No body now but yours…

St Teresa’s prayer is popular in this adaptation-
Christ has no body now but yours, no hands, no feet on earth but yours.
Yours are the eyes through which he looks with compassion on this world.
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do well.
Yours are the hands with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
You are his eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours, no hands, no feet on earth but yours.
Yours are the eyes through which he looks with compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

Jesus speaks in the gospel about being still alive, even after his death. Mostly we find Jesus alive in the love of others. The energy of love that is connected to the energy of God, for God is love. Other times we find God close to us in prayer; but where we can sense him alive mostly is in the ordinary and extraordinary loves of every day, in marriage, family, friendship and care for others.

Many of us do not realise that in this way we have been Christ-bearers. In listening to another, in care of all sorts, in putting ourselves out for the other, in working for justice and for peace the Spirit of God is alive and people are touched by God’s love through the co-operation of ordinary men and women.

The Centre Holds

The gospel presents Jesus as the guide in life, the ‘way, truth and life‘. The Christian centre is the person of Christ. Our work for Jesus and our love for people, no matter what our calling in life, flow from this. Mother Teresa was once asked why she did what she did, and she simply said ‘for Jesus’. This centre always holds, it cannot be unhinged. It is a deeply personal relationship: we are led by Jesus ‘one by one’, known by name, not as one of a group. We follow him as one we know, not a stranger.

We study his life and times, getting to know the places and events of his life, we become familiar with the gospels and get to know him in the heart. Prayer is the way of keeping our centre of conviction and motivation strong. Freedom grows and we begin to find him everywhere.

Different types of people/ spiritualities stress different aspects of  Jesus as a sign          

The Eastern approach to Jesus is very much the ‘way’; while the African is the ‘life’.
The European stress is the ‘truth’. In Europe we need to rediscover also the joy and vibrancy of the African and Latin American expressions of faith, and also the presence of God in all life’ s moods and journeys of the Indian and Eastern traditions. We can get so caught up in small or even big truths and doctrines that we miss other centres of faith. All faith needs the balanced approach to Jesus – way, truth and life. Recall people who guided you well in your life. Pray for them.

Jesus, our way – guide me in life;
                    Jesus, our truth –  teach me your meaning of life;
  Jesus, our life – love me always.

Fr Donal Neary, S.J

Follow in Love

The first big moment of vocation is baptism. The anointing of chrism at baptism might be called the anointing for vocation.  The baptismal vocation is for witness, love and service. This is expressed in ways in which people live out their baptism in married life, single life – and within the single life, maybe religious life or priesthood.

Our active witness is to the life and the values of Jesus in our lives. Teaching is not itself a vocation, for example, but the way we teach is a way of living out our vocation. It is the same with many of the helping professions and employments. Being a good neighbour can be a living out of our vocation.

We witness to love in marriage, in family, extended family, and in friendship. Any love is a sharing in the love of God. In the moments of unselfish love in any relationship we are living out our vocation. When we love, we are doing God’s will!

We witness to service in the wider world in our care for the poor and in welcoming the stranger: the widow, the orphan, the immigrant – in fact anybody needy.

In a place of silence, let the words ‘Come, follow me’

echo in your mind and heart.

Lord, be with me as I offer myself in partnership with you

to work in your world

and in whatever capacity you think best for me.

Donal Neary SJ

Hearts uplifted

I have met many people who found this story really helped at times when they were down, when there were disappointments in life, when they encountered illness and many of the crosses of life. They believed in him after he had vanished, having broken bread with them. He had accompanied them in a dark journey of life.

Jesus went to them – he did not await their visit. Somehow he knew that people of his ‘set’ were in darkness and maybe despair. This is the call of the church – to be with us in prayer, community and service always, and especially for what Pope Francis calls ‘the peripheries of life’. Most of us spend some time there, and appreciate the help of love and faith.

Then they went to tell the story of how they were changed. Faith grows through sharing it.  A father said, ‘At my child’s first communion, my faith became stronger’.

They told their story of Jesus in the here and now, sometimes reminiscing on what things were once like in Galilee. Every journey of life can be an Emmaus journey where we meet the Lord. Every altar can be the altar of Emmaus, and indeed every meal can be a time of friendship, care and nourishment for body and for soul.

Notice this week where the Lord is present in love, care, creation, an uplift of joy, prayer and the Eucharist.

Lord, lift my hope and my faith in your presence as the disciples found their hearts burning when they listened to you.

Donal Neary SJ