Jesus Caritas

You had put your whole self into your effort and were so proud and happy each time you felt you had in some way succeeded.

You wanted to present the Lord the results of your enterprises, coming happily to him, your hands full. But you forgot to turn towards Jesus, your only Model. He could show you only hands pierced by the nails of the cross, or the callused hands of a workman, or again the tiny, helpless hands of a newborn baby in a crib.

Perhaps you did not really stop to look at the crib, or maybe you just looked at it disdainfully, as an adult who thinks that the crib is for children and that outside Christmastime it has no real meaning.

You looked longer at the cross. There you found something bigger and more satisfying, but perhaps you were seeking after suffering and abjection still with a certain pride. It is so easy to believe ourselves heroic as soon as we have suffered a little with courage.