I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20
“Another aspect of our life of contemplation is simplicity, which makes us see the face of God in everything, everyone, everywhere, all the time, and His hand in all the happenings; and makes us do all that we do — whether we think, study, work, speak, eat, or take our rest — under the loving gaze of the Father, being totally available to Him…
What is contemplation? To live the life of Jesus. This is what I understand — to love Jesus, to live His life in us, to live our life in His life. That’s contemplation. We must have a clean heart to be able to see: no jealousy, anger, contention, and especially no uncharitableness.”
Mother Teresa (1910-1997) in In the Heart of the World, ed. by Becky Benenate (New York: Fine Communications, 1997) 34-35.
Two ideas struck me today: total availability and uncharitableness. Let’s lean into total availability first.
We should not say that we give a portion of our money to God. It’s all God’s. Instead, obedient, faithful stewardship determines through simplicity how much we need and treats the rest as belonging to God.
Regarding time and giftedness, we don’t give God a portion of ourselves, we die to ourselves and make ourselves totally available to him. Or in Pauline terms, we no longer live but Christ lives in us.
So then why is there no place for uncharitableness? If our life is rooted in Christ, everything we enjoy is by grace or because of God’s charitableness toward us.
If we don’t shower grace on others, we show that we don’t understand it ourselves. That said, imagine, what would it look like if God’s people aimed at total availability and charitableness this Christmas seasons?