Jesus

 
I was thinking about all of the gifted people out there working to spread Jesus' Kingdom - of course Pope Benedict and the bishops, priests, and religious; but I was thinking specifically of the incredibly intelligent writers and speakers I enjoy on a regular basis:  Kevin Vost, Peggy Bowes, Kevin Lowry, Jennifer Fulwiler, Devin Rose, Brandon Vogt, Kari Burke, Karen Nolkemper, Mark Shea, Mike Aquilina, Scott Hahn, etc.  These people are so immensely gifted and doing such wonderful things. But truth is, it's Jesus doing it in them.  All of their gifts, talents, and achievements come from Jesus and are exercised by his grace.  Everything I admire in them, as abundant as it seems, is only a fraction of how those qualities exist in Him. "From his fullness we all received, grace upon grace" (Jn.1:16).

That puts me in awe of Jesus.  He is the "power and wisdom of God" (1 Cor.1:24).  Jesus "is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation ... He is before all things, and in him all things hold together ... in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell ... in him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Col.1:15, 19; 2:3).