JESUS, OUR CONSTANT COMPANION
Wednesday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time
My dear encountered couples:
“The crowds went in search of Jesus, and when they found him they tried to keep him from leaving them.” It is not Jesus who leaves anyone, it is people who leave him.
Whether born Christian or converted later, any separations of people from Christ is brought about by the people themselves. For Christ to leave us is not a matter for us to worry about. For us to leave Christ should be our concern. We can so easily become enamored with other things, we can so easily fall in love with other things and out of love with Christ that it is we ourselves, our hearts that are the problem.
It is our hearts we must watch and control. They so easily and quickly fall in and out of love that it is a wonder Christ ever believes any of our words and promises of commitment to him. One day, one moment we are with him, the next we are off after something else. We are apt to be very fickle. It is not Christ’s presence with us that is unreliable; it is our presence with him.
Though in our gospel story Jesus did leave the people - he told them he had to be off to “announce the good news to other towns” -he remains present, spiritually present, at the beck and call of anyone who really wants him.
Try not to let that slip your mind. Wherever you go, whatever you do, Christ is with you. But will make himself noticed only when you want to notice him; he forces himself upon no one. You are the one in control. Christ is faithful to you; he is your constant companion. He is always with you and loving you - unconditionally. It is not Jesus who ever leaves people, it is we who leave him.
