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Today’s gospel passage ends with these words of Jesus.
“Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not
condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven;
give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken
together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give
will be the measure you get back.”
From a worldly view the saying is quite different. “For the measure of
this world’s possessions you accumulate will be the measure of your happiness.”
The Christian life is not about accumulating points with
God, rather it is all about emptying out – stretching our hearts capacity to
receive, not out of merit, but stretched wide open by giving out of love.
Here is a
reflection on this understanding by St. Augustine.
From the Tractates
on the first letter of John by Saint Augustine, bishop
Our Heart Longs
for God
We have been promised that we shall be like him, for we
shall see him as he is. By these words, the tongue has done its best; now we
must apply the meditation of the heart. Although they are the words of Saint
John, what are they in comparison with the divine reality? And how can we, so
greatly inferior to John in merit, add anything of our own? Yet we have
received, as John has told us, an anointing by the Holy One which teaches us
inwardly more than our tongue can speak. Let us turn to this source of knowledge,
and because at present you cannot see, make it your business to desire the
divine vision.
The entire life of a good Christian is in fact an
exercise of holy desire. You do not yet see what you long for, but the very act
of desiring prepares you, so that when he comes you may see and be utterly
satisfied.
Suppose you are going to fill some holder or container,
and you know you will be given a large amount. Then you set about stretching
your sack or wineskin or whatever it is. Why? Because you know the quantity you
will have to put in it and your eyes tell you there is not enough room. By
stretching it, therefore, you increase the capacity of the sack, and this is
how God deals with us. Simply by making us wait he increases our desire, which
in turn enlarges the capacity of our soul, making it able to receive what is to
be given to us.
So, my brethren, let us continue to desire, for we shall
be filled. Take note of Saint Paul stretching as it were his ability to receive
what is to come: Not that I have already obtained this, he said, or am made
perfect. Brethren, I do not consider that I have already obtained it. We might
ask him, “If you have not yet obtained it, what are you doing in this life?
This one thing I do, answers Paul, forgetting what lies behind, and stretching
forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the prize to which I am called in
the life above. Not only did Paul say he stretched forward, but he also
declared that he pressed on toward a chosen goal. He realized in fact that he was
still short of receiving what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of
man conceived.
Such is our Christian life. By desiring heaven we
exercise the powers of our soul. Now this exercise will be effective only to
the extent that we free ourselves from desires leading to infatuation with this
world. Let me return to the example I have already used, of filling an empty
container. God means to fill each of you with what is good; so cast out what is
bad! If he wishes to fill you with honey and you are full of sour wine, where
is the honey to go? The vessel must be emptied of its contents and then be
cleansed. Yes, it must be cleansed even if you have to work hard and scour it.
It must be made fit for the new thing, whatever it may be.
We may go on speaking figuratively of honey, gold or
wine—but whatever we say we cannot express the reality we are to receive. The
name of that reality is God. But who will claim that in that one syllable we
utter the full expanse of our heart’s desire? Therefore, whatever we say is
necessarily less than the full truth. We must extend ourselves toward the
measure of Christ so that when he comes he may fill us with his presence. Then
we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
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