Know yourself and your neighbor will know you.
Know yourself and your neighbor will know you. - a Scottish proverb
Around 1981 I attended a Cursillo. A “short course on Christianity” - a short, but very intensive retreat that was held at Stonehill College, Massachusetts.
It was a moving, overwhelming and befuddling experience. This was largely due to the fact that it was given by Catholics to Catholics. I was a new Christian with very little understanding of what others believed or what they were doing when they did it.
One of my friends and mentors, a Catholic priest named Phil Kelly, had come to attend the closing celebration of the retreat. At this service, a priest came in from another room with the Eucharist. He then put the host in a cross and after doing so he turned the cross toward us. As the congregation crossed themselves, Phil leaned slightly forward as if drawn, he held his hands toward the Eucharist and quietly and reverently spoke the name: “Jesus.” He worshiped Him - right there, right then.
At that very moment, and ever since, it became different for me. Jesus was present, alive, near me, in me.
By manifesting his faith Phil taught me. By looking inside himself, he saw Christ in the eyes of others. Indeed, he said he couldn’t pass a hitchhiker, because he felt that if he did this he was leaving Christ on the road. “What you do to the least of these, you do unto me.” This is so hard for me to do. I often want to ignore others, to let them be.
Christ asks me - He asks us to be different. He asks us to be a contradiction to the world. He asks us to love, nurture and embrace His creation. We are to be His lights, His beacons. As we allow Him to change us, we become living evidence of hope, love and forgiveness. Often without even knowing, we radiate Him.
Great things are happening around us. Christ wants us to be looking deeply within and without - sometimes with fear and trembling, often with joy and wonder. We are a people of hope, As we seek to grow in Christ, and listen as we pray, we will hear his Word. In doing this our neighbor will know us.
Around 1981 I attended a Cursillo. A “short course on Christianity” - a short, but very intensive retreat that was held at Stonehill College, Massachusetts.
It was a moving, overwhelming and befuddling experience. This was largely due to the fact that it was given by Catholics to Catholics. I was a new Christian with very little understanding of what others believed or what they were doing when they did it.
One of my friends and mentors, a Catholic priest named Phil Kelly, had come to attend the closing celebration of the retreat. At this service, a priest came in from another room with the Eucharist. He then put the host in a cross and after doing so he turned the cross toward us. As the congregation crossed themselves, Phil leaned slightly forward as if drawn, he held his hands toward the Eucharist and quietly and reverently spoke the name: “Jesus.” He worshiped Him - right there, right then.
At that very moment, and ever since, it became different for me. Jesus was present, alive, near me, in me.
By manifesting his faith Phil taught me. By looking inside himself, he saw Christ in the eyes of others. Indeed, he said he couldn’t pass a hitchhiker, because he felt that if he did this he was leaving Christ on the road. “What you do to the least of these, you do unto me.” This is so hard for me to do. I often want to ignore others, to let them be.
Christ asks me - He asks us to be different. He asks us to be a contradiction to the world. He asks us to love, nurture and embrace His creation. We are to be His lights, His beacons. As we allow Him to change us, we become living evidence of hope, love and forgiveness. Often without even knowing, we radiate Him.
Great things are happening around us. Christ wants us to be looking deeply within and without - sometimes with fear and trembling, often with joy and wonder. We are a people of hope, As we seek to grow in Christ, and listen as we pray, we will hear his Word. In doing this our neighbor will know us.
posted by Gregory Horwitz at 8:40 PM
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