Overconfidence

Putting all our confidence and competence in Christ

05/29/2019

Acts of the Apostles 17:15, 22—18:1 After Paul's escorts had taken him to Athens, they came away with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible. Then Paul stood up at the Areopagus and said: "You Athenians, I see that in every respect you are very religious. For as I walked around looking carefully at your shrines, I even discovered an altar inscribed, 'To an Unknown God.' What therefore you unknowingly worship, I proclaim to you. God has overlooked the times of ignorance, but now he demands that all people everywhere repent because he has established a day on which he will 'judge the world with justice' through a man he has appointed, and he has provided confirmation for all by raising him from the dead." When they heard about resurrection of the dead, some began to scoff, but others said, "We should like to hear you on this some other time." And so Paul left them. But some did join him, and became believers. Among them were Dionysius, a member of the Court of the Areopagus, a woman named Damaris, and others with them. After this he left Athens and went to Corinth.

Currently, I am listening to a series of lectures on the Gospel of St. Mark by Dc. Scott Hahn, who teaches at Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio. He used a catchy phrase that hit me like a two-by-four between the eyes. He said, “Sometimes our confidence gets ahead of our competence.” That is, we are overconfident and under-competent, in a word, we lack humility. His point was that we can only comprehend the gospel and the greatness of St. Mark if we humbly acknowledge our ignorance: how much we do not know. Only the child-like, those who know they know nothing, can be docile and thereby become disciples. I can easily think of tons of times in the past as a priest I have been overconfident and under-competent, and things did not turn out too well for me or others. That phrase could be my life motto. I’m learning very slowly that humility is the key that unlocks the secrets of holy scripture as well as healthy spirituality.

In Acts 17, St. Paul delivers one of his most famous speeches, in Athens, Greece, at the Areopagus, an ancient court for trying serious cases, like homicide, it might be likened to the U.S. Supreme Court. Paul’s preaching is replete with scripture and spirituality, but the Athenians were replete with confidence rather than competence. After he finishes speaking, we read: “When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some began to scoff, but other said, ‘we should like to hear you on this matter some other time’.” That would be like being at a party and someone brings up a boring subject or a politically-incorrect topic and you look at your watch and say: “Oh, look at the time, I gotta go!”

But not everyone bolted. One man had humility – we might say a little healthy under-confidence – a man named Dionysius, a judge at that Court of the Areopagus. He listened attentively, like a docile child, and became a disciple. He would be converted to Christ, and then bishop of Athens, and then even a martyr for the faith, all because he was not overconfident and under-competent.

Today is the feast day of a recently canonized saint, someone whom many of you old-timers will have known personally, Pope St. Paul VI. He was pope from 1963 until 1978, and held steady the helm of the bark of St. Peter during one of the most turbulent times of Church history: the sexual revolution and implementing the revolutionary changes of the Second Vatican Council. Some Catholics hailed him as a hero, while others criticized him as a criminal. The divisions that have erupted in the Church during that time were deep and have yet to heal. The pope-saint was born with the name “Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini,” but upon election as the successor of St. Peter took the name of “St. Paul,” to be like the Apostles to the Gentiles at the Areopagus and preach powerfully. But I believe Pope Saint Paul VI was also like Dionysius the Areopagite because he did not let his confidence run ahead of his competence. He was humble, and therefore, he could be docile and a true disciple.

Let me mention three accomplishments that highlight his humility, and really speak about his competence rather than his confidence. First, he faithfully concluded the Council that Pope St. John XXIII had opened. And he dutifully implemented all the changes the council fathers had proposed. His confidence was in Christ, the Head of the Church, rather than place too much trust in his own competence. Secondly, he issued the encyclical Humanae vitae (On Human Life), which reaffirmed the Church’s teaching on the immorality of contraception. Again, another highly controversial and criticized teaching, especially from the West, and in particular from the United States. But the pope’s confidence was in Christ, not his own personal competence. Curiously, one of the archbishops who advised the pope on Humanae vitae was this obscure prelate from Poland, named Karol Woytila, who would later become Pope Saint John Paul II. And thirdly, Pope Paul reaffirmed the Church’s discipline of priestly celibacy as normative for Catholic clergy. Nonetheless, he also generously granted dispensations from celibacy for priests who left the ministry.

In short, Paul VI was not a pope who suffered from overconfidence and under-competence. Why? Well, because he put all his confidence and even all his competence in Jesus Christ. And so should we.

Praised be Jesus Christ!