When the trumpet blows will we hear it or be enthralled with other things?

When the trumpet blows will we hear it or be enthralled with other things?

It may appear to be a non-concern type of question but there may just be too many who will have their attention focused on the pleasures of life without any semblance of their faith; if indeed there is any left.

How easy it becomes to have our attention directed towards money and the need to accumulate as much as possible.  There also is the greater assimilation towards pleasures; sexual, power, or even the quest for notoriety that gives man a reason for being chosen with the necessary gifts to be better than everyone else.  They do exist in this world of “I am better than my next-door neighbor.”  

As we look at the put-down attitudes towards the next person who doesn’t live up to my standards in this society of accumulating everything that proves me to be untouchable, my attitude towards Christian ideals have slowly disappeared from my view.

Etymologically, “concupiscence” can refer to any intense form of human desire.  Christian theology has given it a particular meaning: the movement of the sensitive appetite contrary to the operation of the human reason.  The apostle St. Paul identifies it with rebellion of the “flesh” against the “spirit.”  Concupiscence stems from the disobedience of the first sin.  It unsettles man’s moral faculties and, without being in itself an offense, inclines, and to commit sins.  (CCC 2515).

The sensitive appetite leads us to desire pleasant things we do not have, e.g., the desire to eat when we are hungry, or to warm ourselves when we are cold.  These desires are good in themselves; but often they exceed the limits of reason  and drive us to covet unjustly what is not ours and belongs to another or is owed to him.  (CCC 2535).

The tenth commandment forbids greed and the desire to amass earthly goods without limit.  It forbids avarice arising from a passion for riches and their attendant power.  It also forbids the desire to commit injustice by harming our neighbor in his temporal goods.  (CCC 2536).  

St. Augustine saw envy as “the diabolical sin.”  “From envy are born hatred, detraction, calumny, joy caused by the misfortune of a neighbor, and displeasure caused by his prosperity.”  (St. Augustine).  

Great care must be taken to avoid the sins of greed, envy, and covetousness towards others.   When the trumpet blows these sins may very well block our ears from recognizing what we should have eliminated years before.  

Ralph B. Hathaway