Here are some wonderful thoughts from Pope Francis to reflect upon…..
There is only one and correct way to look down on a person: if you are offering them a hand up. If one of us – and this includes me – looks down on a person, and shows them contempt, it is of no use at all.
But if we look down on a person in order to give them a hand up, to help them to their feet, then that man or woman beneath us is truly an extraordinary being. So when you look down on someone, always ask yourself, “Where is my hand? Is it hidden away or is it offering help?” In this way you will find happiness.
This approach means developing a critical but underappreciated ability: the ability to learn how to make time for others, to listen, share, and understand. Only then will we be able to open our experiences and problems to the kind of love that can change us, thereby changing the world around us.
If we do not give of our time, if we do not “waste time” with others, we will wind up wasting it on things that, at the end of the day, will only leave us feeling empty and confused.
Or, as they say in my country, we will “stuff ourselves” with so many things that we will wind up having indigestion.
By Pope Francis, from A Gift of Joy and Hope. Thanks to Sebastian Dumitru for the picture.
Think of a time when YOU offered a person “a hand up” when they were down and depressed.
YOUR GREATEST CONTRIBUTION TO THE KINGDOM OF GOD MAY NOT BE SOMETHING YOU DO, BUT SOMEONE YOU RAISE!!
