Growth Means Intimacy With Jesus
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Lent is a time to grow in holiness, to grow in our faith. But that definition is too vague to do us any good. What we are trying to do this Lent, and with our whole life is to grow in intimacy with Jesus. Heaven is union with Jesus. He is the destination. So, if the Goal is union with Jesus, then He is what we have to want. And we have to want intimacy with the Lord to be with Him.
After we want Him, then He has to come to you in a greater way. And He does if we cultivate the right dispositions. Jesus said to St. Angela of Foligno “If you make yourself a capacity, then I will make Myself a torrent.” And there are two steps to making ourselves a capacity to receive Jesus in a greater way: Emptying and Longing.
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There are two steps to making ourselves a capacity to receive Jesus in a greater way: Emptying and Longing.
We can’t long for God if we are satisfied with things from this world. We will never hunger for Jesus if we are stuffed with the things of this world, if we are preoccupied with the things here.
Therefore, the first step to long for Jesus is to empty ourselves of attachments and preoccupations with this world so that we can be filled with God. This begins with emptying from sin and from trying to satisfy yourself here. You can’t want Jesus if you want all your happiness and satisfaction here. But that is the trap. We are so preoccupied with trying to make ourselves happy here.
We can change this by making ourselves uncomfortable here.
That is what Lent is all about. We try to find all our happiness in our time, pleasures, and money. With Lent we sacrifice those things. We give time to God in prayer. We fast from pleasures and we give our money away to the Church and the poor. Why? Because we are so stuffed and preoccupied with those things we don’t hunger for God. So we empty ourselves to make ourselves hungry for intimacy with Him.
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The first step is empty ourselves of all that preoccupies us. The second step is to long for God – to desire Jesus.
If you want to desire Jesus more, then ask Him. Because it is His gift to give. “Jesus, please give me a greater desire and love for you.”
Then spend time with Jesus in prayer. In fact, prayer is to become a longing for God. The easiest way is to spend time with Jesus by reading His life in the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke or John. Then talk to Jesus from the Heart. And then just listen to Him in silence.
Each day, first thing in the morning, I get a cup of coffee, because Jesus likes me better after I have had some coffee, and I go to my little room in my house I made into a chapel, where I have a large image of Jesus, in the Divine Mercy. I pull up a chair right in front of Him, I read his life in the Gospels, I talk with him honestly and frankly from the heart, I listen to him and write down what he impresses on my mind and heart.
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St. Augustine said: God created you without you, but he cannot save you without you.” It is God’s job first to make us holy, but we must play our part. We must put forward the effort. It takes real effort. But let me give you a very strategic effort. Put all your effort into being aware of the presence of Jesus and your reliance upon Him. That is where the effort is – not in white knuckling your way out of sin and into virtue. That will only end in pride or despair. Instead. Practice becoming aware of the presence of Jesus and Jesus will give you the strength to overcome temptations and overcome even the temptation to put yourself into temptations.
Our effort is to constantly invoke Jesus to help us do better.
The Jesus prayer is a great way to do this. The Jesus prayer goes like this: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.”
And the Catechism teaches us that to say the name of Jesus over and over is the simplest way of praying always. When the holy name of Jesus is repeated often by a humbly attentive heart Jesus will help us do better.
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We finish our Rosary with a one-two punch to grow in intimacy with Jesus. For a few minutes every day, think about all your blessings and all your sins. The say to Jesus: “I can’t believe you are so good to me. What must you be like to be so good!”