Always consider the other person as better than yourself.

In a world where it is easy to see what is wrong with another, we can find ourselves in a race to the bottom. We tend to find faults easily and the first thing we notice is what is not right in the life of another. This can cause us to become cynical and coarsened to a reality which is self-destructive not only to our own lives but also the lives of those around us. It can also lead to an attitude which justifies our own faults by saying that at least I am not as bad as them. Yet this is not the life that God intended for us.

Each of us needs to recognise that there are things in our lives which can diminish us and alienate us from the life that God intended. We can be absorbed in the life I want to live at the expense of others. My opinion and way of life become more important than the common good. We can seek to see other people simply as means to an end rather than as an opportunity to join together for a common purpose with a common mind. God calls us to be people who seek to discover what it is to live in God's mercy.

This is why the Gospel says that we have to wrestle with what God is asking of us. This is not an easy yes or a dismissive no. This is about the person we seek to become by discovering what it means to live a life of mercy not sacrifice. This is not just about saying the right thing or even about doing the right thing but rather by becoming a person who is totally open to God's life. This is not by exercising power, seeking prestige or even by seeming to be relevant to our current age rather it is discovering what it is to discover our own poverty that we find how to be merciful and to engage in loving service of another. In Paul's words, "Always consider the other person as better than yourself so that nobody thinks of their own interests first but thinks of other people's interests instead. In your minds, you must be the same as Christ Jesus/