The Easter season is here. Jesus is risen. Alleluia!
Since Jesus is risen, as Catholics we should call to mind each of our own eternal life and how we should prepare for it. Do we go to Confession during the Lenten season and whenever we need to? Do we go to Mass weekly? Do we pray every day?
Our daily thoughts, words, and actions reflect our eternity. So we need to make sure they all have Christ at their center. Even if we only say little prayers throughout our day or do one act of mercy towards someone else. Each of these actions has a ripple effect and in turn, creates a positive change for the future.
Christ loved us from the beginning and showed us this throughout His life and now our lives on earth. Truly, He has a plan for us if we only have the courage to surrender and accept it.
Jesus showed us many times throughout Sacred Scripture that it is Him we need to follow, not the world and its empty promises.
Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6 The New American Bible)
Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for your selves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light (Matthew 11: 28-30).
I am the bread of life.Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us (his) flesh to eat?” Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever (John 6: 48-58).
Speaking of the Bread of Life, our lives should be intensely eucharistic. The eucharist is truly God’s Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity and if we want to live life abundantly we should have pure hearts to receive Him as much as possible. It is also a good practice to go to eucharistic adoration to adore Him there. Christ does not even need you to say long prayers, just short heartfelt ones in His presence or even just simply being present in that moment with Him is enough. Jesus wants us to spend time with Him away from the noisy world and all its distractions. All He wants is to give us His love for time and eternity.
If we cannot make it to Mass or Adoration we should at least try to pray a spiritual Communion prayer. Here are a few prayers I have gathered together in this article for you to possibly pray while welcoming Jesus into your heart.
My Jesus, I believe that You are present in the Most Blessed Sacrament.
I love You above all things,
and I desire to receive You into my soul.
Since I cannot now receive you sacramentally,
come at least spiritually into my heart.
I embrace You as if you were already there,
and I unite myself wholly to You.
Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen (St. Alphonsus Ligouri’s Spiritual Communion prayer).Soul of Christ, sanctify me
Body of Christ, save me
Blood of Christ, inebriate me
Water from the side of Christ, wash me
The passion of Christ, strengthen me
O good Jesus, hear me
Within Thy wounds hide me
Suffer me not to be separated from Thee
From the malignant enemy defend me
In the hour of my death call me
And bid me come unto Thee
That with Thy saints I may praise Thee
Forever and ever.
Amen (The Anima Christi).O my God, ocean of holy love and sweetness, come and give yourself to my soul. Grant that with a perfect heart, full desire, and burning affection, I may unceasingly desire after you, and lovingly rest in you. May I prefer you to every creature, for you renounce every transitory delight, O my true, my highest joy!
Feed me, Lord, a poor, famished beggar, with continual draughts of your love; refresh me with the wished-for presence of your grace. This I seek, this I long for, that a vehement love may penetrate me through and through, and fill me.
Grant, O most loving Redeemer, that I may be wholly inflamed with the love of you, that I may delight only in you. O overflowing abyss of divinity! Draw me to you, and immerse me in yourself; so seize and take to yourself all the affection of my heart. Amen.
This Easter season, Jesus challenges us to look at our lives within. What can we do to better prepare ourselves for the kingdom of God? He also challenges us to look without. How can I help my fellow neighbor and bring him on the road to the kingdom of God with me?
3 thoughts on “Jesus Challenges Us”
Jesus is risen! Alleluia! Happy Easter Season, Diana. Thank you for yet another edifying Catholic piece on such an important topic, especially in this modern age. The challenge to live Catholic Christian principles many times requires valiant effort, persistence, and heroic virtue, particularly in a relativistic culture in moral decline, yet the heavenly reward is great. Keeping an eternal perspective and partaking of the sacraments, as you beautifully state, are crucial for maintaining optimal spiritual health, fostering charity towards others, and assisting in a Christian’s earthly pilgrimage toward eternity. Following the perennial teachings of the Church that Christ founded assists one in these goals. Pope St. John Paul II stated, “Only faith in Christ gives rise to a culture contrary to egotism and death.”
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” (Jn 14:6) Truth is objective; morals are derived from natural law. Fr. Brian Mullady shares the traditional definition of truth in a recent NCR article: “the fact that the idea in the mind must reflect the thing outside the mind.” Furthermore, speaking the truth in love is certainly not hate, but fraternal charity. Authentic love is not narcissistic, but wills the good of another. False compassion is not rooted in this same intention, nor does it produce any good fruit, spiritually or otherwise. When considering the morality of an act one must consider its object, end, and circumstances. EWTN founder Mother Angelica said, “Those who tell the truth love you. Those who tell you what you want to hear love themselves.” Christ’s challenge to humanity to strive for holiness is a challenge indeed…and one that is well worth the effort for the sake of loving God, one’s neighbor, and consequently, obtaining one’s eternal gain!
God bless you, Diana, for having the courage to spread the light and love of Christ in a darkened world through the written word.
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Challenge indeed. The challenge is to set aside hate in the midst of conflict between doctrine and culture. To recognize those whom you disagree with are not your enemy. To hate and spread hate is evil and not the path of peace. It’s the devil’s program to dissuade you from unconditional love. The abortion issue and gay issue are dividers which are not to be turned into hateful acts. They are a cultural ascension which faith needs to rise up to with compassion and not lower itself down to warfare and conflict. Hate begets hate. Many around the world grapple with fears of the collapse of the family. But the fear expressed as hate does exactly that. You cast out those among you with excess empathy and compassion like the professor at St Joseph’s in Louisiana. What good does this to anyone? None. Did the College offer free contraception to women? Or just punish anyone who would help them? Would Jesus choose hate?