Personal encounter with Jesus Christ.
Some Greeks came to Philip and asked him, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.”
Jesus answer them: “Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me."
Our Lord asks us to seek and prefer him above everything else. It is easy to see why many persons do not want to do this. A lot of what Christ asks—which the Church merely echoes—seems very hard.
Each of us can ask ourselves what are the obstacles that stand in the way of following Christ fully. The answer will be some form or combination of weakness, vice, sin, fear, or woundedness.
The remedy for our life is Christ himself, the Divine Physician. He makes it possible for us to live according to his hard sayings. Any encounter with Christ brings healing to us, fallen humanity, and the Holy Spirit can always be invited into our hearts to enable repentance and conversion. This is addressed to each one of us, you and me.
Pope Francis: “I invite all Christians, everywhere, at this very moment, to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ, or at least to be open, to let him meet you; I ask all of you to do this unfailingly each day. No one should think that this invitation is not meant for him, since ‘no one is excluded from the joy brought by the Lord.’”
Each one of us needs to be renewed. We should seek this every day.
The scenes of the life of the Holy Family - Bethlehem, Egypt, Nazareth - are an invitation to develop a very intimate relationship with Jesus, with the daring of people in love. To achieve this, we can rely on the help of the Holy Patriarch St Joseph. As St. Josemaría reminded us so often, “In human life, Joseph was Jesus' master in their daily contact, full of refined affection, glad to deny himself to take better care of Jesus. Isn't that reason enough for us to consider this just man, this holy patriarch, in whom the faith of the old covenant bears fruit, as a master of interior life? Interior life is nothing but continual and direct conversation with Christ, so as to become one with him. And Joseph can tell us many things about Jesus."
“As you get to know St Joseph, you discover that the Holy Patriarch is also a master of the interior life - for he teaches us how to meet Jesus and share our life with him, and to realize that we are part of God's family."
“St Joseph, help us to do and to teach, as Christ did. Help us to open up the divine paths of the earth, which are both hidden and bright; and help us to show them to all, telling our fellow men that their lives on earth can have then an extraordinary and constant supernatural effectiveness."
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