Mary Had a Little Lamb, and He's Our Way to Go

I was reading the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:4-42) the other day and the friendship Jesus extended to this woman struck me. How many times do we really consider Jesus our friend and consider all He's done for us? Sometimes, I do not always feel like I am friends with Jesus; I feel distant, separated, unknown. But as I continued to think about the friendship Jesus offers each of us and the friendship He was personally offering me, He helped me to see all that He has done for me and given to me, and I finally saw how much God loves me.

There are certain moments in life when we are struck with a lightning bolt of divine clarity. They are these moments when you know you could not possibly know or think or say or do whatever you have done on your own; you know these things must be from God. In the past five months, I have been extremely blessed with two of these moments where God has revealed the depth of my relationship with Him and His will for me. What the Lord has shown me is that I am to be a saint. Being a saint simply means being totally united to Christ. You do not have to be a religious brother or sister or even a priest. All you must do is so totally be one with the Lord that you are completely you in the most profound way and that there is no longer any difference between you and Jesus; you are one with Him. This sounds huge and impossible! The other day, the Gospel began with the disciples saying to Jesus "This is a hard teaching, who can accept it?" Jesus said to the disciples, and He says to us, you can accept this, you can follow Me. Even though we doubt and falter, Jesus still extends this invitation and His friendship to us.

Now, this is still not easy. We know the rest of the story, Jesus is crucified, and if we are to become one with Him, we must also be crucified. This means that this path to holiness is lined with suffering and hardship. My patroness, St. Therese of Lisiuex said "The way I am following brings me no consolation and yet it gives me all consolations, for it is Jesus who has chosen it and all I want is to please Him alone, yes, Him alone!" This also reminds me of what St. Paul said, "The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak." Our flesh does not enjoy or rejoice in suffering and hardship, yet our spirits push forward because we know the only way to heaven is through total union with Christ. This is the path of Christ, the path to Calvary, and He has chosen each of us to walk it, to be united with Him. Therefore, this unconsoling path of suffering and sacrifice is our best and only consolation, for nothing pleases Him more than for each of us to be completely united with Him.

Another great saint and patroness of mine, St. Teresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart said, "Without complaint, everything shall I suffer, for in the love of God, nothing have I to fear." This is my motto in life. To suffer without complaint means for our hearts to be completely united to Christ's heart, as He did not once complain through all His beatings, persecutions, and crucifixion. In Christ's love we have nothing to fear, for in suffering with Him, we are one with Him, and there is no darkness in light. Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, "The water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life," and Jesus is the living water! Jesus is eternal life! In Him all darkness is conquered, eternal life is given, and there is nothing left to fear.

So the challenge is to accept Christ's invitation, to take Him up on His offer of friendship and eternal life. You do not have to say any formal prayers, just go to Him and talk to Him. Let Him know what is going on in your life and invite Him to be a part of it

Birth and Identity

What are we born for?

Eternal happiness.

God creates us in His image (Genesis 1: 26-27) and because of this, we are destined for eternal happiness. Sometimes this is so easy to forget in our daily lives, in the daily grind, the muck; everything else seems so much bigger. School, work, eating, sleeping, spouses, kids, family, friends, co-workers, volunteering, working out, TV, Internet, cell phones, housework, time to relax. There is so much and sometimes we don't even feel like we have time to do basics like eating and sleeping. And then there are the things we are told will make us happy or we think will make us happy: fame, fortune, a good job, stability, a good marriage, 2.3 children, a nice house, the ability to entertain guests, going on vacations, exotic destinations, a long, healthy life.

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea was no more....I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Behold, God's dwelling is with the human race. He will dwell with them and they will be His people and God Himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain, for the old order has passed away'" (Revelation 21: 1, 3-4).

God creates us that we might be with Him always and has given us this gift of life that we might learn to come to Him. But this life and this earth shall pass away, nothing here will be eternal except for us and God. We can step out into eternal happiness at any time. I can step out of the muck of my life and into the glory of God at any time. I don't have to just sit here, I can enter the glory.

How do we know God really loves us? How do we know He truly wants this for us? He only directly says He loves us once in the Bible: "Because you are precious in my eyes and glorious, and because I love you" (Isaiah 43:4). God gives everything for us! And then He tells us to love others and He has loved us (John 13: 34). This is the proof. We can know that God loves us through His words in Isaiah, and by the fact that He wants us to follow Him- to love as He loves means to lay down our lives.

Being made in the image and likeness of God means that we are born for eternal happiness, which is God, and we will not fulfilled or satisfied until we rest in Him ("Our hearts are restless, o Lord, until they rest in You" ~St. Augustine). Being made in God's image and likeness also means that we have an identity, and that identity is our belonging to Him. Collectively, we are the sons and daughters of the Most High, of God our loving Father, Brother, and Spouse. Individually, though, we each have a unique, unrepeatable identity. Our names have meanings. For instance, Peter means "rock" and St. Peter was made the rock of the Church, the stronghold on which the Church could be built. Theresa means "harvester", which is someone who gathers the crops, a gatherer of the fruits of the labor, one who brings souls to the Lord. John means "God is gracious". Gracious is graceful, meaning full of grace, and grace is God's love and favor. So John means one to whom God gives his love and favor abundantly. Mary means "sorrowful", "sea of bitterness", and "long awaited child". These can all be seen in the Blessed Virgin Mary, but also in every Mary.

Names reflect part of who we are, they are part of our identity. God loves us each individually to give us a unique identity and way to come to Him, a unique mission. Being born, we are destined for eternal happiness, for God, and our identity shows us our unique path to Him in faith and in love.