Preparation for Total Consecration

WEEK 4:
KNOWLEDGE OF OUR LORD

The New Testament is largely the result of the impact made on the early Church by the risen Jesus; he is Lord. In that light they were 'christened' - baptised into his Church, and there contemplated and tried to live his teaching. We, like them, should want to enjoy a present relationship with our risen Lord as reflected in the Gospel.

Fourth Day: Lk. 7: 31-35

CHILDLIKE NOT CHILDISH

Parable.To what shall I compare ... this generation, what are they like? They are like children sitting in the market-place and calling to one another:
'We piped to you, and you did not dance:
We wailed, and you did not weep'.
For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine; and you say, 'He has a demon'. The Son of Man has come eating and drinking: and you say, 'Behold a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax-collectors and sinners!' Yet wisdom is justified by all her children.

Reflection.What does it take to get through to me? God in Christ approaches me through the sacraments, Scripture, people, and the events of everyday life. Do I see the presence, love, and welcome of God there? Can 'a friend of sinners' be a friend of mine?

Jesus no doubt observed the children arguing: 'Let's play weddings? No, let's play funerals? No.' Some cannot be bothered.

John the Baptist came from God as an ascetic and they said he was demon-possessed from his time in the desert. Jesus comes loving and friendly, and he too is rejected because of the company he keeps. How could someone claiming to speak for God spend so much time with people who formally seemed to have little time for God?

Whatever approach is taken, many will find reason to reject it. Could this be because their knowledge of God is so limited that they are incapable of recognising the authentic voice of God? And this in people who claim to be devoted to God!

The constant struggle must have made Jesus feel mind-weary and bone-weary so often. How can I tell them? Jesus broke down at times: 'How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not' (Lk. 13: 34). Finally, he tried to get through to all of us by giving his life. Has he reached me?

Prayer.Lord Jesus, you try so many ways to reach me. Yet, like the spoilt child, unwilling to play any game that his or her friends are playing, I can refuse to let you near me. Unless you speak to me in words and situations in which I am comfortable, perhaps I will not listen.

May your Mother, who received you into her arms at Bethlehem and Calvary, encourage me to receive you into my heart always and everywhere.

Montfort.'We consecrate ourselves at one and the same time to Mary and to Jesus. We give ourselves to Mary because Jesus chose her as the perfect means to unite himself to us and unite us to him' (TD 125).