When I’ve overheard someone saying, “mind your own business”, I’ve tended to be cautious and ponder on the phrase. It is good to care about others. So that contradicts the phrase. The phrase also implies a focus on oneself which if done to the extreme is selfishness. But today, we have a priest saying in other words to “mind your own business!
Sophia Institute Press published a book Guidance in Spiritual Direction by Monsignor Charles Doyle. In the section on recollection, he says it is a duty to “not get oneself involved in the affairs of others except when the duty demands such involvements. Saint Augustine says that by nature we are as curious to know the lives of others as we are idle in correcting our own.”
Definitely exceptions to this would be parents and teachers who have a duty to be sure children grow up to be mature and responsible. I think a good practice to have a healthy since of “minding our own business” would be to practice the nighttime examination of conscience looking back on the day’s events.
The book mentions another saint, St. Vincent Ferrer, who counsels us of “turning away the eyes of the body and those of the mind from others so that we may be the better able to see ourselves as we are.”
I looked up “mind your own business” memes on the Internet and there were a ton. I did see that there is a scripture verse supporting this! In the Bible (Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition), in 1 Thessalonians 4:11, Saint Paul is telling us to:
”aspire to live quietly, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we charged you.”
Thank you, Monsignor Charles Doyle and Saint Paul for the challenge to focus on correcting our own lives.
I think we should still care about others, but not at the expense of neglecting our own self awareness and personally seeking Christ first and foremost.
Saint Paul, pray for us!
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