Scripture:
Reflection:
Each day this week, our Liturgy has opened with this prayer: “Father, your love for us surpasses all our hopes and desires!” I really did not pay attention to what I was praying until I was working on this meditation. I just sat and thought about that.
From the words of Jesus we hear today, I offer a brief meditation on hearing the Word of God and observing it. In other words, doing something, today, with that Word which comes from God. And making this our deliberate intention.
First, it is a matter of accepting a belief that takes us beyond our control (another way of describing pure faith). It is the belief that Jesus Christ has taken flesh in us through our Baptism. “Give me your body. Let me join myself to you to continue my human presence, my human ministry on earth in partnership with you.”
I have to work daily in some conscious way (a habit) to remind myself that Jesus Himself is speaking to me through this Word that I am pondering. I have to believe in his human presence in order to recognize and experience Him in my interactions with others. I have to realize that beyond coincidence, luck, or accidents, there is a reason in God’s providence for what is happening to me, through me, or in spite of me!
That is the “good news.” Because God took flesh in Jesus and became a human being in our midst, we can still encounter Him and deal with Him humanly each day.
Secondly, I have to make a positive intention to deal humanly with Jesus ourselves. We have to spend time with Him the way we do with our friends, think about his words as we think about the word of anyone who is important to us. (We do pay attention to them, don’t we?) And, do concrete, physical things to show Him our love. That is, treat Jesus like a human being.
Yes, Jesus Christ has actually taken flesh in each one of us today. Take time each day in reflective prayer to see how the smallest, seemingly insignificant occurrence comes to us, compliments of Christ in our life.
Father, your love for us surpasses all our hopes and desires!
Fr. Alex Steinmiller, C.P., is a member of the Passionist Community in Detroit, Michigan.
