“Dour”: a word meaning sullen or gloomy … severe or stern. Synonyms: bleak, dismal, dreary, forbidding, sour, surly. Ugly. Hmmm … sounds charming.

It seems that one can encounter a lot of dour people. Not sure why. After all, as the old saying goes: What fun it that? Certainly there can be involuntary dourness due to psychological conditions; I don’t mean those. But some simply don’t like to have to deal with other people. Some introverted may use dourness as a “shields up!” defense. Some are on the lookout to being offended by … something. Anything! And some have a haughty dourness—a seeming resentment of having to deal with the inferior beings surrounding them.

It’s really quite sad to see the dourful, and one can’t help but wonder: “Why?!”  How many friendships, edifying conversation, budding relationships, etc., are missed due to a sullen disposition? Sure, everyone can be grumpy once in a while (I plead guilty as charged!), have a bad day or the like, but to live in a constant state of “dour-ness” is a great loss.

The Christian (tries to) remember that dourness is against the charity that God wants us to have toward one another. As St. Paul writes: “…the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control…” (Galatians 5:22-23) And let us remember that a joyful person is a delight to all; scripture tells us: “[He who has] a cheerful heart has a continual feast” (Proverbs 15:15) and “A cheerful heart is a good medicine, but a downcast spirit dries up the bones.” (Proverbs 17:22)

The essence of the Christian life is in this saying of Jesus: “I have said this to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) Yes, difficulties and tragedies may come, but for the person with Christian faith, those trials are eclipsed by the love of God and the hope of eternal life. St. Teresa wrote: “May God protect us from gloomy saints!”—referring to us Christians; there is nothing gloomy about the love God has for us, and everlasting life!

One of the things that helps us combat a dour disposition is the great virtue of humility—a central theme for the Christian faith regardless of denomination. All throughout both the Old and New Testaments is a constant affirmation of the virtue of humility, and a corresponding condemnation of arrogant pride.

One thing leading to the danger of that arrogant pride—if used wrongly to elevate ourselves above others—is higher education. This is certainly not to say that education isn’t a wonderful thing, even praised in the scriptures (“To a sensible man education is like a golden ornament, and like a bracelet on the right arm.” (Sirach 21:21)) But education does not equate to wisdom. As Jesus says:  “…although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to little ones. (Matthew 11:25). The “little ones” are not the unintellectual or the uneducated, but rather the humble.

Intellectual ability is a gift, which entails a responsibility to work even more diligently for the good of all, and those who have it should not boast, but rather be thankful … for: “What have you that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if it were not a gift?” (1 Corinthians 4:7)

Even the secular recognizes that physical and intellectual abilities are largely dependent upon genetics, and not of one’s own design or fabrication of the self. But where the non-believer may see it as winning the genetic “lottery”, the believer understands it as gifts of God. So one’s education and natural intellect may increase one’s abilities for certain tasks, but it doesn’t make one “better” than others.

This touches upon the question: What is of true value? A loaded question to be sure, but when we look at the good of humanity overall, is it not selflessness, kindness, charity and love rather than selfishness, harshness and hatred? Do we not admire the humble person over the arrogant? Are these not the actions we desire to be shown toward ourselves, and which elicit like return?

I always loved St. Paul’s verse: “Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count others better than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” (Philippians 2:3-4) Jesus—the model of humility—affirms this when He says that He “…came not to be served but to serve…” (Matthew 20:28) His disciples are called to imitate Him in that humble service to the world … and to make a joyful noise to the Lord!