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."
- Brennan Manning
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