Calling Me a Second Time

Carl Jung, the great psychiatrist, once reflected that we are all familiar with these words of Jesus: "Whatever you do to the least of my brethren, that you do unto me" (Matthew 25:40). Then Jung asked a very probing question: "What if you discovered that the least of the brethren of Jesus, the one who needs your love the most, the one you can help the most by loving, the one to whom your love will be most meaningful-what if you discovered that this least of the brethren of Jesus ... is you?"

Then do for yourself what you would do for others. And that wholesome self-love that Jesus enjoined when He said, "Love your neighbor as yourself," might begin with the simple acknowledgment, "What is the story of my priesthood? It is the story of an unfaithful man through whom God continues to work!" That word is not only consoling; it is freeing, especially for those of us caught up in the oppression of thinking that God can work only through saints. What a word of healing, forgiveness, and comfort it is for many of us priests who have discovered that we are earthen vessels who fulfill Jesus' prophecy: "I tell you solemnly, this day, this night, before the cock crows twice, you will have disowned me three times."

The Lord is now calling me a second time, affirming me, enabling me, encouraging me, challenging me all the way into fullness of faith, hope, and love in the power of His Holy Spirit. Ignorant, weak, sinful man that I am, with easy rationalizations for my sinful behavior, I am being told anew in the unmistakable language of love, "I am with you, I am for you, I am in you. I expect more failure from you than you expect from yourself."

- Brennan Manning