The summer months always provide an opportunity for me to review the events of the past year and gain insight into how Jesus is inviting me to grow deeper in my relationship with him to better exercise my ministry as a bishop. Every Christian life is profoundly rooted in relationship with Jesus, who invites us into service. To be associated with Christ is to allow him to live fully in and through us, to live our life intimately in Christ. Everyone who is making the valiant effort to live the fullness of their baptismal life in Christ by making a generous gift of self to God and to others knows the “cost” involved, as well as the joy.
As I returned home from vacation this summer, Jesus invited me to reflect on how he is present with me in my home. This “grace” given to me stirred a heightened awareness of Jesus’ presence with me at all times, but particularly in my home. This sentiment is captured well in the prayer that concludes the blessing of a home:
Lord, be close to your servants who dwell in this home and ask for your blessing. Be their shelter when they are at home, their companion when they are away, and their welcome guest when they return.
We are living in a time when many people, for various reasons, are feeling isolated and alone. But Christ promised his disciples that he would always remain with us. He never leaves us alone.
Realizing this requires a conscious effort on our part to recognize his loving presence and to relish all this entails. If we focus too much or only on a sense of being alone or isolated, it can further exacerbate the feeling. But when we direct our attention to the promise of Jesus — “I am with you always” — he begins to renew us, further revealing himself to us and strengthening us for our baptismal contribution in service to Church and world through our unique vocation.
Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of God the Father’s plan of love for all of creation, especially for the human family. Jesus comes into the world as a participant in the Trinitarian love of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Jesus, through his incarnation, life and ministry, is the manifestation of God’s love to the world and the fullness of the heavenly kingdom on earth. The depth of this love is demonstrated through his passion, death and resurrection, the means by which we are redeemed; through whom we now have access to participate in divine love itself!
Our prayerful, conscious development of our life in Christ fuels our transformation and hones our being conformed more fully to Christ. As we grow in awareness of the depth of Christ’s love for us and allow that love to help us to progress in continual conversion, our love for others grows, and we are more and more capable of building the Kingdom of Heaven here and now, which is our mission.
This article appeared in the August/September 2024 issue of Northwest Catholic magazine. Read the rest of the issue here.