Letting His Light Shine

On the way to church last Thursday, the radio announcer said: “This is Thursday, the day we (Catholics) pray the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary”.  I hadn’t prayed them in a while, so I decided to do so.  At church, as I prayed and fingered the rosary beads, I read along some meditations I had written years ago, and once again felt their depth.

1.       The Baptism in the Jordan
-  Cleanse my heart, O Lord, and I shall be clean.
-  The Spirit descended on God’s Son, and the Father was pleased.
-  Lord, show me Your Light; send me your Spirit.

2.          The Marriage Feast at Cana
-  Jesus was invited to be present; do I invite You into my life, Lord?
-  “Do whatever He tells you,” Mary said.
-  And His disciples believed.
-  Lord, be a light in my darkness.

3.       The Call to Conversion
-  I need to listen.
-  Every person I meet may be You in disguise, calling, needing me, or just loving me. .
-  Lord, prepare my heart.

4.       The Transfiguration
-  He showed us who He really was.
-  And He shone like the sun.  Lord, am I a light in this world?
-  Then the Father spoke: “Listen to Him.”

5.       The Institution of the Eucharist
-  Sometimes, You seem so ordinary; Lord help me to see Your Light,
-  He is my food; He gives me life.
-  “I will be with you always,” He promised.
-  Lord, fill me with Your Light.

As I reflected on these words, it came to me that they were very personal words, prayer, private conversations, His Presence.  I felt His Presence last Sunday, but my reflections then were on earthly matters, God explaining and reminding me of His plan for His people and the world, plans which we often find upsetting --- and so we want to do things our way.  Last Sunday, He explained to me how His plans for each individual life were better, but often not even sought, much less understood.  But Thursday night I think we spoke of a much bigger picture.

The Luminous Mysteries are not focused on the material world, but on the Spiritual world, where He has always existed and so shall we.  We grow up with bodies in a material world, but if we are growing in our relationship with Him, we are beginning to mature in the Spiritual world, where we will never die.  He said to Love God and Love neighbor, but He did not mean just the physical person.  His Spirit, His grace is in everyone.  Loving neighbor is not just that physical being, it is the Spirit of God which exists in each of them, and us.

Sometimes You seem so ordinary; Lord, help me to see Your Light

If I look and see His Light, I will see the beauty of each person which He has put into my life, whether by my plan or His, and I will love them.  And He will be pleased.

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The reflection below lay in my notebook for weeks.  It kinda fits here now:

 

I Am Not Alone

If you hunger for holiness, God will satisfy your longing, good measure, and flowing over.

In various ways, it seems of late I am hearing of the importance of having a personal relationship with God.  Not the God of Sunday worship, or even the One of my daily masses and my nightly visits to the chapel.  Those are focused visits to His house, most often reflecting on His words --- which are very good things, but I mean more.  In John He said to: “Love the Father, and to love your neighbor --- as I do.”  He is not talking about those things for only when I visit His house.  In fact, loving my neighbor is only really accomplished when my neighbor feels that love, which usually means when I am in his presence, perhaps in HIS house.  To love “AS I DO” is putting on the heart and mind of Christ --- which is a mountainous goal, OR, it is talking to Him in any situation and asking: “How should I love here, Lord?”  Based on my personal experiences, when I ask and try to do what I perceive is what He’d want me to do, it is never too difficult.  The key is being humble enough to talk to Him, friend to friend, “What do You think I should do?”  And, if He is our most trusted friend, He’ll be happy with your efforts, and consoling in any shortfalls.  That’s what real friends do.  So, that command to love is best suited by first making Jesus our friend, and then we’ll understand how to love our neighbor a whole lot better.

Making Jesus our friend begins with conversation/prayer, anytime, anywhere.  He’s always with us, and we need to act like He is.  And from these beginnings will come trust:  He REALLY IS always with us.  And with that “sense” of His presence, loving God and neighbor becomes a whole lot easier, because we are not doing it alone.  He’s right there with us.