Sometimes You Get the Bear and Sometimes the Bear Gets You

I have often heard it said that if you encounter a bear in the woods you don't have to be a fast runner, just faster than the guy next to you.


I reflected on this over the course of the week because we often have a similar mentality when encountering our spiritual lives.  The idea of facing a final judgement seems to be less threatening when we look at those around us and consider their deteriorating spiritual lives.  Somehow we often jump to the assumption that when we are at our final hour our soul will look a lot better than the guy standing next to us.  If we can just shrug off enough sloth to be out-sinned by another then we will surely be a shoo-in.  

Culpability or taking responsibility for our actions is a lot harder than focusing on the person next to us who has fallen deeper into sin.  As the Pharisee thanked God that he was not like the sinner and went home confident, unbeknownst to him the sinner and not the Pharisee was justified because of his humility.  

The truth is that spiritual gifts are infinite.  There is a beautiful quote written by a Carthusian that says "It is God himself living in us, who recognizes God within our neighbour, and welcomes him with a smile."  

Most of us would not want to be in the woods with someone who plans to outrun us if we encounter a bear.  By the same token we would not want to walk spiritually with someone hoping we will out-sin them in order to secure their place in heaven.  

Truth be told, it doesn't work this way.  When we stand at our final judgement we are compared to no one other than the person that God destined us to be.  If we thought that our parents had high expectations for us, we surely haven't seen anything yet.  Of course, God can give us supernatural graces in achieving this, which is something that our parents never could.

Therefore, as we examine our own conscience let us compare ourselves to what we have the potential to become.  If we compare ourselves to anyone, let it be the saints.  Imagine that the bear in the woods is the sin we encounter.  With the grace of God we are able to either outrun our former self who would have been swallowed by the sin, or are given the grace to stay and fight.