Jesus prayed: "I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you gave me is from you because the words you gave to me I have given to them, and they accepted them and truly understood that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me, because they are yours, and everything of yours is mine, and I have been glorified in them. And now I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, while I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are. When I was with them I protected them in your name that you gave me, and I guarded them, and none of them was lost except the son of destruction, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you. I speak this in the world so that they may share my joy completely.

Easy-going Guido Orefice of the movie “Life Is Beautiful” enjoyed a happy attitude about life that few people would be able to match. Put to the test in a most severe way, however, he had to accept an evil into his life that defied human reason, the evil the world knows as “The Holocaust.” But he met it with the same attitude that he had developed throughout his life, an attitude of real joy. Guido felt that it was not only the attitude that he had to develop for himself; he knew that it was the attitude that could save his son. 

If people want to know the real personality of Jesus Christ, they should study what has been called Jesus’ last discourse in John’s Gospel. The person of Jesus can especially be defined by Jesus’ so-called "High Priestly Prayer." During the Last Supper, Jesus prayed for his disciples, those who had been with him during his public ministry, praying that they would be one with him and his Father, asking his Father to give them what his Father had given him. In effect, he was praying that his disciples receive his "attitude of living," what can be called the "attitude of Jesus."
 
Guido Orefice’s attitude on life was truly the "attitude of Jesus," even though religion is not portrayed in the movie. Every Christian is called to the same attitude. Strengthened by it, Christians should be able to understand the inevitable pain and confusion that are part of our complicated world. In fact, for the Christian, the attitude of Jesus is the only way to make sense of this world as we know it.                      

THOUGHT
 
PRAYER

Good and gracious God, Your Son as God became part of this world, and told us how to act in a "God-ly" way. Help us to learn this "attitude of Jesus" and to make it part of how we live. Be with us, we pray.

Questions, comments? Let me know. Email Fr. Mike

©2007 Capuchin Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America