Wednesday, May 2, 2012

The Way, the Truth and the Life

The founder of the Jesuits, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, encourages us to find God in all things. For Philip, the Son of God was right in front of him and he did not see that. (John 14: 6-14) We need to take the time to find and to see God in all things. First, we need to see God within ourselves. We have within us always, but especially through the Holy Eucharist, the Divine Presence. For me, that is such a reminder of God within me. Or, in the midst of a chaotic day, with God’s grace, I can find an oasis of peacefulness within me by taking the time to pray, to be quiet, and to listen—most often in front of the Tabernacle or in Adoration.

Jesus is the way.

He showed us His total, unrelenting, sacrificial love. It’s the vocation of a priest to his flock; it’s the vocation of a parent to his child; it is the vocation of all Christians to the world. Our love will transform it.

Jesus is the truth.

He showed us that the greatest power is the power of love. Loving God first means loving each other with everything that is within us. We must pray with the Jewish people the Shema (“Sh’ma”), "Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One," and then add, "Love Him with all of your heart, all of your soul, all of your mind, and all of your strength and love your neighbor as yourself." John reminds us (1 John 4:20), "If a man says, ‘I love God’, and hates his brother, he is a liar: for he that loves not his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?"

Jesus is the Life.

His body brings us life. His blood brings us life. His word brings us life. Without Him nothing that is would be. Jesus is the light of life. In that life we grow and bloom and become. But John (1 John 2:9) also reminds us that this life and this light come with a duty - "Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness." We can’t live the life that Jesus brings us if we harbor a single thought that is not love. Jesus was of a single, simple, unique nature. He was incarnate love, and the life to which He calls us is the life that He showed us. It (HE) is Love.

Saints Philip and James, pray for us.

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"I demand from you deeds of mercy, which are to arise out of love for Me. You are to show mercy to your neighbors always and everywhere. You must not shrink from this or try to excuse or absolve yourself from it.

I am giving you three ways of exercising mercy toward your neighbor:
the first — by deed, the second — by word, the third — by prayer. In these three degrees is contained the fullness of mercy, and it is an unquestionable proof of love for Me. By this means a soul glorifies and pays reverence to My mercy.

Many souls ... are often worried because they do not have the material means with which to carry out an act of mercy. Yet spiritual mercy, which requires neither permissions nor storehouses, is much more meritorious and is within the grasp of every soul.

If a soul does not exercise mercy somehow or other, it will not obtain My mercy on the day of judgment. Oh, if only souls knew how to gather eternal treasure for themselves, they would not be judged, for they would forestall My judgment with their mercy".