When Love wants to stay with us

1/  I'm coming to you, do you want it?

« Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for today I must abide at thy house. » (Lk 19:5) The day you chose to follow Jesus, was it not because you understood how important you were, loved in a unique way? Wasn't your heart burning during this meeting? Many testimonies of conversion attest to the Love of Jesus which heals, which lifts up, which liberates. It's the start of a new life. Indeed, Jesus extends this invitation to me personally throughout my life. Zacchaeus was not the person with whom we thought we would see Jesus settling down. Jesus did not ask him to change before going to his house. As he was he asked her to welcome him. Because Jesus is not afraid of what we are, of what is wrong with us, of what smells bad. He's not coming to judge me. He knows my weaknesses, But doesn't point out them. He is just waiting for consent to act. It’s Love knocking at the door. Even though I have known him for a long time, it is today that Jesus asks me again: and do you want me to go and stay with you? Do you want to let me act in you? Do you agree to give me your life today as it is? Do you want to welcome my Holy Spirit, awaken the breath that I gave you on the day of your baptism? Every day Jesus stands there waiting for us to meet, thirsty for this time of shared  love. 

2/ Who is he who wants to stay with me?

It is this merciful Father who awaits the lost son, who constantly says “ my son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. ” (Lk 15:31) He is a father who never stops calling us by our name. God has a desire that I constantly come to him, to meet him, in intimacy with him, in a relationship of shared Love. As a gentleman he will not enter my home if I do not open the door of my heart to him. He only expects a YES from you to act. Do not be afraid of your weaknesses, the Lord tells us. Through my spirit I want to reveal all the treasures that I have deposited in you and which are currently buried. I desire to bring you into my peace, my joy. As you are, where you are, you can be a witness for others if you want. Do you want it? 

3/ What call to love do I receive?

What testimony of Love am I today? Do I, following Jesus, pushed by the Spirit, have mercy for those I encounter in suffering? Do I have gestures of love in my family for my husband, my wife, my children and other family members? Saint Paul tells us “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal" (1 Cor 13,1). He does not speak of this easy love that is sold to us almost everywhere today, he speaks to us of Love, the love of Jesus, the love of the Father. This love which gives itself, which forgives, this Love which gives its life on the cross to save me, to save those I am around, those I meet, those whom the Lord has put on my path. It is he who has had his heart pierced who thirsts for our “  yes  ” When I look at the abominable sufferings, humiliations that Jesus suffered for our salvation and he says to me “  come after me and I will make you fishers of men  ” (Mt 4:19), am I ready to say YES I want it? Like Abraham, who did not know God's plan, will I agree to set out? Like Mary, I would not understand everything, but she said “  YES  ”, and she constantly renewed this abandonment, even at the foot of the cross, in suffering. And on the path of life, through the resurrection of Jesus she was always present at the heart of this nascent Church. Today it is we who are invited to this  daily “ YES  ”, this yes of Abraham, of Mary, of the Disciples, of the Saints. The same “  Yes  ” that Jesus gave to his Father in Gethsemane by agreeing to die on the cross “  nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. ” (Mt 26:39). Because it is to a merciful Father that we say yes. It is by inviting his Holy Spirit to be present with me every day that I too could love like Jesus “ love one another as I have loved you  ” (Jn 15:12). He’s the one who will make me go beyond my “  yes Lord” but this one, you saw what he did to me or how he is, what he does…. In the Church, let us be witnesses of Jesus so that everyone can exclaim “  Look how they love each other » (Jn 13:35). Let us joyfully recognize the talents, charismas and gifts of others, let us not be jealous, and let us grow what the Lord gives us, in his love. Let us accompany each other with fraternal love on a path of holiness. During this time of Lent, I am aware of my weaknesses, but not to dwell on them. For I trust my God in your Love, I know that the price of my sins has been paid, that even death no longer has a hold on me. So yes Lord I trust in you, I say “  YES  ” to you, I give you my life, give it back to you every morning. Take it, teach me, heal me, do with me what you please. Yes Lord I know that you love me and I give you this “  YES  ” as a sign of my love for you. Expand my heart a little more every day so that my yes is a little bigger every day. May I be a sower of your love. Make love grow through your Holy Spirit for my brothers and sisters, especially for those who annoy me, who have hurt me. Teach me to be of service to others like you, rebuke me when I lose patience or criticism, teach me to reject jealousy. We all know, love is given freely, let's not expect recognition in return. Lord, make my heart impatient for our daily encounters, may I be filled with your mercy so that I find in you the grace to be a little more witness of love for others every day. That when you stand at my door may I be eager for this meeting; unclogged in me the source of living water that I have too often buried, made it spring up into a source of life.

Béatrice Grosjean