I'm Your Man

How does one describe the attitude of someone oriented to others?
According to Gabriel Marcel, it is that of availability, disponibilite in French.

As against an egoistic desire, or fascination, "what I consider the basic characteristic of the person . . . [is] an aptitude to give oneself to anything which offers, and to bind oneself by the gift. Again, it means to transform circumstances into opportunities, we might even say favors, thus participating in the shaping of our own destiny and marking it with our seal." Homo Viator, p.23 "The Ego and its Relation to Others." See also Stanford Encyl. Philos. article.

I've always thought it important to accept invitations, and to extend them. Our ability to do this, to accept and extend an open hand, is a measure of our availability. The invitation is not always pleasant. As the founder of "40 Days For Life" in a speech I heard told his story of his growing involvement in the pro-life movement, his constant refrain was "I didn't want to do it" but "I did it anyway." Answering the call, accepting the invitation, is often hard.

How available are we? I think of Leonard Cohen's song, "I'm Your Man". A man, in love, says to his love, I will be whatever you want me to be, love you how you want me to love you, because all I want is to love you, to do your will. I come to do your will. Availability is humble, self-less. It doesn't pose but is disposed, doesn't except but accepts.

John Paul II at the Catholic University during one of his visits to the U.S. was confronted by some unhappy nuns who felt women "should be included in all the ministries of the Church" (including presumably the priesthood). The pope reminded the sisters of their relationship to Christ.

"Yet far more important than your love for Christ is Christ's love for you. You have been called by him, made a member of his Body, consecrated in a life of the evangelical counsels, and destined by him to have a share in the mission that Christ has entrusted to the Church: his own mission of salvation. . .

"Your service in the Church is, then, an extension of Christ, to whom you have dedicated your life . . . . And so your life must be characterized by a complete availability; a readiness to serve as the needs of the Church require, a readiness to give public witness to the Church whom you love. . . ." From Witness to Hope, p. 353.

One of John Paul II's core beliefs came from Gaudium et Spes, section 24: "Jesus, when he prayed to the Father 'that all may be one . . . as we are one' (Jn. 17:21-22) opened up vistas closed to human reason. For He implied a certain likeness between the union of the divine Persons, and in the union of God's sons in truth and charity. This likeness reveals that man, who is the only creature on earth which God willed for itself, cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself."

Open hands . . . the posture of Mary, of Mary's Son; it is ours . . . in communion.

Listen to Leonard Cohen's, "I'm Your Man"

Some other Leonard Cohen songs:

Listen to Leonard Cohen's, "Dance Me to the End of Love"

Listen to Leonard Cohen's, "If it Be Your Will"

Listen to Leonard Cohen's, "By the Rivers Dark"

Listen to Leonard Cohen's, "Hallelujah"

Listen to Leonard Cohen's "The Story of Isaac"

Listen to Leonard Cohen's "In My Secret Life"

Listen to Leonard Cohen's "Love Itself"

Listen to Leonard Cohen's "There Ain't No Cure For Love"

Listen to Leonard Cohen's "Here It Is"

Listen to Leonard Cohen's "The Future"

Listen to Leonard Cohen's "Everybody Knows"