Monday
of the 7th Week of Easter
May 18, 2015 8:30am
I think I have a personal
relationship with Jesus.
I am pretty sure I do, although I
am also pretty sure that the relationship still needs to grow.
Saint Paul in today’s first
reading is telling the people of Ephesus that it is not enough for them to
consider themselves free or forgiven of sin.
That’s not enough.
They need a personal relationship
with Jesus.
I see a number of ingredients
involved in having this.
We need to listen to Jesus and we
first and foremost do that through the Scripture.
We need to listen to the gospels,
to what Jesus says and does, and then meditate on what this means for us.
That is absolutely fundamental.
Then we need to speak.
We need to talk with him in our
own words, within our inner selves.
We need to bring ourselves as we
are, with our struggles, doubts, needs, hopes, strengths, weaknesses,
everything that we are.
Then we need consciously to look
at life, as we approach each situation, with Jesus in mind.
The question, “What would Jesus
do?” is not just for children.
We need to evaluate our words and
actions by the standard of Jesus and allow him to influence all that we do.
And then, besides doing this
alone, personally, individually, we also need to do all of this in the
community of faith, the Church.
And for us, that means here at
Mass, the celebration and reception of the Eucharist.
The sacraments and the guidance
of the Church sustain, nourish, and enrich our personal relationship with
Jesus.
That’s how I see the basics of a
personal relationship with Jesus.
That’s what Saint Paul in today’s
first reading calls us to have.
That’s what Pope Francis today
repeatedly calls us to have.
