For example, suppose someone comes into your meeting dressed in fancy clothes and expensive jewelry, and another comes in who is poor and dressed in dirty clothes. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” have you not discriminated among ourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? –James 2:3-4It is easy to forget that we find Christ Jesus where we often fail to look, or perhaps even desire not to see at all. We often speak of the love of God, yet just what is that all about? One way of looking at it is to meditate on how Jesus treated others. The deeper the look, the more incomprehensible it can become. My natural response to others is based on a foundation other than the love that Jesus tried to show us in the Gospel. He gravitated towards people who are overlooked, such behavior being considered as normal and even prudent. He ate with those who were a scandal to persons outside the circle of sinners. He saw something that I still do not see, for my tendency is to ignore certain types of people and to even unconsciously have contempt for them. The Holy Spirit is slowly making me aware of this ‘sin’ in me and slowly healing me of this normal though harmful way of dealing with others. When Christ Jesus said we are to love what we may consider unlovable is central to his message. I believe it is a hard lesson to learn, at least this is for me. One way the Holy Spirit wounds is to bring before our inner vision our very human limitations in our ability to love . . .it is then that we learn what grace truly means and what we would be without it.
Different
He was different,
he limped and was bent over.
Against my will I looked,
at once he noticed,
I was ashamed.
Br. Mark Dohle, OCSO
Holy Spirit Monastery
