April 6 - Good Friday

(submitted by Dan Gildner)

Read: John 13:1-17 and John 19:16-30

Carlo Carretto wrote in In Search of the Beyond, “We are not happy because we are unforgiving and we are unforgiving because we feel superior to others. Mercy is the fruit of the highest degree of love, because love creates equals, and a greater love makes us inferior. First, let us establish three premises:
-Those who do not love feel superior to everyone else.
-Those who love feel equal to everyone else.
-Those who love much gladly take the lower place.”

I do not love when I feel superior
Like when I am forced to spend time with someone who annoys me.
Like when Judas betrayed Jesus because Jesus wasn’t living up to his expectations.
Like when I think I own the corner market on theology
I do not love.

I love when I feel equal
Like when I am working with a team or family who expects everyone to be treated the same.
Like when my sense of justice kicks in and I equate love with fairness

I love much when I gladly take the lower place
Like when I apologize even when the other person should do so.
Like when Jesus was staring at and loving two guilty thieves with a bloody crown on his head.
Like when the people I am forced to be with become Jesus and I get to wash their feet.

This day, let us reflect on where God might want to purify our love.
1. How can I get to a place (to begin) where I do not feel superior to ANYONE?
2. What causes me to feel superior?
3. How can I move from a feeling of equality to one where I take the lower place?
4. Where can I model Jesus’ sacrificial love today?