he shall
say: You have been ashamed of me on earth: I am now ashamed to see you with me in
Paradise. Begone, accursed souls; go into hell to meet your companions, who have been
ashamed of me. But mark the words “he that shall be ashamed of me and of my words.” St.
Augustine says, that some are ashamed to deny Jesus Christ, but do not blush to deny the
maxims of Jesus Christ. ”Erubescunt negare Christum, et non erubescunt negare verba
Christi.” (Serm. xlviii.) But you may tell me, that, if you say you cannot do such an act,
because it is contrary to the Gospel, your friends will turn you into ridicule, and will call you
a hypocrite. Then, says St. John Chrysostom, you will not suffer to be treated with derision
by a companion, and you are content to be hated by God! “Non vis a conserve derideri, sed
odio haberi a Deo tuo ?” (Hom. xci. in Act. xix.)
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8. The Apostle, who gloried in being a follower of Christ, said: “The world is crucified to me,
and I to the world.” (Gal. vi. 14.) As I am a person crucified to the world an object of its scoffs
and injustice, so the world is to me an object of contempt and abomination. It is necessary to
be convinced, that if we do not trample on the world, the world will trample on our souls.
But what is the world and all its goods?

“All that is in the world is the concupiscence of the flesh, and
the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life.” (1 John ii. 16.)

To what are all the goods of this earth reduced? To riches, which are but dung; to honours, which are only
smoke; and to carnal pleasures. But what shall all these profit us, if we lose our souls? “What
doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his soul ?” (Matt. xvi.
26.)
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9. He that loves God and wishes to save his soul must despise the world and all human
respect; and to do this, everyone must offer violence to himself. St. Mary Magdalene had to
do great violence to herself, in order to overcome human respect and the murmurings and
scoffs of the world, when, in the presence of so many persons, she cast herself at the feet of
Jesus Christ, to wash them with her tears, and dry them with her hair. But she thus became a
saint, and merited from Jesus Christ pardon of her sins, and praise for her great love. ”Many
sins are forgiven her because she hath loved much.” (Luke vii. 47.) One day, as St. Francis
Borgia carried to certain prisoners a vessel of broth under his cloak, he met his son mounted
on a fine horse, and accompanied by certain noblemen. The saint felt ashamed to show what
he carried under his cloak. But what did he do in order to conquer human respect? He took
the vessel of broth, placed it on his head, and thus showed his contempt for the world. Jesus
Christ, our Head and Master, when nailed to the cross, was mocked by the soldiers. ”If thou
be the Son of God, come down from the cross.” (Matt, xxvii. 40.) He was mocked by the
priests, saying: ”He saved others; himself he cannot save.” (Ibid., v. 42.) But he remained firm
on the cross; he cheerfully died upon it, and thus conquered the world.
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10. ”I give thanks to God,” says St. Jerome, “that I am worthy to be hated by the world.”
(Epis. ad Asellam.) The saint returns thanks to God for having made him worthy of the
hatred of the world. Jesus Christ pronounced his disciples blessed when they should be hated
by men. ”Blessed shall you be when men shall hate you.” (Luke vi. 22.) Christians, let us
rejoice; for, if worldlings curse and upbraid us, God at the same time praises and blesses us.
“They will curse, and thou wilt bless.” (Ps. cviii. 28.) Is it not enough for us to be praised by
God, to be praised by the queen of heaven, by all the angels, by all the saints, and by all just
men? Let worldlings say what they wish; but let us continue to please God, who will give us,
in the next life, a reward proportioned to the violence we shall have done to ourselves in
despising the contradictions of men. Each of you should figure to himself, that there is no one
in the world but himself and God. When the wicked treat us with contempt, let us
recommend to God these blind and miserable men, who run in the road to perdition; and let
us thank the Lord for giving to us the light which he refuses to them. Let us continue in our
own way: to obtain all, it is necessary to conquer all.
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Second Point. On the means of overcoming human respect.
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11. To overcome human respect, it is necessary to fix in our hearts the holy resolution of
preferring the grace of God to all the goods and favours of this world, and to say with St.
Paul: “Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, . . . .nor any other
creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God.” (Rom. viii. 38, 39.) Jesus Christ
exhorts us not to be afraid of those who can take away the life of the body; but to fear him
only who can condemn the soul and body to hell. “And fear you not them that kill the body;
but rather fear him that can destroy both soul and body into hell.” (Matt, x. 28.) We wish
either to follow God or the world; if we wish to follow God we must give up the world.

“how long do you halt between two sides ?” said Elias to the people. ”If the Lord be God, follow
him.” (3 Kings xviii. 21.) You cannot serve God and the world. He that seeks to please men
cannot please God. ”If,” says the Apostle, “I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of
Christ. ” (Gal. i. 10.)
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12. The true servants of God rejoice to see themselves despised and maltreated for the sake of
Jesus Christ. The holy apostles “went from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they
were accounted worthy to suffer reproach for the name of Jesus.” (Acts v. 41.) Moses could
have prevented the anger of Pharaoh by not contradicting the current report that he was the
son of Pharaoh’s daughter. But he denied that he was her son, preferring, as St. Paul says, the
opprobrium of Christ to all the riches of the world. “Choosing rather to be afflicted with the
people of God;. .. .esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasure of the
Egyptians.” (Heb. xi. 25, 26.)
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13. Wicked friends come to you and say: What extravagances are those in which you
indulge? Why do you not act like others? Say to them in answer: My conduct is not opposed
to that of all men; there are others who lead a holy life. They are indeed few; but I will follow
their example; for the Gospel says: “Many are called, but few are chosen.” (Matt. xx. 16.) “If,”
says St. John Climacus, “you wish to be saved with the few, live like the few.” But, they will
add, do you not see that all murmur against you, and condemn your manner of living? Let
your answer be: It is enough for me that God does not censure my conduct. Is it not better to
obey God than to obey men? Such was the answer of St. Peter and St. John to the Jewish
priests: “If it be just in the sight of God to hear you rather than God, judge ye.” (Acts iv. 19.)
If they ask you how can you bear an insult? or how, after submitting to it, can you appear
among your equals? answer them by saying that you are a Christian, and that it is enough for
you to appear well in the eyes of God. Such should be your answer to all those satellites of
Satan: you must despise all their maxims and reproaches. And when it is necessary to
reprove those who make little of God’s law, you must take courage and correct them
publicly. “Them that sin, reprove before all.” (1 Tim. v. 20.) And when there is question of the
divine honour, we should not be frightened by the dignity of the man who offends God; let
us say to him openly: This is sinful; it cannot be done. Let us imitate the Baptist, who
reproved King Herod for living with his brothers wife, and said to him: “It is not lawful for
thee to have her.” (Matt. xiv. 4.) Men indeed shall regard us as fools, and turn us into
derision; but, on the day of judgment they shall acknowledge that they have been foolish,
and we shall have the glory of being numbered among the saints. They shall say: “These are
they whom we had sometime in derision. .. .We fools esteemed their life madness, and their
end without honour. Behold how they are numbered among the children of God, and their lot
is among the saints.” (Wis. v. 3, 4, 5.)

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