Anointed

“Christ has no body now on earth but yours; no hands but yours; no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes through which the compassion of Christ must look out on the world. Yours are the feet with which He is to go about doing good. Yours are the hands with which He is to bless His people." -St. Teresa of Avila

YOU are the hands and the feet of Christ. YOU have been anointed to bring the good news to all the world. When we were baptized, we were anointed with holy oil (chrism) to have a share in Christ as priest, prophet, and king. This confers on us a missionary spirit - the anointing to preach the Gospel, to teach people about Jesus, to bring them to Jesus, to BE Jesus to others in a world desperately in need of Him.

How is Christ’s anointing challenging you? We have all been anointed; we are all commissioned by God. In what way is God wanting you to exercise your missionary spirit? What is He giving you an anointing for? Sometimes it is to reach out to a friend we know is having a rough time; sometimes it’s to minister to the poor; sometimes it’s to teach our own children how to pray; sometimes it’s to start something new in our lives that stretches us.

Friends, the world needs Jesus! We are called to be Jesus to the world. How will you be Jesus to someone this week?

Photo Source: https://myhillsongcollegeexperience.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/stock-footage-close-up-of-bottle-pouring-olive-oil.jpg

Do Whatever He Tells You

 

Do we do what Jesus tells us? Mary tells the wedding servers to do whatever Jesus tells them. Their obedience results in a miracle - Jesus’ first recorded miracle in fact.

When Jesus tells the servers to fill several big jars full of water, I like to imagine what the servers might have been thinking: “Um. Jesus, you know it’s wine that we’re out of right? Not water. What good will jugs of water do? This is a waste of time.” Maybe they thought these things, but maybe they didn’t. Regardless of what might have been going through their heads, they did what Jesus told them to without stopping to question Him - no matter how odd or pointless or difficult it seemed.

Here are five important things that Jesus tells us to do:
‘Love one another as I have loved you’ John 15:12
‘Repent and believe in the Gospel’ Mark 1:15
‘Keep my commandments’ John 14:15
‘Love your enemies… do good to those who hate you’ Matthew 5:44
‘Come to me… Learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart’ Mt 11:28-29

When people do what Jesus tells them, that is when miracles happen like at Cana - that is when lives are transformed. When Jesus told Mary Magdalene ‘Go, and sin no more’, she did just that, she received a miracle of spiritual healing. When Jesus told the blind man, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam’ he did, and received a physical miracle of being able to see again. When Jesus told the apostles, ‘Come, follow me’, and they did, their hearts were opened to see the Lord, and their lives were elevated. These requests Jesus made of people (and many others throughout the Gospels) probably seemed impossibly difficult, silly, or strange. But the people had faith. Jesus performed miracles because of the people’s faith. (See Luke 7:50, Mark 10:52, Matthew 9:22, Luke 8:48, Mark 5:34, etc.)

Sometimes doing what Jesus tells us seems odd, pointless, or just downright difficult (doing good to those who hate you, for instance). But that’s exactly when He has a distinct purpose in mind - we just have to do what He says, and trust Him with the outcome. We have to let our faith in Him be our strength.

We too will experience healings, transformations, and miracles (large or small), by doing one simple thing: doing what Jesus tells us. Follow His commandments (all of them); repent of your sins (all of them); love others - including your enemies, and come to Jesus; learn from Him. We are more likely to imitate others the more we spend time with them. Who can argue that we all could use to become a little more like Jesus? Spend time with Him (especially in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament), follow Him, do whatever He tells you, and your life will be made new. Your faith - true, real, deep faith in following Jesus - will save you.


Photo Source: http://www.amyekeh.com/blog/2016/1/12/how-to-pray-for-wine-at-a-party