9 September, Tuesday — Life with Jesus is Never Boring

Sep 9 – Memorial for St. Peter Claver, Priest

St Peter Claver was born in Catalonia and studied at the University of Barcelona. He became a Jesuit; and while he was studying philosophy in Mallorca, the door-keeper of the college, Alfonso Rodríguez, saw that his true vocation was to evangelize the New World, and encouraged him to fulfil that vocation. (Rodríguez was later canonized on the same day as Peter Claver himself).

He arrived in Cartagena (in what is now Colombia) in 1610, and after his ordination six years later, he became ‘the slave of the Negroes forever’, labouring on their behalf for 33 years, attending to both their spiritual and material needs. The slave trade was repeatedly condemned by the Popes; but it was too profitable to be stopped and, on the whole, the local church hierarchy kept quiet about it, much as they did in North America in the 19th century.

He brought fresh food to the slave ships as they arrived, instructed the slaves and baptized them in the faith, followed their progress and kept track of them, even when they were sent to the mines and plantations, defending them as well as he could from oppressive slave owners. He organized teams of catechists who spoke the many languages spoken by the slaves. He worked in hospitals also, looking after lepers among others, and in prisons.

Naturally he made himself unpopular by his work. As his superior said, ‘unfortunately for himself, he is a Catalan — pig-headed and difficult’. Opposition came from both within the Church and outside it, but there were always exceptions. For instance, while many fashionable ladies refused to enter his city churches because they had been profaned by the presence of the blacks, a few, such as Doña Isabel de Urbina, became his strong and lifelong supporters.

At the end of his life, he fell ill with a degenerative disease and, for four years, he was treated neglectfully and brutally by the servant whose task it was to look after him. He did not complain but accepted his sufferings as a penance for his sins.

– Universalis

Col 2:6-15
Lk 6:12-19

You must live your whole life according to the Christ you have received – Jesus the Lord; you must be rooted in him and built on him and held firm by the faith you have been taught, and full of thanksgiving.

I love St Paul’s preaching, and his letters often speak to me. It’s so applicable even to this day. Sometimes, I feel as if he’s speaking to me.

Before my encounter with our Lord Jesus, I did not live my life according to Christ. I was a nominal Catholic who went to church every Sunday, lived life according to the secular world, made sure to send my children to catechism classes, and praying most when I’m in dire straits. I did not have a relationship with God. He was up there and I was down here. Truly, without a deep and powerful encounter where you have been touched or feel touched by the Lord, your faith is just an empty promise. That’s what I felt.

After baptism, life went back to normal. Then came the Sacrament of Confirmation, where I was bawling my eyes out as I felt deeply moved by the Holy Spirit. I almost didn’t go through with it because of a mortal sin. Upon reflection, I don’t know why my life did not transform as it should have then. It took me another 15 years before I found the Lord again. This time, Jesus made sure I really followed him and not go off to seek my own pursuits.

Being rooted in Christ and building my life on him means to eat, pray, and love Jesus every day. After my second conversion with CER (Conversion Experience Retreat), I can no longer go back to who I was, and neither can I live without Jesus. He became the love of my life (sorry, dear husband!). Each day as I awake, before each meal, whenever I encounter a challenge, feel worried about something, get anxious about things, and before I go to bed, I will always turn to Jesus without fail. He’s like my imaginary friend, a confidante whom I talk to all the time – except that he’s no longer imaginary, but real!

To live life according to Jesus is not easy at all. With eyes wide open means to see everything in His light. I can’t hide behind sin and pretend I don’t know what is wrong. The moment I do something wrong, my conscience wraps me up in a cloak of guilt, and I will feel an urgent need for reconciliation. It’s not easy to always know the right thing to do. The evil one knows how sensitive and vulnerable I am. This is why constant prayers (and talking and spending time with Jesus) helps me to stay focused on Him, to be given the graces to know right from wrong, to be quick to say ‘sorry’ and ask for forgiveness. To follow Jesus means to make sacrifices (i.e. our time), to give up a lot of things we used to love (which interestingly, I no longer miss), to be humble all the time and to watch our pride like a lion on its prey, as it can sneak up on us when we least expect it.

Life with Jesus is like going on a roller coaster ride (I don’t like them at all) but life becomes so much more exhilarating and less boring!   

(Today’s OXYGEN by Cynthia Chew)

Prayer: Dear Abba Father, we all need to have an encounter with your son Jesus, in order to follow His way and especially to fall in love with Him. An encounter that is meant just for us, and in your time. Help us to stay rooted in Him, for it is only through Him that we can find true love and the meaning of life. Amen. 

Thanksgiving: Thank you Jesus, our Lord and Saviour, for patiently waiting for us to come to you. You know how often we want to run away, but thank you for calling us your friend, sister, and daughter. Make us yours. Amen.