Thursday, April 24, 2008

1Cor 4, 6-8 None of you will be inflated with pride

(1Cor 4, 6-8) None of you will be inflated with pride
[6] I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, so that you may learn from us not to go beyond what is written, so that none of you will be inflated with pride in favor of one person over against another. [7] Who confers distinction upon you? What do you possess that you have not received? But if you have received it, why are you boasting as if you did not receive it? [8] You are already satisfied; you have already grown rich; you have become kings without us! Indeed, I wish that you had become kings, so that we also might become kings with you.
(CCC 224) It means living in thanksgiving: if God is the only One, everything we are and have comes from him: "What have you that you did not receive?" (1 Cor 4:7). "What shall I render to the LORD for all his bounty to me?" (Ps 116:12). (CCC 225) It means knowing the unity and true dignity of all men: everyone is made in the image and likeness of God (Gen 1:26). (CCC 226) It means making good use of created things: faith in God, the only One, leads us to use everything that is not God only insofar as it brings us closer to him, and to detach ourselves from it insofar as it turns us away from him: “My Lord and my God, take from me everything that distances me from you. My Lord and my God, give me everything that brings me closer to you. My Lord and my God, detach me from myself to give my all to you” (St. Nicholas of Flüe; cf. Mt 5:29-30; 16:24-26).

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