Our love for Jesus reveals him to us

CATHOLIC DAILY SCRIPTURE READING

Welcome to my blog. The Catholic Church under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit gives us each day at least two readings from the Bible, plus several verses from a psalm which is an inspired response to one of the readings, normally the first.

There is a cycle (a two-year cycle for weekdays and a three-year cycle for Sundays) which covers the major parts of the Old Testament, the Gospels and the New Testament writings.

Through these readings we get our spiritual nourishment. In my blog I give the readings and the inspirations I have received in prayer. I want to share them with others. If they help some to get in touch with God and his image in this world, Jesus the Christ, then my purpose will be fulfilled. May God bless you through his Spirit.

If we wish to grow spiritually, then we must set aside time each day to prayerfully read the WORD OF GOD. In silence we allow the Holy Spirit to speak to us through the reading. We can respond with the PSALM.

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Thursday 21 May 2020

Our love for Jesus reveals him to us

 Ps 67: 8-9, 20

O God, when you went forth before your people,

marching with them and living among them,

the earth trembled, heavens poured down rain, alleluia.

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Prayer

Father, through the Risen Lord Jesus you have forgiven all our sins, and filled us with the Spirit by which we share in your life and will live for ever in your glory. Make us always grateful for the Lord’s saving Death and Resurrection. We make our prayer through your Son, Jesus our Lord.

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First reading

Acts 18:1-8 ·

Paul lodged with them and worked, and held debates in the synagogues

Then Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. There he became acquainted with a Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently arrived from Italy with his wife, Priscilla. They had left Italy when Claudius Caesar deported all Jews from Rome.  Paul lived and worked with them, for they were tentmakers just as he was.

Each Sabbath found Paul at the synagogue, trying to convince the Jews and Greeks alike.  And after Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul spent all his time preaching the word. He testified to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah.  But when they opposed and insulted him, Paul shook the dust from his clothes and said, “Your blood is upon your own heads—I am innocent. From now on I will go preach to the Gentiles.”

Then he left and went to the home of Titius Justus, a Gentile who worshiped God and lived next door to the synagogue.  Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, and everyone in his household believed in the Lord. Many others in Corinth also heard Paul, became believers, and were baptized. THE WORD OF THE LORD

Prayerful reflection

As we follow the life of Paul in Acts, it is not so much the places he goes to and the work he does that concerns us. It is the love for Jesus that drives him on. It is his passionate love that enables him to overcome any obstacle. He wants everyone to come to know Jesus as he does, to experience his saving love as he has. This passion makes him take every opportunity to tell people about the greatness of Christ. This is to be a true disciple of Jesus.

Are you willing to follow him in this?

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Psalm (Make the psalm your prayer of gratitude for God’s Word).     97(98):1-4

The Lord has shown his salvation to the nations.

Sing a new song to the Lord

for he has worked wonders.

His right hand and his holy arm

have brought salvation.

The Lord has shown his salvation to the nations.

The Lord has made known his salvation;

has shown his justice to the nations.

He has remembered his truth and love

for the house of Israel.

The Lord has shown his salvation to the nations.

All the ends of the earth have seen

the salvation of our God.

Shout to the Lord, all the earth,

ring out your joy.

The Lord has shown his salvation to the nations.

John 16:16-20

You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy

Jesus said to his disciples:

“In a little while you won’t see me anymore. But a little while after that, you will see me again.”

Some of the disciples asked each other, “What does he mean when he says, ‘In a little while you won’t see me, but then you will see me,’ and ‘I am going to the Father’?  And what does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand.”

Jesus realized they wanted to ask him about it, so he said, “Are you asking yourselves what I meant? I said in a little while you won’t see me, but a little while after that you will see me again.  I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn over what is going to happen to me, but the world will rejoice. You will grieve, but your grief will suddenly turn to wonderful joy.  THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD.

Prayerful reflection

The disciples are bewildered. What does Jesus mean by: In a little while you won’t see me anymore. But a little while after that, you will see me again, and, I am going to the Father. They cannot imagine his suffering and death and even less his resurrection. So Jesus explains that they will be overcome with grief at his death but filled with indescribable joy when they see him after his Resurrection. Then they will see him again.

Can we see Jesus now? Not naturally. His body is filled with the fullness of God. “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell”. We cannot see God as he is. Spiritually we can see Jesus. What does this mean? We can have a perfect awareness of his presence so that we can experience his closeness, his strength and his love for us. We then love to be in his presence, particularly in the Blessed Sacrament. Prayer can then be a great joy.

However, there can be reasons why this is not our experience at times. The first  reason may be that in my search for Jesus I am careless, lazy, not really bothered. I may not be wholehearted and passionate in my desire to make Jesus the very centre of my life.  My desire for him is lukewarm. If you don’t show much interest in ‘the person you love’, how can he/she reveal him/herself to you? it’s the same with Jesus.

Secondly, he may allow us to feel great dryness and repugnance to pray to reveal to us that we love not from a pure motive of pleasing him, but for a selfish motive of feeling sweetness, pious, getting some gift etc. The remedy for this is; Lord, I will love you, come to you, pray with all my heart however I feel, whatever repugnance I experience to come to you. You can make me as dry as you like, but I will pray, desire and love you. I will prove it by my fidelity. This attitude will touch the heart of Jesus, as it would touch the heart of any beloved.

Thirdly, a love for Jesus which consumes our heart and our life is a gift from God. We cannot work this up by our own efforts. We need to know this and through a dryness he teaches us this. The remedy: Lord I am in your hands. I will be faithful to you ‘in good times and bad. In sickness and health’ when I ‘feel good’ and when I ‘feel bad’.

Those close to Jesus, for instance, the saints, may experience dryness throughout their life but their love is so pure that they persevere in their life of love for Jesus to the very end. Then he will reveal himself and give them the reward of their love in ‘the eternal embrace’.

How strong is your love for Jesus?

Behold, I am with you always,

even to the end of the age, alleluia. Mt 28: 20

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Prayer

Loving Father, day by day, you nourish us with the bread of the Word. Jesus is your Word and he is our Bread. Through your Word we have come to know Jesus, the Lamb sacrificed and glorified. May we experience the strength that he, the Bread of Life, gives us.

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