Seeing Jesus

Last week, I asked my 8th grade religion class where they had seen Jesus in the last week.  I asked them to reflect on that question for a few minutes so that we could go around the room and share.  Immediately upon asking the question, they shouted out, “What do you mean?  This question doesn’t make any sense! We don’t understand!”  This got me thinking about how there are so many people who see Jesus as just a man who lived and died 2,000 years ago and who died on the cross a long time ago for our sins.  This mindset makes Jesus irrelevant and outdated.  However, this could not be further from the truth.  Christ is with us always, alive and moving in our lives and He wants to have a personal relationship with each and every one of us.

Our task is to learn to recognize that Jesus is present in the moments throughout our days.  This takes faith.  The stronger our faith is, the easier it becomes to be aware of His presence.  He is continually loving us, speaking to us, and calling us to love and serve Him.  We must continually seek Him and invite Him into our lives.  

To have a relationship with the God of the universe who created us and loves us changes everything.  It allows us to be fully alive and to live more abundantly.  It allows us to love others better and see the value and dignity of every person we encounter.

We can experience Jesus every day if we open our minds and hearts to Him.  Whether it’s through the people around us, inspiring words we read or hear, or a situation that we witness, He is there.  We can only begin to recognize Jesus in our lives when we spend time getting to know Him more.  Jesus is more than just a statue hanging in church.  He is working in our lives and in our hearts, as long as we invite Him in.  Jesus is always present in our lives, it’s just a matter of us recognizing Him.
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Jesus, thank you for your presence in our lives.  Help us to see you and hear your voice in the noise of the world.  Give us a desire to deepen our relationship with You so that we could become more aware of your constant love for us. Amen.