"If you're not bad, and yet you seem to be, then you're a fool. And that foolishness--a cause of scandal--is even worse than being bad." --Escriva The Way, 370
This is a common predominant fault among otherwise very saintly Catholics in our own time who often ignore, disregard or neglect, how they are perceived by others. Holy people should also make a reasonable effort to make themselves presentable and agreeable, and not ridiculous!
Ratzinger begins the first chapter of Introduction to Christianity referring to Kierkegaard's famous story of the clown and the burning village, to sum up the ridiculous appearance of the convinced Christian making a case for faith in the modern world. "[There is an] oppressive reality in which theology and theological discussion are imprisoned today and [a] frustrating inability to break through accepted patterns of thought and speech and make people recognize the subject-matter of theology as a serious aspect of human life." p. 16
"For the children of this world are more astute in dealing with their own kind than are the children of light." Luke 16:8
Jesus Christ was like us in every way (indistinguishable among the ordinary men of Nazareth), except regarding sin.
