More often then not, we are stuck comparing ourselves to others. When observing others, we either idealize another person, emphasizing their "better" personality, possessions, GPA while pitying our lesser accomplishments, or we idealize ourselves while degrading others. Sometimes, I have witnessed people compare their faith to another's, often acknowledging themselves for the amount of time they spend in prayer, confession, or Church. Likewise, a comparison of our faith is dangerous to the growth of the universal Catholic Church community.

Faith is not a competition. No one--not your priest or deacon--counts "score" for how many Masses you attend; no one times you for how long you spend in adoration. No one gives you an award for wearing a cross across your neck, for going to a Catholic university, or sending your children to a Catholic, private school.

Faith is all about your relationship with God, and you cannot establish that relationship without humility. Faith should not be about showing other people how "Catholic" you are. Of course, people who are more outwardly Catholic than others are able to express their love in whatever way they want to. That is not the problem that I am talking about. An issue develops when people amp their faith to prove to others how religious they are. Unlike the common religious posts and people who truly express their faith, those who use their faith as a competition against others do not have pure intentions.

Those who manipulate faith in their personal competition have impure intentions. They have lost sight of what faith truly is; they are yearning to show a deep connection that does not yet exist with God because they are too concerned with their self-image. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus warns his Apostles: "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray, standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full".

Jesus describes how faith is not always something that has to be seen. If your faith is strong, you do not have to prove yourself to others. You do not need to compare your faith to others; there is no need to gratify yourself at the expense of mistreating someone else. Everyone has a different faith journey, a different story of how they discover their faith, a different version of how they choose to live their faith. Instead of judging or comparing ourselves to others who live their lives in faith differently than ours, we should respect those differences.

This respect, not comparison or competition, will enhance our self-growth as Catholics. It will allow us to flourish in a world full of differences. It will allow us to unite from our vast similarities, to listen to others, and to humble ourselves by looking at faith from someone else's different perspective.

This self-growth will provide a new meaning, answering what our faith truly means to us. It must mean more than a competition, a way to impress others, a method of proving ourselves to someone else. Trust me, there is only one person who you have to convince, and all that He is concerned about is how you live your life in love, His truth, and humility.