Did I Offer Peace Today? Did I Reflect Jesus?

 

“We are not what we do. We are not what we have. We are not what others think of us. Coming home is claiming the truth. I am the beloved child of a loving Creator. We no longer have to beg for permission from the world to exist.”

~Henri Nouwen, 1932-1996, Catholic Priest, Writer, Psychologist

The priest in his homily yesterday at church was speaking of this priest, Father Henri Nouwen. He spoke about his struggles with his own faith and how he went to meet Saint Mother Teresa once and thought about what he would say to her and how the interaction would go. However, it all went wrong, as Mother Teresa was able to read him and told him he needed to spend more time praying in front of the Eucharist and spend time dwelling on the crucifixion and his life and death. Mother Teresa knew him. He wrote over 40 books and is famous for so many quotes and speaking, like his book, Following Jesus. He was a very well known spiritual writer in the 70-80's. I never knew of him, until the priest yesterday mentioned him, but it is amazing to find out so much about him, his writings, quotes, and all he did and wrote about, he was very prolific in his career. Very impressive. Like Henri, we are all on a journey, a spiritual journey and when we follow Jesus, when we obey God, when we reflect Jesus and be people of goodwill, we are on the right path of that holy and good and righteous path God wants us to be on. Jesus is key to it all. We need to be in constant prayer with Him. Reflect on his life and death and what He stands for. Be in from on the sacristy and pray, want Him in communion, receive Him in the Eucharist, and have Jesus live in you, reflecting Him in all we do. Henri Jozef Machiel Nouwen was a Dutch Catholic priest, professor, writer and theologian. His interests were rooted primarily in psychology, pastoral ministry, spirituality, social justice, and community as a whole. We are all on a journey like Father Nouwen, we all need to decide what we want to do with our lives, how we want to be remembered, and what we can offer to others as we follow Jesus and reflect His love!