Complaint or Praise

A quote of Catherine:


When reprimanded or spoken ill of, be silent,
when praised, turn the conversation to some other subject.

When we look at the accusations thrown at Jesus and look at the silence he kept, when we look at the praises and see how he turned the subject, we have a better sense of what this means.

Today we are a feel good society. We praise children so they do better, we work on our skills to keep morale up and to help people work together and yet we forget this important bit of advice.

In the book The Four Agreements, the author would say, "Take nothing personally." The classic spiritual writers would remind us that all is a gift from God; it is not ours to gloat about or be upset. In my early Novitiate days it was called "holy indifference". Matthew would say, "Blessed are the poor in spirit..."

We have good traditions that support this saying. Let us look at this again and see the hidden depths of the wisdom behind what Catherine is saying today.

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