When I was living in the Forestiere, I was given a text by Carl Jung...It was a letter he had written to a young Christian woman...
I admire Christians,
because when you see someone who is hungry or thirsty,
you see Jesus.
When you welcome a stranger, someone who is "strange",
you welcome Jesus.
When you clothe someone who is naked, you clothe Jesus.
What I don't understand, however,
is that Christians never seem to recognize Jesus in their own poverty.
You always want to do good to the poor outside you
and at the same time you deny the poor person living inside you.
Why can't you see Jesus in your own poverty,
in your own hunger and thirst?
In all that is "strange" inside you:
in the violence and the anguish that are beyond your control!
You are called to welcome all this, not to deny its existence,
but to accept that it is there and to meet Jesus there.
One word comes to mind: PRIDE. It is pride that keeps us from recognizing our own poverty, hunger and thirst :(
ReplyDeleteA very nice quote indeed, I so totally agree :)
ReplyDeleteBut at the other end, if we focus too much on our own poverty, we might end up in self pity or worse yet, bitterness, and being robbed off of our strength, don't you think? *jadi bingung gue, semoga orang laen gak ikut bingung wkwkwk kacau... posting serius gini gue rusak -.-'*
BTW Mel, I LOVVVEEEE the beautiful pics in your blog!! ^__^
ReplyDelete@Shinta: In my POV, aside from pride, it can also be ignorance. I think more often than not it's by far easier to spot someone else's "mistakes" than ours. It's our nature he he...
ReplyDelete@Natalia: I don't really agree with you 'coz the idea is to accept and welcome our "poverty", turn them to Jesus and "meet Jesus there". Jesus will transform them all. I think it's possible to accept those things about ourselves without feeling self pity or bitterness 'coz the counterbalance is that He still loves us no matter what (and that's the awesome part).
It's not all about us. It's all about Him through us. At least that's what I've been learning (and still have to learn).
Glad you enjoyed the pics. :-D