Saturday, November 15

Philippians 2 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of humans.

Reflection:

Lessons from the Hoe…today and tomorrow…

Bernard of Clairvaux once wrote, “Learn the lesson that, if you are to do the work of a prophet, what you need is not a scepter but a hoe.”

The life of one seeking to follow in Jesus’s way is not that of power or might, rather that of humility and service. This is not to say that the calling of the Christian avoids claiming power as needed. However, the Christian way resists the temptation to think too much of oneself. When we make conscious choices to decide as Jesus would decide (“What would Jesus do?”), we make decision to grab the hoe before the scepter. This can be challenging given the church’s long-standing history of relating to the State. Nonetheless, Jesus hand guides us to the hoe, the plow and the shovel first.

Question for reflection:

What do you think Bernard means when he says that a prophet’s work calls for a hoe, not a scepter?