7Jan/120
Reciprocity – Christian Style
I remember when I first started "theological" studies during my undergrad at St. Michael's College, I was struck by a poster in one of the school's conference rooms. It was a collection of "reciprocity" sayings in various religions and cultures. I was interested to see that while all of these basically said the same thing (revealing the universalist purpose of the poster), Christianity still stood out in a major way. While all the others were written in the negative (don't do what you don't want done to yourself), Christianity was firmly positive: "Whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them" (Mt. 7:12). This is the true nature of love in Christianity, which considers sacrificial living to be the standard.