If I say, "I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name," there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot. For I hear many whispering. Terror is on every side! "Denounce him! Let us denounce him!" say all my familiar friends, watching for my fall.
- Jeremiah 20:9-10
Then one of them, named Cle'opas, answered him, "Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?" And he said to them, "What things?" And they said to him, "Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since this happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body; and they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb, and found it just as the women had said; but him they did not see." And he said to them, "O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He appeared to be going further, but they constrained him, saying, "Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent." So he went in to stay with them. When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized him; and he vanished out of their sight. They said to each other, "Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures?" And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven gathered together and those who were with them, who said, "The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!" Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.
- Luke 24:18-35
I am searching my conscience for the sin of omission of witness, of leaving others to find Him for themselves. Of being a big chicken for the Lord.
4 comments:
If I didn't blog about a life with Jesus, to whom would I be saying this stuff? Would my heart be burning, overflowing with the news of His Love? Do I NEED to tell of what He has done in my life..
Well, as you've turned your life over to Jesus, BE Him. It's not just news. It's a reality, the reality that now your heart burns for love of God's children. Don't just tell them the news, love them as you are loved. Concern yourself with their well-being, with easing their pain, with bringing them joy - not just "news" of joy - in a very real tangible way. Love them so much that they know it's not you but Christ in you.
You're right, of course. And you put it beautifully.
It's the WHY of it that is scary to bring up. "How can you be so calm in the face of (fill in your trouble here)?" "WHY don't you watch "Desperate Housewives?" "Why do you feel you HAVE to go to church on Sunday? We need to make plans...."
That's what's hard. Scary.
Very true. Just occurred to me that many (all?) of those questions can also be answered in terms of love.
- I love life too much to get worked up over something like this.
- I love the real world far more than the fantasies of those housewives.
- I love Mass, it's quite possibly one of the happiest times of my week. (or day, if it's one of those weeks I'm attempting to go daily... :)
But yeah, very very true.. without the "Why", our very existence as rational, thinking beings comes into question. We must have an answer for them. If we can't verbalize the Why, how consistent can it even be internally?
The buffeting of the waves/questions can be scary. "Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. 'You of little faith,' he said, 'why did you doubt?'"
Try and go to Mass daily, if your schedule permits it. It makes the whole day cycle around it, it becomes the most important moment, the highest peak, around which everything else leads up or flows from.
It's hard at first, to re-arrange your schedule. But it gets easy very, very fast, thanks be to the Graces that flow from it.
You learn a lot of Scripture, too, and learn a lot about the saints as their feast days come and go.
If you can't, you can't. But I'm just sayin' it can't be bested by anything else.
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