March 7, 2009 Message by David Johnson
Practice:
The following prayer was written by Cardinal John Henry Newman and Mother Teresa and the Sisters of Charity reflected on it daily. Take a moment in morning, maybe when you first get up, as you sit down to breakfast, or as you get in the car, to pray this prayer.
Dear Jesus,
Shine through me and be so in me that every soul I come in contact with may feel your presence in my soul.
Let them look up and see no longer me, but only Jesus!
Stay with me and then I will begin to shine as you shine, so to shine as to be a light to others.
The light, O Jesus, will be all from you; none of it will be mine.
It will be you, shining on others through me.
Let me thus praise you in the way which you love best, by shining on those around me.
Let me preach you without preaching, not by words but by example, by the catching force, the sympathetic influence of what I do, the evident fullness of the love my heart bears for you. Amen.
Experience:
Dave said this weekend that Jesus is the most compelling reason to believe in God and that “Jesus comes shining through,” even in difficult situations. Choose someone who you interact with regularly throughout the week that is a struggle for you right now. It could be a family member, a co-worker, a friend, a neighbor. Each time you interact with that person look for all the ways, whether small or big, in which “Jesus is shining through.” Journal about what you find and look back over it at the end of the week.
Questions:
1. What “clues” in your life have pointed you to believe in God?
2. What experiences in your life have made it difficult for you to believe in God? Why?
3. Where in your life have you seen Jesus come shining through?
4. What areas of your life do you want Jesus to come shining through right now? What would that look like?
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