Recognize the Christ in Others July 9

(From Psalm 123): Lord, your grace is sufficient for me. To you I raise my eyes, to you enthroned in heaven. Yes, like the eyes of a servant on the hand of his master, Like the eyes of a maid on the hand of her mistress, So our eyes are on the LORD our God, till we are shown favor. Show us favor, LORD, show us favor for when we are weak, then we are strong. Amen.

Study
By Rev. Joe McCloskey, S.J.

http://www.usccb.org/nab/070906.shtml

Calumny is telling a lie about another. Lies can destroy another's reputation. But the truth usually catches up to the lie. But often it is too late to help the people concerned. Slander can be the bad report on another that is actually the truth. Christ was a carpenter and the son of Mary. But he also has a divine nature which the miracles testify to.

We can put people down because we do not know enough about them. All too often we lock people into our first impressions and do not let them grow out of them. We can limit people to what we have seen them do. We miss the incredible potential relationship to Christ can bring. We give easy honor to strangers that are mere shadows of those we know and put down because we have never given them the chance to show their stuff. Even as Christ wanted his people to have faith in him, we need to have faith in one another.

Hope is a wonderful virtue because it allows us to expect the best of one another. We tend to live up to the expectations of those we love.

Parents who tell their children they do everything wrong, gradually destroy the love of their children. A child does not earn responsibility. Responsibility flows out of the experiences of trying to live up to the good opinion of others.

Christ lives in each of us. We activate the best of each other by our good opinions. Love brings the Lord into whatever we are doing and creates the challenge to be a real Christ for one another. Let us recognize Christ in each other today! Let us claim the Christ of each other and be a Christ for one another. Then they will see again what was once said of the Christians of old. “See how they love one another.”

Action

What weakness do I need to overcome this week?