Monday March 26, 2007

Monday of the Fifth Week of Lent
March 26, 2007
Mary said, “Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.”
Luke 1:38
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As a priest I think the most important thing I can do for those whom I lead is to teach them how to pray. I have a quote, “Know prayer, know Jesus. No Prayer, no Jesus.” I just want everyone to come to know Jesus who is the deepest longing of every human heart. That is why I pray and pray and pray. I tell my people that I do not want to give them the sinful me but that I want to give them the perfect Jesus. I say you do not want my pride, selfishness, condemnation, conditional love, etc. No, you want the joy of knowing forgiveness and eternal life that can only be found in Jesus.

I cannot give what I do not have. If I want to give people Jesus and I do not pray, how will I give them Jesus? If I do not know and have Jesus through prayer, then I will be giving people something but it surely will not be Jesus. And what we give away has a lot to do with what we say “Yes” to.

What do you say “Yes” to each day? Is it planned or do you just go with the worldly/cultural flow? If I just study history or nursing or sports, then what I will have to give away is a lot of that. The TV, which in many ways seems to be our version of the Bible, is something we say “Yes” to a lot. What kind of giving are you going to give to others from the TV you watch? When I asked the Holy Spirit to be set free in my life twenty-two years ago, I felt like he asked me the question, “Will you pray to me each day?” I said, “Yes.” And it had made all the difference. It is only through the power of the Holy Spirit that I come to know Jesus which enables me to share him with others.

Let us be clear. We have control over what we say “Yes” to in life. Saints do not become saints by accident. Someone does not become a joyful and full of Christ by a fluke. No, they plan it. They decide for it. They know their goal and they plan all of their hours according to coming to fullness of life in Christ. Their first “Yes” is always to Christ in prayer, scriptures, church, sacraments, service, etc. It never takes a back seat. And they find what they seek as Jesus comes to full stature in them.

We look to Mary, Our Mother and The Mother of Our Lord, to learn what to say “Yes” to. In her total “Yes” to Jesus, she gave us all Jesus. Now, she passes us the baton and tells us to do the same. We always give our first “Yes” to Jesus and let him order all the other yeses we say “Yes” to in our lives. That is the way of Most Beautiful Mary and that is the way we want to go.

What do you say “Yes” to? What you say “Yes” to is what you will have to give away. “Know prayer, know Jesus. No Prayer, no Jesus.” What are you giving away all the day long?

Live the confronted life!

+Fr. John