Claretian Teaching Ministry

Gifts You Receive Are Not for You

In referring to the bee, the Bible says, “The bee is small among flying creatures, but what it produces is the best of sweet things” (Sirach 11:3). The inference is that good things can be produced from a relatively insignificant instrument. The Israelites depended on the ever-active “busy” bees not just for plant pollination, but also for honey as their only sweetener and as an antiseptic for wounds; the beeswax was used for their healing arts, and later for illumination when candles were invented. Yet the example of the bees’ labor and activity is not the main lesson to be learned from them, says a fifth century commentary by St. John Chrysostom. “The bee is honored not because she labors, but because she labors for others.”

St. Paul spells out the implications of this altruism for Christians in a startling “let-me-think-about-that” kind of metaphor. He writes: “Through love become slaves to one another” (Gal. 5:13). And he further echoes that counsel of altruistic zeal In Romans 12:6-11, in terms of using our God-given gifts:

We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry in ministering; the teacher in teaching; the exhorter in exhortation; the giver in generosity; the leader in diligence; the compassionate in cheerfulness. Let love be genuine… love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit.

Everyone has some gift (or several)—“gifts of the Holy Spirit, distributed according to his will” (Heb. 2:4). Your gift may begin with a simple talent that the Lord wants to “supernaturalize” into a Spirit-breathed charism. Look into your soul and psyche, carefully and prayerfully, to discern which gift or gifts God has given you. Then, with a firm resolve, reinforced by God’s grace, decide how and when and where you can exercise your gift or gifts while inflamed with an incandescent desire for the welfare of others in truly Christlike love.

Fr. John H. Hampsch, C.M.F.

Loving Makes You Lovable

The ennobling pattern of love fascinated the probing mind of a great Spanish philosopher, Jose Ortega y Gasset. Love, he said, “consists in the constant beaming forth of a favorable atmosphere … a light in which we envelop the beloved, so that all his or her good qualities can reveal themselves. (Hatred, the contrary, puts the hated person in a negative light, so that we see only his defects.) Love rearranges the possible perfections of the beloved, making us see what we would not see without it.”

Like a polarizing lens that cuts the distracting glare from our view, authentic Christian love of a person, while not denying that individual’s human weakness, puts is it aside so that the basic beauty, dignity, and nobility of the person can shine through. For such a lover, the beloved is seen in the polarized Christ-light of the Gospel: “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you…. Love each other as I have loved you” (Jn 15:9,12).

God’s divine love-light, polarized through Jesus, is to be prismatically filtered through each of us to each other. Only by this divine light can we see the divine features in all those made to his image and likeness. His vertical love is meant to be spread horizontally through us as human love in any sinless form. As we loan God our hearts to love others, his own goodness in them becomes patent. This is truly an intoxicating experience!

“One-Minute Meditations for Busy People” by Fr. John H. Hampsch, C.M.F.

There’s an inspirational vignette about a man who asked God for the two most beautiful things he could think of—a flower and a colorful butterfly. God sent him instead a thorny cactus and a caterpillar. Somewhat disappointed and bewildered, he put them in his garden. One day he noticed that an exquisite cactus flower had blossomed on the cactus limb and that the caterpillar had metamorphosed into a gorgeous butterfly flitting about the cactus flower.

Things can be done either our way or the best way; when it’s done the best way, God has had a hand in it. If you ask God for one thing and receive another, don’t allow yourself to be disappointed in the result or in God. That’s the time for consummate trust in his goodness. He’ll teach you that what you want is not always what you need; and what you really need will be given to you in God’s time and in his way. Embracing that faith-bedecked truth without question is the quintessence of trust in God. He gives the very best to those who leave the choices up to him. For those who do, he surprises them, as he transforms today’s thorn into tomorrow’s flower.

John H. Hampsch, C.M.F.

Crocodile Tears

A”laughing hyena” doesn’t really laugh, of course: its yelp is a sound that resembles strident laughter. Nor does a crocodile shed tears of grief while consuming its prey, though this ancient belief has spawned the phrase that connotes insincerity. Nature is replete with such counterfeit behavior patterns, but so is super- nature-the supernatural life that we are called to live.

One form of such fakery is a false kind of contrition or sorrow for sin, to be clearly distinguished from the real thing, as Paul asserts. “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death” (2 Cor 7:10). God isn’t primarily interested in mere apologies: he wants us to experience a sin-remorse that results in a different attitude and a change of behavior (metanoia) that involves not just a stopping of sin but a turning to God in sincerity of heart.

Godly sorrow is supported by the Holy Spirit’s power, enabling us to change in three ways: It gives strength to resist future temptation, it makes us less arrogantly self-assured of our own efforts toward holiness, and it makes us more God-dependent. This “repentance unto life” (Acts 11:18) is not mere dread of punishment, but love-sparked “perfect contrition,” so dear to God.

Without genuine humility in a heart broken not only for sin but also from sin, tears of sorrow are merely crocodile tears.“One-Minute Meditations for Busy People” by Fr. John H. Hampsch, C.M.F.

“M” Is for Mother

—and the start of many a trite and schmaltzy poem, with countless variations that range from fourth-graders’ homework assignment before Mother’s Day, to Hallmark cards, flowery or facetious, fingered on every drugstore greeting card rack. But on a more sublime note, relevant for any season of the year, a more worthy tribute is deserved by the worthiest of mothers. Did you ever think of complimenting Jesus’ Mother, of whom the Bible says (Luke 1:48) that all generations were to call her blessed? I like to think of her as the first living Eucharistic tabernacle and monstrance, as she enwombed the Incarnate Word of God within herself and birthed him as a Divine Communion for all of us, her spiritual offspring. In my fumbling efforts, during one of my lucid moments, I tried to convey this insight poetically, which I herewith quote, hopefully for the edification of anyone who might find it in some way uplifting:

Vessel of Love

She, the spotless chalice, delicate and fine;

He, the Bread from heaven, God’s celestial Wine.

She, the melting taper enwicking grace within;

He, the Flame Eternal—Love that vanquished sin.

She, the acquiescing voice that generations heard.

He, the Sound unspoken—God’s Incarnate Word.

John H. Hampsch, C.M.F.