Has
Jesus come alive in your heart?
The person
who drinks of the water that I shall give will
never thirst again. John 4:14
Fr. Joe Bill
almost died of a heart attack when he was 46.
Ordered to never preach or climb a stairs for the
rest of his life, he defied all medical
predictions, having been healed at a Charismatic
retreat. For 34 years he toured the world,
holding one retreat after another without a
break. But the biggest miracle was not the
healing of his heart, but rather of his
relationship with Jesus. Before his heart attack
he had been a very active priest for over 20
years, but hadn't really 'met' Jesus. He used to
say "Before my heart attack, I believed in
Jesus, but it was all in my head.
"I
believed in Jesus but I didn't have a living
relationship with Him. I was preaching about
Jesus, yet I didn't really know Him.
"I was doing
all sorts of things for Jesus, serving Him in
whatever way I could, yet didn't really know
Him."
I know what he was talking about. Before my
spiritual experience in 1972, I believed in
Jesus, that He died for us, that He was in the
Sacred Host, and that He answered prayer, but I
had not experienced Jesus as the bread of life. I
had not experienced Him coming alive in my heart.
How about you? Can you say that you really know
Jesus, that He is living in your heart? If
not, are you prepared to do something about it;
to seek Him until you find Him?
You
Shall Receive Power
"You
shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come
upon you, and then you will be my witnesses ....
to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:8
As we approach
Pentecost, it is important to pray and yearn to
become more and more open to the power of the
Holy Spirit. But first one should ask
oneself, "What do I need the power
for?" Clearly it is not so that one
will be able to dance a jig or that one will
become more famous. As I ask myself "What do
I need the power for", the answers I come up
with are:- to be able to witness to Jesus more
effectively; to be able to write in a way that
will touch more lives; to be able to come under
God's anointing when praying with people. Parents
need the power above all as they seek to help
their children open their hearts to Jesus, and as
they seek to grow in love for all their family. But
what about you? What are the three areas
in which you most need Holy Spirit power. Write
them down, and as we prepare for Pentecost, pray
daily to become open to this Holy Spirit power;
this power from on high that goes beyond our
human power. Indeed I pray for it all the year
round. How we need Holy Spirit power as we seek
to lead the younger generations to God!!
Choose Life
"I
have set before you life and death, blessing and
curse; therefore choose life that you and your
descendants may live." Deut 20:30
At the time this
passage was being written, there was little if
any understanding of the afterlife. But they had
discovered that, if one walked with God, it led
to blessings in one's life. Walk with
God, and it leads to blessing and to inner
happiness; walk away from God, and even if it
leads to short term gain, it leads to long term
pain. Every time we have a situation to
face or have a choice to make, we can choose to
be led by what God says or allow ourselves to be
led by what the world says; we can seek to open
our minds and hearts to the light, or we can walk
in darkness; we can act out of love or act out of
selfishness. It is how we respond to all the
little hidden choices each day that mould who we
are, and that determine both the type of person
we become and how we will respond to the bigger
choices later. In every situation that arises, in
every encounter we face, there is a selfish way
of responding and a caring way. So "choose
life that you and your descendants may
live".
Taking On Too Much
"What
you are doing is not good. You and the people who
are with you will wear yourselves out, for the
thing is too heavy for you" Exodus 18: 17
As life moves on,
one builds up the experience and mental capacity
to do extra things even as one's physical energy
decreases. If one is already working at full
capacity, and one then takes on extra
responsibilities, one needs to hand over some of
what one has been doing to someone else. One of
the capacities that one needs to learn in life is
delegation:- training and empowering others to do
some of the work. But it is also important to
carefully select what one delegates. There
are some things that one should do oneself - even
if it means other things being left undone.
A person's priorities can be seen in what they
choose to do themselves and what they choose to
delegate. Yet, as we seek to do as much as
possible, one thing that should not get squeezed
is our time with Jesus. This especially applies
to those of us in any form of Christian ministry.
We cannot bring Jesus to others if we are not
living in close union with Him ourselves.
Our Lady
Calls For Eucharistic Adoration
"Spend
all the more time in prayer and Adoration of
Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the
Altar."
All prayer is
powerful. In the first place it brings us into
contact with God, opens our eternal spirit to
Him. Eucharistic adoration is extra powerful. It
makes Jesus present in our midst. We have the
real presence of Jesus both before us and within
us. It enables us to express our love and
adoration for Him. It also leads to tangible
blessings.
"Spend
all the more time in prayer and Adoration of
Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the
Altar."
Sometimes,
however, not enough help is given to those who
volunteer to spend time in adoration. Some may
have little living relationship with Jesus. They
believe in God, but they have not been helped to
have Him come alive in their hearts. Others may
have little capacity to spend time in prayer.
When new volunteers for adoration are being
recruited, some thought should be put into
helping them in their relationship with Jesus and
in their capacity to pray. Likewise some thought
needs to be given to ongoing formation.
It is a wonderful thing to learn to spend time
with Jesus. It means that you will
always have a Friend with you; that you will
never be alone - and that you will be far less
dependent on other people.
"Spend
all the more time in prayer and Adoration of
Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the
Altar."
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Don't Miss
Don't miss the
May issue of The Curate's Diary. It contains
stories and reflections that will help you come
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