For the Salvation of Souls:
A Preacher's Contribution

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All of us enjoy telling people what to do, at least sometimes. Why I wonder?

Sometimes they really do need help—our children, for instance.

Sometimes we like to boss people because that way we think
we have control over them, and it pumps up our ego.

Sometimes we’re annoyed when people act differently that we do
because such actions call into question our own practices, beliefs, values;
what others believe and do threatens us, makes us feel insecure.

And sometimes we just like to play God (without having attained
the requisite holiness).

Very often in telling people what to do, we can genuinely hurt them, by
forcing them to believe that they must do something that they just aren't
capable of doing, at least at the present, and have no real obligation to do.

In a Christian context, particularly that of leadership, this tendency becomes
even more problematic, because we can all too easily tell others what to do
with the purported authority of God behind us. We can, as Jesus says in
today's gospel, lay burdens on people too heavy for them to bear, burdens
that come from our own motivations, insecurities, ideologies.

So when we find ourselves in a position of authority of some kind
(especially in the Church), and believe that we must tell others what to do,
let us ask ourselves four questions:


Is what we are demanding more about their good than our own?

Have we been rigorously skeptical of our own motives, ideologies,
preferences, insecurities?

Are the people upon whom we are laying a burden (even if for
their own good) able in our best judgment to bear it in the present context
of their lives? Or will it truly crush them?

Are will willing to help them as best we can in bearing their
burdens? Are we willing to walk with them in their trials?


If the answer to any of these questions is "no," it's probably better just to
keep silent.

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