“All bow down before wealth. Wealth is that to which the multitude of men pay an instinctive homage. They measure happiness by wealth; and by wealth they measure respectability…It is a homage resulting from a profound faith…that with wealth he may do all things. Wealth is one idol of the day and notoriety a second…Notoriety, or the making of a noise in the world—it may be called ‘newspaper fame’—has come to be considered a great good in itself, and a ground of veneration.”—John Henry Cardinal Newman
_____
I read from the Catechism of the Catholic Church this morning, and this passage spoke to me.
It isn’t the first that gets me. I could care less about wealth. There is little that I want—but the second. The second hits. “Newspaper fame,” what all new forms and mediums has it taken? Tic Tok. Instagram. YouTube. I am ignorant and unknowing of the rest.
Still, I know—of it—I am guilty; and if guilty is too harsh, perhaps ‘suffer’ is the better word. “To make a noise in the world”—isn’t that the reason that one writes, the reason that one speaks, puts their self into the world through forms that plead attention?
It is an idol that I praise—to be recognized and thought well of for something I project.
We all want to be something to someone, but in our seeking of the prize, how often do we lose ourselves in process that becomes pretending—wanting to be seen for something rather than what we are?
I think on the passage, shape and idol of a sin I hold. Reflecting—sharing and wanting seen still, vanity and vice of pride unchanged I pray, one day, I will.