Thursday, May 17, 2012

I Don't Wear Contact Lenses...

I don't wear contact lenses...

...but I need to wear Jesus lenses.

Tonight, I was blessed to be able to go to CYO (though now its apparently called CYM....I'll never get used to it...) Holy Hour, which was great! It's been a couple weeks since I've last been to Adoration, since the Port closed for Adoration right before Finals. It was so good to be able to sit there and gaze at Christ. And, as I looked at Him, it struck me: the glare of the light reflecting off of the Monstrance gave a reflection of the wall, which made it seem as if I was looking straight through the lunula (the center portion that holds the Body of Christ) to the wall. And that's when it hit me:

We need to look through the lens of Jesus...

We need to look at all things through Jesus. Through His eyes, through His love, through His life, through His plan!
Looking at others through the eyes of Christ helps us to see Him in those whom we meet, to love them--we need to look at all things through the love of Christ. To love others with His love. And that's tough--it means loving those people with whom we disagree, don't get along with, or struggle with.

We need to look at all things through the life of Christ--we need to unite our actions to those of Christ, and see how His life and passion are at work in our daily lives!

We need to look at all things through His plan.

This one is a toughie. A lot of people (myself totally included) happen to be control freaks. And when we try to lose control to God ( I say "try" because even when we think we've given it all to Him, chances are that we're still holding on...), we cling to fear about the future. Which is silly, because He just so happens to be God. Ergo, He knows what He's doing. But since when do our fears make sense? SO....we need to look at all things through His plan. This includes those random times when you "just so happen" to go to class by a different route...maybe by going on that different route, you will run into a person that God needs you to talk to or see! This means letting God work within you, in the present moment. To quote a Carmelite retreat master for the IHM Sisters of Wichita,
"Adhere rigidly to a flexible schedule."

We need to look at things as being worked into God's plan, seeing how He brings good out of terrible situations, and witnessing the joy and love that He brings out of suffering. By doing this, by wearing these "Jesus lenses," we will be enabled to live more freely, in the present moment, in deeper love of God and neighbor!

May the joy of Christ fill your heart!
And may you always wear Jesus Lenses!