To Be Upside Down, Get Right Side Up

As a child, I once heard my mother say that she was going to make an upside-down cake. "How?" I asked. "Standing on your head?" Later, when I was more semantically mature, I understood the symbolic use of the phrase "upside down."

Early Christians were accused of having "turned the world upside down" (Acts 17:6 KJV). Christianity continues to have a profound impact on society's value system. Our personal values correspond to the four basic dimensions of human nature:

1. the mind (intellectual and emotional);

2. the physical (bodily features and activities);

3. the spiritual (soul-God relationship);

4. the social (human interdependence).

In all of these four dimensions there is normally a maturation or growth in our four-dimensional value system.

Besides being God, Jesus was human like us in everything but sin (see Hebrews 4:15); hence he grew in those four human dimensions: "in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men" (Lk 2:52). He prioritized the spiritual ("favor with God") dimension, and his early followers imitated that mandated value priority: "Seek first [God's] kingdom and his righteousness" (Mt 6:33). Reversing their own value system they ""turned the world upside down." 

So can we!

This excerpt is from the book One-Minute Meditations for Busy People, by John H. Hampsch, C.M.F., originally published by Servant Publications. It and other of Fr. Hampsch's books and audio/video recordings can be purchased from Claretian Teaching Ministry, 20610 Manhattan Pl, #120, Torrance, CA 90501-1863. Phone 1-310-782-6408 or www.Catholicbooks.net