Site Motto As soon as

Site Motto

As soon as I come up with an appropriate way to do so, I want to post the following quotation from The Sayings of Light and Love as site motto and reminder.

from Sayings of Light and Love Saint John of the Cross

118. Ignoring the imperfections of others, preserving silence and a continual communion with God will eradicate great imperfections from the soul and make it the possessor of great virtues.

My temptation is often to focus out from myself. I look at others and I see all sorts of undesirable qualities. What I need to remember is the psychological and spiritual reality articulated by Jesus--"Judge not, lest yet be judged."

When I look out into the world and see things I don't like, I must remember I am looking into a mirror. Those irritations and imperfections that upset me are my own in greater or lesser degree. When I judge them, when I lash out against them, I am in some sense judging what I do not like in myself.

But getting away from the whole question of judging--when I am looking at the blemishes of others, I prevent myself from seeing Christ in them. When I am focusing on the things that irritate me, I am incapable of perceiving Jesus who stands right beside me attempting to instruct me in love. In fact, ignoring the imperfections of others is the only way to begin to preserve silence and perfect communion with God. If we are obsessed with imperfections, charity would demand that we assist others in conquering them. Moreover, when we are continually examining those imperfections, we set ourselves up God and judge. We must speak, for not to speak would be to condemn the other to their imperfection. We exalt ourselves.

Better to maintain silence. Perhaps what we see as an imperfection God perceives as the pinnacle of perfection of a virtue we are neither interested in nor looking for. Our focus should be on Jesus Christ. When we look at others, we should see the image of Christ looking out to us. We need to reach out to that perfect image and lose ourselves in service. We need to serve Christ. If we are busy cataloguing imperfections, we will not serve anyone or anything other than our own prejudices. This is a place where I need a lot of grace. I need God's continual help and support, and I need the daily reminder--hence the site motto.