Taking pride in prasie given to others.

From a letter from St. Cyprian to St. Cornelius:


“Why then should a priest not take pride in the praise given to a fellow priest as thought it were given to him? What brotherhood fails to rejoice in the happiness of its brothers wherever they are?”

Ah, if it were only so simple. Who would not agree that happiness found by another is shared by all who know of it? Shared joy is part of the Christian ideal. For many who struggle with egos run amuck, recognition of praise given to another can bring with it a vague sense of deprivation that could best be called jealousy. There is some irrational concept things like praise and happiness come in limited amounts and whatever is given to another reduces what is available. We KNOW this to be untrue. We read virtually every day whatever is done in the Lord’s name to betterment of another is also done to all of us. Happiness shared is happiness multiplied. We know this is true for we have witnessed it. When the senseless fear that God’s grace could in any way be diminished is pushed back into the darkest recesses to wither away, we can fully celebrate the beauty of shared praise. I recall from last week keeping turn our will over to the care of Lord will lead us to as much joy as can be conceived. Let us all join hands and hearts to see how much joy we can conceive of together.