Attitude of Christ

“Christ Jesus,
Who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave,
coming in human likeness.”

Philippians 2:6-7

Continuing with the theme of God’s mercy and generosity, this Sunday’s readings touch on the nature of God and the “attitude of Christ.” In last week’s reflection I mentioned how blessed we are that God is unfair in His dealings with us and this week we are reminded that God’s mercy is extended towards all. Whoever wishes to turn from their sinful ways will receive the mercy of God. Not only this, but St. Paul reminds us of the attitude Christ put on — complete and utter humility.

This is something completely unheard of. Why would an all-powerful Being choose to humble Himself and enter into His own creation, and be subject to their laws? It makes no sense, but again God’s ways are above our ways. It was because of unconditional love, which is God’s very nature, that He took on human flesh to be in complete solidarity with us. He assumed our human condition (except sin) so that He can save us from the destructive end to which life without God will ultimately lead. This week’s reflection continues with an excerpt from my reflection from this past Palm Sunday, “Emptied to the End.”

“Jesus loved us to the very end. For three years He taught and preached and performed numerous miracles while walking on this earth. Many believed but others wanted Him gone. Jesus’s love was the visible expression of the eternal love with which God has loved us. From the healings and miracles to the final sacrifice on the Cross, those were all expressions and manifestations of God’s unconditional love for us.

From the moment God became man to the moment Jesus breathed His last on the Cross, Jesus’s entire life was one of “kenosis” or self-emptying. God chose to empty Himself and condescended to earth leaving the glory of Heaven, being born in the most humble of states. God loves us so much that He was willing to assume our lowly human nature, experiencing all that we do as humans (but sin) so that He might truly understand us but at the same time so that we might dare taste the glory of His divinity. When God assumed our humanity, humanity was forever changed. But this was not enough.

Jesus willingly suffered threats, humiliation, scourging, ridicule, and crucifixion. On the Cross, Jesus was emptied of every last drop of blood and He breathed His last. In breathing His last and giving over His Spirit, Jesus breathed life into the Church. In dying, Jesus gave us life. In emptying Himself to the very end, Jesus fills us with new life.”

May we today and everyday put on the same attitude that Christ had, clothing ourselves in complete humility so that we might come to love others as we are loved and by our example, move others to do the same.

A Generous God

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD.
As high as the heavens are above the earth,
so high are my ways above your ways
and my thoughts above your thoughts.”

Isaiah 55:8-9

Have you ever been in a situation when you found yourself thinking, “Wait a second… that’s not fair!” Maybe at work you and a fellow coworker did the same amount of work but when the end of the week comes he receives praise and you do not or when a coworker who did less than you and yet gets the same bonus. There are some things that just don’t seem fair, but they happen. The ways of human beings are sometimes not fair and biased and rigged. But things with God aren’t exactly “fair” either.

Perhaps you are asking, “What do you mean?” God isn’t fair. And we should be grateful for that. How often do the things that we do, the thoughts that we think, and the words that we say defile us? Think about the that unkind word we said or the last time we wronged someone, and maybe even in ways that are unspeakable, and yet we are still here, alive and breathing. When our sins merit us death, God does not take our lives; instead He forgives. How blessed are we that our God is a God that is not fair!

Because God is unfair and that His ways are above our ways and His thoughts above our thoughts, we have great gift of salvation and the opportunity to experience His creation. God’s mercy is shown to all unconditionally — those who have committed numerous mortal sins, those who have committed venial sins, those who have just come out of confession. God’s love and mercy is freely given; we just need to want to receive it. God loves the murderer on death row as much as He loves us. Our human instincts might tempt us to think, “Well I go to Church every Sunday and I give to the poor, shouldn’t God love me a bit more or my chance getting into heaven higher than that inmate on death row?” The answer is no. Sometimes it may be hard to accept, but when we think about it from a different perspective — “Why does it matter? I am loved by God from all eternity and He sent His Son to die for me! So what if He loves that inmate as much? I should be happy that God is that merciful and loving!”

If we are also able to reflect upon our own choices and mistakes, we ought to be grateful and that should naturally lead us away from comparison with others in regards to our “dignity” before God. One quote from St. Augustine always humbles me and brings me to my knees, especially when I begin to feel I am better than someone else, “Man is a beggar before God.” All human beings are beggars before God — royalty, common people, everyone. Yet, God regards each one of us beggars as His beloved son and daughter. Truly, how generous is our God, and how grateful we ought to be that our God does not treat us fairly!

God of Forgiveness

First published as Be Patient With Me on March 9, 2021.

"Be patient with me." Those were the words the servant used to plead with his king when he was about to be sold along with his family and possessions in the Gospel (Mt. 18:21-35). We are told that "moved with compassion the master of that servant let him go and forgave him." Compassion. Patience. Forgiveness. When the servant asked for patience, he received forgiveness.

Both the words compassion and patience find their roots in Latin meaning to "suffer." To be compassionate is to "suffer with" and to be patient is to "suffer" in some way in our own person. Someone who is compassionate is able to empathize and sympathize with others, and someone who is patient is able to recognize the shortcomings of one's self and of others and so act and make decisions with that knowledge. Forgiveness occurs when that recognition and realization propels us to reflect on how we have been shown compassion and the times when we have been treated with patience. With compassion, patience, and forgiveness the human heart is touched and obstacles removed.

The king saw how earnestly his servant begged him and perhaps felt the pain and the suffering and even the frustration and shame he must have been experiencing. Seeing that this man was sorry and wanted to do better not just for himself but for his family, the king showed mercy, was moved with compassion and bore patiently with him and forgave him of his debts. In his ignorance, the servant asked for more time so that he can repay the debt, but this debt was larger than any among he could ever earn in his lifetime. What the king gave to the servant was not patience, but forgiveness. However, when it was time for him to do the same, the forgiven servant failed to act with compassion and patience.

After being forgiven the servant himself saw someone on then streets that owed him something. But when that person pleaded with him saying, "please be patient with me," the forgiven servant ignored him and threw him in prison instead. The king found out about this and "handed him over to the torturers."

We are told that we ought to forgive others because God forgives us. Forgiveness is not just something that is received. It must be given too. When we reflect on our own lives, how often have we asked for forgiveness and it was granted to us? And, how often have others begged us for forgiveness and we have denied it? Our God and Father is the model of how we ought to forgive. When we think about all of the sins and wrongs we have committed, big or small, and reflect upon how when we sought God's forgiveness it was given to us without any conditions (other than to be sorry), shouldn't that move us to forgive others? To us it seems like sometimes certain people do not deserve our forgiveness, but forgiveness isn't given because someone deserves it. If we only gave things to people because they deserved it, where is the compassion and patience in that? We give because we do not need to. We give because our hearts move us to do so.

In the same way there is nothing we can ever do to justly earn forgiveness from God or from others. God forgives out of love, and we ought to do the same. God does not withhold His mercy from us until we have repaid everything because if that's the case, we would never be forgiven. However, we are told in today's Gospel that if we do not forgive others just as the Father forgives us, neither will we be forgiven.

Let us bear patiently with one another, treat one another with compassion, and allow God to move our hearts and turn our hearts into hearts of love so that we can give to others the gift that He so generously gives to us: forgiveness. Let us to remember that God knows all that we need and all that our hearts desire. Oftentimes we may ask for one thing, but in turn God gives us something so much better, something that goes beyond our imagining. Today let us meditate and give thanks for the forgiveness we have received and ask the Lord for the grace to forgive others as well as ask the Lord for a open heart to receive all that He wishes to give to us, even those we dare not ask.