We are becoming more aware today of how the attitude we have toward ourselves influences to a large extent our relationship with others.  Whoever views others only negatively, blaming or grumbling about them, almost certainly lives in conflict with his or her own self.  Whoever can accept themselves together with their failures and imperfections has discovered a firm foundation for accepting others without pre-conditions and reservations.  The way we encounter other people makes it clear how we relate to ourselves and how we see ourselves.

Therefore, everything offered this week as exercise material with other people we must first use with ourselves.  That is not a detour, not narcissism and not an offense against the self denial that Jesus demands, but a prerequisite for genuine spiritual experiences in relating to other people.  At the same time the prerequisite for being able "to deny oneself" and to give of oneself lies here.  For we can only give what we truly possess and have at our disposal.  Otherwise we are only relinquishing the grapes that hang beyond our reach as is so graphically portrayed in the well known fable.