What’s wrong with regarding yourself too much?

One of my favorite saint is St Philip Neri because he was hilarious. He did funny things to humiliate himself to protect his humility. One thing St Philip dreaded was “self-regard”. He did not want people thinking that he was a holy man. So he tried to do the funniest thing so people would look down on him, like wearing flamboyant hats with colorful feathers (this was during the 1500s). Every time people think he was crazy, he felt a certain joy. Crazy right?

So what is wrong with too much self-regard? Sometimes it leads us to protect the “image” or “reputation” we want to show people, at all cost. We are preoccupied about our “coolness” in the eyes of others. Too much preoccupation with our “image” can lead to skip the good we are supposed to do. An example is being seen with the poor is not cool thing to many people. I have seen people inside the church or call themselves Christians and avoid the poor like a plague.

I think the problem of preoccupation with ourselves and our image is that we are in continues effort to protect our name. Before we do anything we think, “Will doing this make me look cool?” We become slaves of our reputation and the opinion of others.

But most of all, God is not preoccupied with himself. His eyes is always on the other person, us! Since we are made in his image and likeness, to be like Him is the only way we will find joy in this life. Jesus never cared for the opinion of the world, He did His Mission and the Father’s will. Jesus was more preoccupied with the suffering of His people than his reputation. When Jesus healed on the Sabbath, He knew that his reputation will be attacked, but he continued to do what was needed.

Now I understood why Philip Neri tried his best to humiliate himself, he did not want his reputation be a burden and a hindrance in loving people.

There is so much good we can do, but our self-regard, our reputation, our image and our coolness can sometimes hinders us.