Picture how you dote on a new born infant. You put your finger out and the baby grabs it with its tiny little hand. You say, “Look how strong she is.” Picture a mother who has literally poured her life blood into this infant. Now she nourishes the child with the milk she produces. Two distinct moments in life: the grasping of a new born in order to thrive, the giving of the mother to help the baby thrive. Something analogous happens in the spiritual life. St. Paul says that when we start in the faith we are like infants — grasping after something we hope to receive from God: happiness, health, peace, etc. As we mature in faith we must become like a mother who gives instead of grasps. Jesus showed that in his life by taking up the cross. Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself. Jesus thought of others instead of himself. In prayer today you might examine where you are on the grasping/giving spectrum.
