A. Deep. Breath. That was what I needed first to break the power of the day's lingering memories. Another breath and another...
I imagined the tension and worry flowing out from my fingers and my toes until I relaxed enough to bring my day to the only One who could show me the way through the struggles to the radiance of surrender. I showed it all to him and then listened.
Like the people who met Jesus in the Gospels. They showed him their leprosy, their fears, their sins, their doubts.... They were before him as a student, or a disciple, or a person in need of healing or salvation. And he stood before them as Teacher, Master, Doctor, Lover, Savior.
Every day of my life I need Jesus. I. Need. Him. It isn't just that I like to be devoted to him or spend my time in prayer. I need Jesus more than I need air and water. Without him I would die.
With all the role models, the opinions, the political pressure, the influence of various voices amplified by the media, today I need one Word that lights the one Way to full and eternal Life. I need Jesus my Master.
Today is the Feast of Jesus the Divine Master for all of us in the Pauline Family. When a Daughter of St. Paul approaches her Spouse, she approaches him as the Way, the Truth, and the Life...as her Way, her Truth, and her Life. She listens to him say, "As I have done so you must do...serve, love, give, forgive, have mercy, believe, trust...."
Our Founder, Blessed James Alberione, wanted us not only to "do what Jesus would do," but also to disappear so that Jesus alone would be "doing" in us. When people see the way we looked at a situation, they should remark in amazement: "That is the way Jesus would think about this situation!" They should be so moved by the way we behave that they desire to imitate us, and in so doing they would be imitating Jesus. In our human poverty it doesn't always work out that way, but every loving desire to be him for the world today gives Jesus great joy. We need to remember that.
Here is a prayer given to us by Blessed James Alberione, a prayer that begs the Holy Spirit for this grace. You can say it also, because each of you, in whatever situation you are living, are also called to be Jesus for others.
Holy Spirit, in a profound spirit of adoration
I ask you to unite my heart, my will, and my mind with those of Jesus.
May the affections of Jesus be my affections.
May the desires of Jesus be my desires.
May the thoughts of Jesus be my thoughts.
May Jesus himself live in my heart, my will, my mind.
I give Jesus my heart,
so that he may be the one who loves others in me and with me.
I give Jesus my will,
so that he may be the one who lives in me and with me.
I give Jesus my mind,
so that he may be the one who thinks in me and with me.
I want what he wants.
In me may he love.
In me may he decide.
In me may he act.
And may it be he himself who fulfills his mission through me.
Blessed Feast of the Divine Master!