You are good at excusing and justifying your own deeds, and yet you will not listen to the excuses of others. It would be more just to accuse yourself and to excuse your brother. - The Imitation of ChristI was reflecting on this tendency of ours just this past weekend in our men's fellowship group, and yesterday here. I think it is rooted in what Fr. Spitzer refers to as the comparative identity. The only way many of us know to feel good about ourselves is in comparison to others, and life becomes a sort of competition by which the "best and brightest" of us are the privileged few to merit God's favor (along with the rest of life's blessings). Even if we're aware of this dynamic, we tend to do this all the time, and we instill it in our children from a very early age.
The gift of Christ's love to one who knows they don't deserve it can set us free to discover our true value, which isn't in comparison to others but simply in being so loved by the God of the universe! Then we strive to respond to that love independently of how others may respond, but in the uniquely contributive way in which we are called.
There is joy in finding Christ present, even as we long for him to be present to us more fully!
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