Every morning I begin the day with the same prayer: “ Today may there be more of Jesus and Less of Me.” I say those words out loud some times, other times I pray it quietly as I sit in the chapel in my home, many times before a difficult meeting or encounter with someone I say it.....“ Today may there be more of Jesus and Less of Me.”
I do because I believe with every fabric of my soul that if I get that right, then my life takes a whole different turn; that is how I begin to discover the life that Jesus has promised we could have - an abundant life - a full filling life. I know that on those day when there is more of Jesus than me - that I am a better person, better son, sibling, uncle and even a better Pastor.
Those of you who have ever come to see me for counselling or a chat, or have heard me speak in other venues before - you know I say that phrase often - sometimes I wonder if anyone listens though. Well, not that long ago - along with a friend I went to Chilli’s restaurant near Toronto for some Nachos - and I ran into someone in an unusual place that I guess was listening - The Men’s Room at Chilli’s Restaurant ! Standing in the bathroom - a fellow came in and it was obvious he had one too many margaritas with his burritos - and he said “ hey your that priest!”
Not wearing a trace of black I wondered how he knew me and then he said “ I heard you speak in Oakville - you’re the one that said if you have more of Jesus and less of me.” That’s great but I have a question - I know how to get more of me - but what I need to know is how do I get more of Jesus.
I thought to myself - for crying out loud I thought I am in the bathroom. He kept pressing for answers - we can only stay in there so long - so I said what I could - but I have been thinking about that guy - he was struggling to get it. In spite of his alcohol - he had enough sense to realize that his greatest problems was himself!
When things go wrong - life doesn’t make sense - stuff just doesn’t come together - our dream is not a reality - well - we like to blame other people, circumstances, disabilities, age - but sometimes the biggest problem is ourselves - we keep getting in the way. How do you get more of Jesus - how do you get yourself out of the way?
The Gospel of today (Luke 15:1-3,11-32), the familiar story of the Prodigal Son - is a story of a young man who well - thought more of me than his Father. But I love the line in the Gospel that reflect that the son finally got it - "he came to his senses” - and returned to the Father!
Now, have you ever heard of C-4 - it’s a plastic explosive - pretty stable - has to have detonator in order to work. You can mould it into cracks or crevasses. It looks harmless - but when its detonated - it will change the landscape with a single blast. C- 4 is also the way to get more of Jesus and less of me
Create Compelling Connections to Christ !
1. Create Time with the Word of God: read the manual, learn the instructions, hold on to the life principles, know the vision, grab hold of the values. Time with His word - the bible - is very important. Recently a young adult in the parish indicated that he had tried reading the bible - little bit each day - but that there is so much of it he did not understand. So he stopped. I say to you that is ok - for now to read on without understanding - but above all keep reading - because you will hit a point where all of sudden something will convict you - convince you - confirm you in the faith - and bang - the dynamite will go off - keep at it!
2. Live with Compelling Passion: don’t be luc warm - be devoted to the Faith. Are you a Catholic Christian only on Sunday - or do you stand up for the principles of our faith 7 days of the week?
A buddy of mine began on January 1st a diet. On January 3rd he finished his diet. Didn’t say successfully. But here is the thing; he came to realization that you can take a piece of chicken, you can remove the skin from it and broil it. You can take a bowl of berries and then add a small portion of broccoli and eat that and say I had a healthy meal. But if you do that one day a week and implode yourself with Big Macs the rest of the week - your doomed! What makes us think that being one day a week at Church is all it take to be a healthy Christian ? It’s a start - but you have to be at it every day ! Prayer, Eucharistic Adoration, Scripture times, Small Groups - we need all or some of that in addition to Sunday Mass in order to really be spiritually healthy.
3. Connect things - see the big picture. Recently an article reflected upon the work force that is entering places of employment today - they have become a mechanical generation. They accomplish tasks but do not get a sense of the purpose for what they do. Think of the technology of today which makes us think of steps, and buttons, but not big picture. We don’t study things, we don’t try and inter connect things - we just want to get the job done. That can creep into our spiritual lives too - we just want to get prayer done. Wrong! Our way there is not just about getting the "job done"; its about connecting the principles of Christ to our life and becoming who He wants us to be!
4. Christ first and foremost - I was talking to a group of people recently and they said they don’t come to Church that much. Why? Well cause when they go the sermon is boring, the music doesn’t entertain them, the people are not friendly - they don’t get anything out of it! I wanted to say well stop going to that parish and come to mine - none of that is true. But I also wanted to scream “ Its not about you!” We don’t come to a relationship saying I want you to please me! Mass is about our relationship with Christ; we come looking for a mutual connection. We don’t come to Christ saying entertain me - we come to Christ because He loves us - gave us life and now we give Him ourselves - “ Its not about you!” - so get out of the way!
Do you know what made the prodigal son comes to his senses? He realized he was no longer compelling connected to His Father! How about you ?
Say it with me “Today may there be more of Jesus and Less of Me.”