Jesus’ Cure for Worry

 

My first thought is that Jesus isn’t being very fair to Martha. Jesus is a guest in the home of two sisters, Mary and Martha. While Mary sits at Jesus’ feet, Martha is busy doing all the work. For goodness sake, somebody needs to serve the food and refresh the drinks, especially when that guest is Jesus! Martha is running around like a chicken without a head worried about a thousand little details. In her frustration she blurts out, “Jesus, tell her to help me.”

Much to my chagrin Jesus tells Martha that Mary has “chosen the better part.” I think it’s important to note that Jesus didn’t say that Martha was wrong and Mary was right – only that Mary has chosen the better part -- being close to him.

I’ve been in Martha’s shoes more times than I can count. I confess! I want to be Martha Stewart making everything perfect, beautiful, and delicious. When guests are coming over I cook up a storm always afraid I’m not going to have enough; then I have a week’s worth of leftovers. It’s important to me to have the food served piping hot which makes those 20 minutes right before the dinner is ready absolutely frantic. I stay vigilant during the meal making sure to offer second helpings, keep the bread basket full, and open another bottle of wine. I strategize about the right time to clear the dishes and serve the coffee – regular or decaf – Americano or espresso – don’t forget about the tea drinkers. Thankfully, everybody’s having a great time, talking, laughing, and eating. But I have not chosen the better part – being close to my guests.

Jesus’ words to Martha were “… you are anxious and upset about many things.”  What about you, do you worry? Do you worry about your health, your children, your job, your finances, and what people think of you? Too often my past worries me; my present fills me with doubts, and my future fills me with uncertainty? I am a huge fan of TV series, The Walking Dead. I preface all my responses with, “If the Apocalypse doesn’t happen – then we can …..” The crazy thing is that I mean it!  If a week passes without a problem, then I start getting anxious wondering when the next shoe is going to drop.

Anxiety and worry are some of the most destructive and pernicious forces we can face. It grips us and holds us captive. How many times do I think that something awful is going to happen, and when the time comes, all is well? I’m worn out and exhausted from all the worrying. In my insanity, I persuade myself that it was actually my worrying that prevented the incident. In a warped sense, I become “god” in the situation. I’m relying on my own machinations rather than God’s promises.  Anxiety and worry rob me from experiencing God’s peace in the present moment. 

There are about 50 Scripture verses on worry.  “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.” How can we not be slaves to worry? St. Paul tells us that whatever we’re worried about; we should tell God about it. Stop trying to control it or figure it out on our own. Then follow it with a prayer of thanks for God’s blessings in our life.  Think about people we love, comforts of home, and simple pleasures. I came across a blog about 50 Little Things That Make Life Happy – singing, perfectly popped bag of popcorn, a bath, finding money in your pocket you forgot about, having just enough milk for a bowl of cereal, taking the first sip of your favorite drink, whenever Peanuts characters dance….. What little things make you happy?

With a heart of gratitude, God makes us a wonderful promise – the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your heart and mind. (Phil 4:7)  Our worries, anxieties, and fears are replaced with tranquility. Nothing in the past, nothing in the future, nothing in the present – no financial burden, family crisis, job sickness, or illness – nothing in this world can separate us from the love of God.

 

What is worrying you today? As we journey through the Lenten desert, we can ask Jesus for his help to surrender our fears, anxieties, and doubts. Even when we can't see how everything is going to turn out, we can trust that Jesus will love us through it. Instead of being God ourselves, we can let God be God. Now we are free to choose the better part of being close to Jesus.

 

“Jesus, I trust in You.”

 

Journal with Jesus 

 

Jesus says, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.”

 

What about you?  What are you anxious and worried about?  What prevents you from choosing the better part?

 

In what circumstances and events of my life have I felt taken care of by God?

What Will You “Give Up” This Lent?

Lent is a Catholic institution. Regardless of how religious we are, when Lent comes around, we make plans to “give something up.” As a little girl my cousins and I compared notes as to what we were giving up. Pizza, soda, and TV got lots of oooos and aaahs! My parents didn’t fast from meat only on Ash Wednesday but on every Wednesday (and Friday) for the whole six weeks. Who likes fish as a kid? It wasn’t Gordon’s fish sticks. It was a whole fish staring up at you! Dare I forget the fish soup made with fish heads? An eyeball was sure to bobble up and down in my bowl.

Sacrifice, like the song Tradition on Fiddler on the Roof, was pounded into my head by the Sisters at Sts. Simon and Jude school. Sacrifice! If it didn’t hurt, it didn’t count!  Now I’m all grown up and I can do what I want. But I still keep Lent. For most of my adult life, I kept Lent for all the wrong reasons – out of good Catholic guilt. Typically I gave up all sweets – for God – ummm – no; to lose weight. On Easter morning I’d stuff marshmallow chicks and jelly beans in my mouth.

Now, I actually look forward to Lent. Lent gives me time to step back from the busyness of my life, put down my toys (computer, iPhone, and TV remote) to search my heart and see what is there. Who have I become? Where am I headed?  Am I concerned with my status in the world? Am I anxious, resentful, bitter, or unforgiving? Are my eyes fixed on Jesus? Do I desire God above all things? 

The question, “What will I give up this Lent?” lets me know the stuff I’m really attached to – perhaps too much so.  When I think, “Oh, I can’t give up that,” then I know that’s exactly it. I used to believe that the purpose of “doing penance” was my punishment for failing God. It was a way to win back God’s love or earn heaven. Now I understand that whether I fast by giving something up, add more minutes to my prayer time, or increase my charitable giving, its purpose is to draw me closer to the love of God, my father. My sacrifices allow God’s grace to work within and through me to strengthen, heal, and transform me into a whole, free, and loving person.

The dread I once felt about Lent is replaced with excitement. I don’t go alone into the desert to face my temptations. Just as the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the desert after his baptism, the Spirit accompanies me there too. I’ve always wondered why the Spirit led Jesus into the desert. It’s not as though he wasn’t living in perfect communion with the Father. After 40 days without food, the devil takes full advantage of Jesus’ weakened state and tempts him three times. Jesus is victorious! His time in the desert served to strengthen Jesus to fulfill his mission. Jesus begins to preach repentance, announce the coming reign of God, and ultimately redeems the world by suffering, dying and rising to new life.

Out of love, Jesus joins us in our desert to make the desert a holy place. The suffering we experience by rooting out all that binds us is joined to the suffering Jesus endured in the desert so that in the end we will be transformed from wounded people into free, loving, and extraordinary people. After 40 days in the desert, our fasting, prayers, and humble service strengthens us to fulfill our mission of discipleship. We have let the love of God flow through us untying the bandages that keep us distant from God.

What can we possess that will bring us more happiness and peace than we could ever imagine? We can possess a friendship with God. One of the unique truths of the Christian faith is that we can know God as a personal being and not as a force field or karma. God offers his heart, his mind, his time, his power to dwell within us.  We call this grace. Lent is a season when God pours down abundant graces. Every Lent brings a new resurrection when we are open to the new life of God Himself coming to dwell in us.

Lent is a time for new beginnings.

Journaling with Jesus

What is keeping me from being close to Jesus?  Ask Jesus for His healing touch to free you from the bondage of these wounds.

Is Jesus my life’s companion? Do I see his loving hand in the events of my life? When have I experienced spiritual comfort in the midst of my sufferings?

 

 

 

What New Year Resolutions Would Be Pleasing to God?

My sons, home from college, are having breakfast. (It’s past noon!)  I attempt to start a conversation: “Have you made any New Year’s resolutions?”  After hems and haws and sideway glances, they deflect, “Mom, what are your resolutions?” Now it’s my turn to deflect, “Can I get you more pancakes?”

The question haunts me. I didn’t make any. Perhaps because I know most of my resolutions would be abandoned by the first week of February. Plus, this time of year most of my resolutions would focus on a Dr. Phil self-improvement plan. I wonder what resolutions would please God.

After Jesus is baptized in the River Jordan and anointed in the Spirit, he announces that the Kingdom of God is close at hand, calling us to repent and believe in the gospel. This proclamation is a blueprint for holy living because we live between the times when the Kingdom of God is at hand, but not yet come. We are a people with citizenship both of the earthly and heavenly kingdoms. This dual citizenship brings with it a dual mission: to keep our gaze fixed on the heavenly Jerusalem (the kingdom not of this world) while at the same time build up the Kingdom so that peace and justice might reign here and now. Jesus calls us to continue his mission on earth – to catch people for the Kingdom of God -- by evangelizing Christ in all dimensions of our culture: social and political promoting the common good.

Has God read any of the recent headlines?!  Nearly 49 million Americans struggle to put food on the table; 2014 saw the worst persecution of Christians in the modern era; 1.05 million abortions in the US; 42 million abortions worldwide. Global terrorism rose 43% in 2013. 57% of Americans say race relations in U.S. are bad. I’m convinced that NO amount of my involvement can ever put a dent in the world’s chaos. I would need to be a Marvel superhero to lead the lions to lie down with the lambs.

God is not having any of my excuses. If I look at the history of our faith, I discover that God uses ordinary people with all of their imperfections in extraordinary ways to accomplish his work on earth. Moses was a reluctant shepherd when he led the Israelites out of captivity. David, a shepherd boy armed with only a stick and a few stones, confronted a nine-foot giant, Goliath and went on to become the greatest king of Israel. Rahab, a woman of questionable reputation, helped two Israelite spies by hiding them on her roof when the king came for them. Peter, a smelly fisherman who denied Jesus three times, became the first pope. St. Paul, a persecutor of Christians, evangelized Christ to the first-century world.

God entrusts us with gifts and talents and provides sufficient grace to use them to build up the Kingdom. The parable of the talents (Matt 25:14-30) shows that only when we have an attitude of indifference or that it’s not worth trying do we see God angry. We catch people with the good news of peace, hope, and salvation not by thinking we have nothing to offer but by allowing God to work in and through us for his glory.

What can I resolve to do to make the light of Christ shine in the world today? In the first Hobbit film, Tolkein offers us guidance in Gadalf's soliloquy to Galadriel: "Saruman believes it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love.”  

Please take a moment to view this video to see concretely how small acts of kindness build a community of love and mercy. As we love one another, bear one another’s burdens, help those in hunger and need, forgive one another, when we are humble of heart, open to God and serving our neighbor, then the Kingdom of God is at hand. As members of the body of believers, the Mystical Body of Christ, we continue the saving presence of Jesus as we share the gospel, teach the faith, offer forgiveness and reconciliation, and extend our hand in works of mercy. Our witness to the joy of the gospel becomes contagious.

Today I resolve to Get in the Game!

 

Journaling with Jesus

Do I seek to serve God with the gifts, talents and graces he has given me?

Do I trust in God's grace to make good use of the gifts and talents he has given me?

Do I witness the joy of the Gospel to my family, neighbors, and coworkers?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mission Impossible: Pause & Pray at Advent

Advent is a time to pause, pray, and anticipate the coming of the Lord. Screeeech! Did you just say, “Pause!” You’re kidding right?! This is the busiest time of the year! There are lights to hang, trees to decorate, presents to buy, cookies to bake, cards to mail, parties to plan, and gifts to wrap! Let’s make a deal. Once I get the shopping done, bake those cookies, and go to that Christmas office party, I’ll pause and pray. Who am I fooling? I’ll be too exhausted to pray. I need to prepare my heart for Jesus; and like the innkeepers, I might say to Joseph and Mary who came looking for place to rest, “I’m sorry but there’s no room in the “inn” of my life for Jesus right now.” 

How can we experience a prayerful Advent without the day’s hectic schedule overwhelming us? We look to our spiritual mother Mary to catch a glimpse of her life of prayerful contemplation. In Luke’s Gospel, Mary gives birth to Jesus and upon seeing the shepherds praising the baby Jesus, "Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart” (2:19). Mary finds Jesus at the age of twelve in the temple after being lost for three days, Luke tells us “Mary treasured all these things in heart” (2:51). Imagine Mary’s anxiety finding herself after a long journey to Bethlehem in labor and without lodging to give birth. Mary is interrupted by shepherds glorifying the newborn Jesus. This doesn’t sound like a situation that lends itself to contemplation. Yet Mary kept these in her heart reflecting on all God was trying to reveal to her.   

Like Mary, we need approach life as a contemplative seeking to understand all that God reveals to us in our everyday busy and stressful lives. We don’t need to join a monastery or a cloister to practice contemplation. A contemplative is a person who is attentive and watchful, an observer of details, and a good listener. A contemplative trusts that God is present and involved in every circumstance. A contemplative believes in all that is seen and unseen approaching life as a mystery. Mystery is defined not as a thrilling novel with a surprise ending; rather, mystery is about a plan that God is working through the course of everyday human events to bring us back to union with Him. Mystery is looking out at the world with eyes of faith discerning how God is acting in a particular situation to bring healing and wholeness.

During Advent, we seek to understand one of the greatest mysteries of faith – The Incarnation. God our Father who loved us so much sent his only son to be Emmanuel -- “God with us.” Jesus as fully God, but also as fully man walked the roads of Palestine and could be seen, touched, and heard. After his death and resurrection, Jesus ascended physically to heaven.

Is the Incarnation a 33 year experiment with Jesus no longer being physically with us? God is still here, in the flesh, in the Body of Christ!  Scripture uses the expression to mean the “body of believers” through which God still can be physically seen, touched, smelled, heard, and tasted explains Fr. Rolheiser. As members of the body of believers, you and I become Christ’s presence in the world by using our hands to bless people, our feet to do good, and our eyes to look out with compassion prays St. Teresa of Avila.

God is constantly touching our hearts through the people we meet and the struggles we live. Have you ever felt lonely; then a friend drops by to lend a listening ear. Is that God consoling you? Are you sick and praying for healing; a family member drives you weekly to physical therapy sessions? Is that God answering your prayer? Has God showered you with his tender loving care before you knew that is what you needed? God blessed me in this way in August.

My boys were headed to college. NO! I’m not ready to be an empty nester. Who am I, if not a mom? Quietly drowning in my misery (well maybe not so quietly), I accepted my cousin’s invitation for a girls’ beach week at Emerald Isle that fortuitously began on the same day I dropped my sons off to college. I was hesitant about going, because past family beach trips ended with my needing a vacation from the vacation. One husband, two sons, and three buddies all with their eyes fixed on me wondering where was the toilet tissue, towels, cups, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. “Mom, there are no more snacks!  Would you buy soda too?” I was the self-appointed lifeguard with a whistle between my lips annoying the heck out of my husband and the sunbathers nearby.

Driving straight from the dorms to the beach, the ladies welcomed me with smiles and hugs. The house was fully stocked, and dinner was just about ready! We gathered around the table laughing until we cried. As I stood up to clear the dishes, the ladies said, “Sit! Nina, sit!” I woke up early the next morning to brew a pot of coffee only to discover to my delight that it had already been made! I grabbed my beach chair and sat for hours by the water’s edge wondering just as in Zac Brown’s song when the tide was going to meet my chair. Back at the house, the ladies prepared dinner. During my three-day stay, these amazing women ministered to my body and soul. Surprisingly too each son phoned me (not text, mind you) to have a long conversation about a pressing issue.  

I pondered all these things in my heart trying to understand all that God was doing at the beach? What was God trying to tell me? It’s not a coincidence that the beach rental coincided with the date my sons checked into the dorms. God planned this “intervention” a year in advance knowing that if I returned from the dorms to an empty nest, I would self-combust. God placed me under the tender loving care of the Body of Christ. I felt God’s embrace through the loving actions of these merciful women. I also received the answer to my question: Who am I now? Remember my sons phoned me. God showed me that whether I live under the same roof with my sons or we are miles apart, I am always mom.

This Advent become a contemplative. Ponder what God is doing in the present circumstance. Consider the words people are saying with what they might really been saying. Think about what is happening with what might really be happening. We experience God's loving presence by touching the Body of Christ. Our challenge is to stay alert to God acting in our real, everyday lives. Day by day we see God's hand in all things. Now we can shop, play Trivial Pursuit, eat fruit cake, exchange presents, go caroling, comfort the lonely, and pray knowing that God is Emmanuel; God is with us in the midst of life, through it all, wherever we are. 

Journaling with Jesus

Who are the people in my life who have shown me the face of God?

What fears, worries, struggles, and doubts do I need to hand over to God who is always with me?

Which Saint Protects You?

In the world of social media, we hear about a YouTube video or Facebook post gone “viral.” One caught my attention:  Which Saint Did You Get?  A reader completes an online survey to learn which saint is their protector. I marveled at how often this post was shared and then to learn about the different saints protecting my friends. Saint Anthony, patron saint of lost articles, is my protector – my hero. 

Several summers ago, my sister-in-law came for a visit with her two young nephews ages five and eight years old. They had a rough start in life with little to no religious upbringing. The little five-year old was curious about the religious statues and pictures of Jesus, Mary, and the saints in my home. One day into the visit, he came running and crying that he had lost his treasured matchbox car. “Let’s send up a pray to St. Anthony to help find your car,” I said. I took the little boy’s hands in mine and prayed:

St. Anthony, St. Anthony
Please come down
Something is lost
And can't be found

Dear St. Anthony, I pray

Bring it back without delay.

“This isn’t magic,” I explained; “We have to have hope and faith.” As he went off to play, I quickly added a postscript to the prayer! “Please St. Anthony I need you now more than ever. Please help us find this toy? It would go a long way to show this boy that God exists and hears our prayers.” Soon after starting my search, I found it!  Trust me; given where the toy was wedged, without St. Anthony’s help, it would have stayed lost. I cannot begin to describe the joy on the boy’s face when I opened his hand and placed the car in his palm. This little boy became attached to my hip wanting to know more about Jesus and the saints. I sent him home with prayer cards, rosary beads, saint storybooks and all sorts of religious articles you receive in the mail. Though I haven’t seen this little boy since, I am certain that the seeds of faith were planted that day. Maybe one day he will be dunked in the waters of baptism. He’s got St. Anthony protecting him!

In every human heart God has planted a hunger, a longing for Him (CCC 27). This yearning prompts us to seek God. We are hotwired to search for God!  People are spiritually seeking scanning the horizon for what might be. Fr. Robert Barron tells us to capture the hearts of people we need to:  “Lead with the beautiful.”  Seekers will come, and they will stay if we lead with the beautiful. We “lead with the beautiful” by telling stories of God’s work in our own lives. People are looking for something that connects with their everyday life — stories of answered prayer, how God helped through a difficult situation, or how God sent a “sign” affirming you. When we tell those stories in natural, easy ways, people will remember them. Your story is tucked away in a person’s memory giving them the time to process who Jesus is, what he’s done and the difference he makes. Once we share our story, we can relax because we trust that the Holy Spirit will work in the hearts of those hearing the message.

In less than two weeks, the Church will celebrate the feast of All Saints Day. This feast give us an opportunity to recall the great saints of the Church like St. Monica, St. Francis, and St. Jude. It’s also a time to remember our own saints, friends, and family members who have gone before us, who never made the headlines. They lived quiet, holy lives in our neighborhoods and parishes blessing us with their kindness and generosity. Now, we can go to them and ask for their intercession and help, because death cannot separate us from Christ or from one another (Romans 8:38).

May I share one more story…… A woman inquired about the RCIA. She let me know that her husband died a year ago. Though her husband was raised Catholic, he didn’t practice his faith during their marriage. When he was near death, he asked to be reconciled with the Church. A priest came to his bedside, heard his confession, and visited him until the time of his death. After coming back to the Church, her husband’s anxiety left him and was replaced with a sense of peace. Now that he was gone, she felt terribly lonely and sad. A letter arrived on All Saints Day. Inside was a note signed by all the 6th grade students at St. Michael School explaining that during the month of November they would be praying everyday for her husband (and all parishioners who died this past year). She cried tears of gratitude for God’s providential love. It was then that she decided to seek initiation into the Church. A week before the Easter Vigil, she visited this 6^th grade class and shared her story with them. 

Lead with the beautiful!

 

 

Journaling Questions

 

Recall an experience from your life in which you sought a saint’s intercession.  What effect did it have on you? What were your feelings, concerns, questions, and delights?  If you were to tell this story, what would you say?

Remember the saints you have known personally?  How did they inspire you?

How do the saints help you to know God better?

 

 

 

Listen to God's Heartbeat In Prayer

"How's your prayer life?" I remember being asked. I looked at my friend in surprise and asked, "Are you talking to me?" I knew she was, but I was stalling for time, because I didn't pray. "I volunteer at the church. Isn't that prayer enough?" She persisted, "That restlessness you've been moaning about is because you have no prayer life!" "Yeah, right!" I said dripping in sarcasm. Still, my restlessness got worse! Better reconsider and give this praying thing a chance, I thought. It can't get any worse.
 

"How do I pray?" I asked. My friend suggested I start by setting a place aside in my home - a prayer space -- where I would pray. My translation - It's time to go shopping for a prayer table! Walmart had a great little side table and pretty tablecloth. The local Catholic bookstore had a beautiful standing crucifix and a print of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. At Marshalls I found the perfect frame for my Gethsemane print. From the corner of my eye, I saw a beautiful crystal bowl that I could use as a prayer bowl - dropping in the names of the people who asked for prayers. I arranged the prayer table in the corner of my bedroom. I set a chair beside it and re-upholstered its seat cushion to match the new tablecloth. Perfect!

One morning, my husband sitting on the edge of the bed putting on his socks and shoes, shook and shook the bed while I was trying to sleep. "Can't you sit on the chair to put on your shoes?" I snapped. He looked over to the chair by the prayer table, then looked back at me, and said, "That place is too holy to sit at!" Truth be told, it had been six months since I arranged the space and I had yet to sit there myself!
 

Why is it so hard to pray? Yes, life is busy -- hurried, pressured, and distracted -- days begin and end without one thought of God. Truly, that's not the whole story. Dare I say it - sometimes praying is boring. It's not that I don't want to pray, but other things peak my interest. I'm checking e-emails and Facebook, texting my friends, and watching the news all before I eat breakfast! I drive listening to the radio, talking on the cell phone, and planning my day's to-do list. I get home and turn on the television again, catch up with my husband, and power down by watching Netflix. The spiritual writer Henri Nouwen said it best, "I want to pray, but I also don't want to miss out on anything - television, movies, socializing with friends, drinking in the world."
 

The restlessness continues and nothing satisfies deeply. God places in every heart the desire to seek him. We ache for God. The wonder of prayer is that it is God who speaks first calling each person to this mysterious encounter with Himself. (CCC 2591) "Prayer has a single aim: to draw us and our loved ones into deeper intimacy with Christ; it is prayer that opens us up ... that we hear God say to us, 'I love you.' For only that can make us whole," explains Fr.Ronald Rolheiser.  

Prayer is truly a discipline. St. Teresa of Avila advises to persevere in the struggle:  "We must have a determination to never give up prayer."  The devil will do all he can to trick us into believing that we are wasting our time in prayer and that there are many more noble and worthy pursuits that should override prayer." Park Avenue advertising tells us, "Why do something if your heart isn't in it?" Prayer has an ebb and flow. At times our hearts are burning and sometimes our emotions flat line. The lesson from all the great mystics is that you show up for prayer and you show up regularly regardless of how you feel today. Fidelity to prayer reveals our abiding commitment to friendship and intimacy with Christ despite feelings and mood to the contrary. 

At the Last Supper the Gospel writer, John, depicts the Beloved Disciple as resting on the breast of Jesus, hearing Jesus' heartbeat. This image is an icon of intimacy and oneness describes Fr. Rolhesier: "When our ear is pressed to God's heart - to the breast of all that is good, true, and beautiful - we hear a certain heartbeat and we remember..... at a place beyond thought, that we were once gently kissed by God." Here then is our deepest longest. To feel that kiss again, to hear God's heartbeat, we need prayer.
 

P.S. I eventually sat in the chair. With practice and perseverance, in the ebb and flow of my seasons of prayer, I can hear God's heartbeat.

 

Journaling with Jesus

 

What restlessness in your life has kept you from hearing God's heartbeat?

What do you need to do to quiet yourself to experience God's presence in prayer?

 

  

Resting in God's Presence

by Fr. Rolheiser, Prayer: Our Deepest Longing
 
Choose a place where you can sit quietly, comfortably for 15 minutes or more. If I will help you relax, set a timer so you will know when it is time to end your prayer.

Read a short passage of Scripture or some other spiritual reading, then put the reading aside.

 
Close your eyes or focus your gaze on a candle flame, a beautiful icon, or a peaceful image.  Imagine yourself in the presence of God, a God who yearns to be close to you. Some people find it helpful to silently repeat a simple word or phrase: “Jesus.” “Blessed be God.” “Hosanna” “Lord, have mercy.”

 

If you begin to feel anxious or to worry that you are not “doing it right,” remember the words of a holy peasant who, when asked to share his secret to deep prayer, said simply, “I just look at God, and I let God look at me.” Anyone who has ever been in love will know the power of those words. It is enough to be relaxed and quiet in the presence of God, ready to receive and to return God’s loving glance.

 

 

 

Practice the Presence of God

Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus? I’m asked this question rather often? I don’t know how to answer, because I really don’t understand the question. I believe that Jesus is God, my Lord, and my Savior. I follow the precepts of the Church; live a sacramental life, even though I fall short too many times. I pray, but not as often or as fervently as I should. I continue to wonder, "Do I have a personal relationship with Jesus?"

My sense is that "a personal relationship with Jesus" is about experiencing some kind of dramatic emotional experience, a bolt of lightning that causes a sudden surge of faith like St. Paul on the road to Damascus. I have always believed in Jesus, being born into a Catholic home and raised in the Church. Knowing that Jesus is one with God the Father, my relationship with Jesus was based upon my image of God; and God was a police officer enforcing the laws. I didn’t want God to show up, because it would be like seeing blue lights in my rear view mirror. BUSTED! I went to Mass, prayed, and helped my neighbor out of fear that if I didn’t God would become angry, punish me or worse yet send me to Hell.

Then one day something happened. "Mommy, look at me!" shouted my son as he leaped for the monkey bars. He missed and came crashing down with the weight of his body falling on his arm breaking it. Surgery and an overnight stay at the hospital left us both traumatized. A week later I sat at Mass reliving the accident over and over in my head feeling powerless, scared, and exhausted. Then I heard the choir singing, "Be not afraid, I go before you always, come follow me and I will you rest." Immediately I knew God was speaking to me. God knew my suffering; he wasn’t blaming me; he was comforting me.

My eyes opened and my image of God changed. God wasn’t in heaven pointing a radar gun trying to catch me in wrongdoing. He was down in the trenches with me ministering to my needs. Now I see God as a loving Father; Jesus as my friend. I speak to him when I am worried or carefree, afraid or confident, miserable or happy. My personal relationship with Jesus is more than a rush of good feelings; rather it’s a commitment to connect my heart and mind to his. I listen for the promptings of the Holy Spirit that may come from the outside through the people I meet, the work I do, and the nature I see. Sometimes the Spirit speaks to me from within inspiring me to conform my life to Christ. In all things I ask, "Where is God in this? What is God calling me to? How will I respond?"

God calls each of us into an intimate relationship asking us to do all things with Him. He

wants us to be aware of his presence as we make our way in the world. For this reason, God became man. When we look upon the face of Jesus, we look upon the face of God and experience God’s compassion, forgiveness, and mercy.

We tend to complicate matters by inventing rules and methods to remind ourselves to live in the presence of God. Yet it might be so simple tells us Brother Lawrence: "Is it not quicker and easier just to do our common business wholly for the love of him? The time of business does not with me differ from the time of prayer; and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things; I possess God in as great tranquility." We become fully who God created us to be when we listen, talk, and walk continuously with God throughout our day.

There is no corner that God is not present, there no activity in which God is uninterested, and there is no inappropriate time to talk with God that he is not listening. When we love one

another, forgive one another, bear one another’s burdens; when we work to build up a just and peaceful community, we experience God’s presence in the common events of everyday life. As we learn to gradually live in God’s presence, we know God more intimately as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Day-by-day we see God’s hand in all of things and hear his voice speak to us in the silence of our hearts and minds.

God is very close to us now. We begin to think of Him, turn to him, and to love him. We never walk alone again. With confidence we answer, "Yes! I have a personal relationship with Jesus."

Journaling with Jesus

When you hear the question, "Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus?" what thoughts, emotions, ideas, or images does it evoke for you?

Do you see your own life as an ongoing journey or pilgrimage? How are you growing in your relationship with Christ?

Are you aware of the guidance of the Holy Spirit on that journey?

How can you always be with God? How can you carry on a loving conversation with God?