Chapter 23. Seeing the Presence of Jesus in Others.

This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad. Psalm 118:24.

Chapter 23.

Seeing the Presence of Jesus in Others.

23.1 Where Love is, God is.
Your Highness, looking at a finished diamond, we see that it begins at a point (from nothing) and blossoms into many facets. Although each facet is similarly shaped, each brings into the world a different sparkle, a different light, and a different color. Each is a different and unique expression of the diamond's total splendor, yet all are part and parcel of the same diamond. Collectively, they reveal the diamond's beauty and are what give it its value. Humanity is much the same. Jesus is the Diamond and we are the Facets. "Through him all things came to be, not one thing had its being but through him. All that came to be had life in him." (1) Like the facets of a diamond, each of us is a unique revelation of God. We all have the same name (Jesus) but each of us spell it differently:

How do you spell Jesus? F-l-o-r-e-n-c-e.
How do you spell Jesus? R-a-y-m-o-n-d.
How do you spell Jesus? E-l-i-z-a-b-e-t-h.
How do you spell Jesus? L-e-w-i-s.
How do you spell Jesus? P-a-t-r-i-c-i-a.
How do you spell Jesus? M-a-r-c.
How do you spell Jesus? C-a-r-o-l-i-n-e.
How do you spell Jesus? G-r-e-g-o-r-y.
How do you spell Jesus? S-o-p-h-i-a.
How do you spell Jesus? D-a-v-i-d.

This is why each of us is so special and so precious to our heavenly Father. Essentially, we all have the same shape. We all look alike. Each of us is also a part of the Body of Christ Jesus, for, "not one thing had its being but through him." We each bring into the world a rare sparkle, a unique light, a personal color and a one-of-a-kind expression of our common Personhood- Jesus. As each facet reveals a unique expression of the beauty and splendor of the diamond, each loving act of a person reveals a unique expression of the beauty and splendor of Jesus, for "God is love." (2) Our brother John says, "God is love and anyone who lives in love lives in God and God lives in him." (3) Every loving act of the Other reveals the presence of God, the presence of Jesus in the Other.

Your Highness, look at those persons who are close to you. Look at those persons who have loved you and look at those persons who now love you. Look at those persons who share with you. Look at those persons who sustain you. Look at these Holy Facets of the divine Diamond. Look into their eyes. Look upon their countenance. See the visible signs of their loving concern for you. See the visible signs of Jesus' loving concern for you. The Love you are receiving is from God for "God is love." (4)

23.2 Presence of Jesus (Love) in the Other.
Once I was working as a consultant in a municipality a few miles from home. As I was leaving, the person I was working with said to me, "Raymond, be careful driving back home. I heard over the radio that because of freezing rain the highways are slippery and treacherous." His simple message of caution and concern for me was nothing less than Jesus' words of loving concern for my welfare. In this person's voice I heard the voice of Love, the voice of Jesus because "God is love." (5) I thanked him (and through him our dear Lord) for his warning. Again I rejoiced at how close our God is and how He cares for us, "I will live in your midst." (6)

23.3 Presence of Jesus (Love) in the Other.
One day while watching television, Florence asked me if I would like a cup of tea.
"Sure," I replied.

A few minutes later she came with the tea, special fancy cup and all. On the side of the gold-rimmed saucer was the largest, reddest, sweetest strawberry I ever saw. I looked at the fancy cup and saucer. I saw the glorious strawberry. Here was another of Florence's loving experiences in sharing (another of God's loving experiences in sharing). From all the strawberries in His creation, the most beautiful was chosen and put on my saucer. This was a surprise to delight me and, another sign of her Love (of God's love) for me, because where Love is, God is, for "God is love." I thanked Florence and through her, our heavenly Father for spoiling me like they do. "I will live in your midst."

Your Highness, I have singled out two very ordinary events (if one can call such events ordinary). It is through such daily interventions that God makes His presence visible through the Love of another person. As each Facet radiates Light from the Diamond, so does God's presence radiate from each person's Love. If you see these visible signs of personal Love for you, you will see in these persons the face of Jesus in your life, for "God is love." (7) In the days ahead, look and see, listen and hear, how Jesus is present in your life through the loving interventions of other persons.

At times these will be simple loving gestures and at other times they will be very personal, intimate, deeply loving embraces. At other times they will be major interventions (operations, teachings, advice etc.) He loves us a thousand times a day in a thousand different ways. But if you do not see these visible signs of Love, how will you ever see the face of Love- Jesus?

Remember that the visible is always a sign of the invisible, Love is always a sign of God's presence so, Love is holy, Love is sacred, and Love is spiritual. "It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh has nothing to offer." (8)

Every day, your Highness, you receive hundreds and hundreds of loving experiences- the simple fact of being alive, things others do to care for you, to watch over you. These are all signs of God's Love for you, manifested in all the ways required to sustain you. For each of these, with a childlike heart, you must (in joy and in delight) continuously respond in one lifelong hymn of praise and thanksgiving:
"Thank you Jesus."
"Dear Lord, you are truly wonderful."
"What a delightful surprise, my King."
"Blessed is thy holy name, dearest Jesus."
"Thank you for this loving reminder, dearest Holy Spirit."

Or, simply embrace Him in your heart the same way a child embraces his father or mother and never, never let Him go. Remember, when each person brings you Love, you should embrace Christ (the Other) in return, for God is Love.

Your Highness, soon you will be in total awe over everything Jesus has done for you. Day by day, His countless and countless and countless manifestations of His Love for you will overwhelm you. Whether you receive a simple glass of water, a beautiful angelic smile from your newborn baby or a loving embrace from your beloved, you soon realize you simply cannot receive so much Love without responding. His Love for you is so personal, so intimate, so bountiful, so overwhelming and so life giving, you must respond. Eventually, your response to our dear Lord will be a total and emphatic, "Yes." a final submission, for no one can love you like He does. If you knew how much God loves you- how He loves you every instant of every day- how He embraces you through persons and events, you would be so overcome with happiness, without His grace to sustain you, you would swoon into blessed euphoria time and time and time again. He is literally loving us to death in favor of an eternity in a celestial embrace. Once you live within the sound and warmth of His heartbeat, your biggest difficulty (your vocation) will be to find enough ways to bring His Love to others, and thus will begin your reign as Monarch in the Kingdom of God, "to love one another as I have loved you." (9)

If you could see how often His loving embraces are rejected, disregarded, received with cold indifference, wasted- if you could see how many times we have been an obstacle preventing His love from embracing another, eternity would not be long enough to cry our contrition, our self-reproach and repentance.

23.4 Love, must Love.
The Lord replied, "What sort of steward, then, is faithful and wise enough for the master to place him over his household to give them their allowance of food at the proper time? Happy that servant if his master's arrival finds him at this employment. I tell you truly, he will place him over everything he owns. But as for the servant who says to himself, 'My master is taking his time coming' and sets about beating the menservants and the maids and eating and drinking and getting drunk, his master will come on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not know. The master will cut him off and send him to the same fate as the unfaithful." (10)

Your Highness, what we should be doing when our King arrives is to be giving the members of His household (our brothers and sisters) the food they need to survive, His love.

23.5 Love is more important than health.
"When you have your health, you have everything," is an expression we often hear. I would like to give you a new one which I think is far closer to the truth: When you know how much God loves you, you have everything. "Your love is better than life itself, my lips will recite your praise; all my life I will bless you, in your name lift up my hands; my soul will feast more richly, on my lips a song of joy and, in my mouth, praise." (11)

Not seeing God's love for us through Others means not seeing the face of Jesus in our life each day.
Not seeing God's love for us through Others means not rejoicing in His gift of Life, not nourished by His Love.
Not seeing God's love for us through Others means not being able to receive God's Love into our hearts.
Not seeing God's love for us through Others means not being aware of what Heaven is doing for you, how Heaven is concerned for you, how you are truly the pupil of God's eye. (12)

This is why so many hearts are broken, this is why so many hearts are so unhappy, discouraged, so sad and so frustrated.

Your Highness, with all my heart, I hope that this journey we are making together will help to show you how much Jesus loves you. I hope that Jesus' Love will erupt in you a life that neither sickness nor death will ever overcome. Jesus tells us, "anyone who drinks the water that I shall give will never be thirsty again: the water that I shall give will turn into a spring inside him, welling up to eternal life." (13) The water He is offering is His Love.

Since we are all members of the same Body of Christ (Facets on the same Diamond), our Love for one another is nothing less than God's Love for Himself, the Holy Spirit in action. Your life is completely immersed in the-life giving Love of God, like a fish is immersed in the life-giving water that sustains it.

[When you see Jesus, you see God. We, as unbelievable as it may sound, are nothing less than the sacrament of encounter with Jesus. When you see an Other, when an Other sees you, with all that Heaven has given us, you see Christ.]

This is why our King tells us, "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, escorted by all the angels, then he will take his seat on his throne of glory. All the nations will be assembled before him and he will separate one from another as the shepherd separates sheep from goats. He will place the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right hand, 'Come, you whom my Father has blessed, take for your heritage the kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you made me welcome; naked and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to see me.'

Then the virtuous will say to him in reply, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you; or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and make you welcome; naked and clothe you; sick or in prison and go to see you?' And the King will answer, 'I tell you solemnly, in so far as you did this to one of the least of the brothers of mine, you did it for me.'" (14)

23.6 The bottom-line.
"My commandment is this, that you love one another as I have loved you. By this love you have for one another, the world will know you are my disciples." (15)

Each time you receive a sign of love, a helping hand, a smile, words of encouragement and so on, look into the eyes of the Other and say, "Thank You (name)." In your heart thank Jesus who is present in this Other, the outlet of that Love for you, for where Love is, God is, for "God is love." (16) Soon at the end of each day, before closing your eyes for the night, you will whisper: "Thank you, Jesus, for loving me so much this day. Good night my King."

Footnotes.
1 John 1:4.
2 1 John 4:16
3 John 4:16
4 1 John 4:8
5 1 John 4:8
6 Leviticus 26:12.
7 1 John 4:8.
8 John 6:63.
9 John 15:12.
10 Luke 12:41-46.
11 Psalm 63:3.
12 Deuteronomy 32:10.
13 John 4:13-14.
14 Matthew 25:31-40.
15 John 13:34
16 1 John 4:8.

September 27, 2008

Any questions? Help needed? Contact Deacon Raymond at: deaconraymond@magma.ca

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