The Love of Jesus

In comparison with the love of Jesus, everything else is secondary. And without the love of Jesus, everything else is useless.--Pope John Paul 2

 

It often hits me that I only know Jesus a little bit. I fool myself sometimes thinking I know Him better than I do. And this is understandable, we all want to feel like we know the One living inside us. But He is as mysterious to our minds as we are to ourselves. He is Truth. He is Real, and He is Other. He is seen only with faith and a pure heart. He is not easily embraced, and if someone tells you that He is, they don't know Him as well as think they do. (Listen to them with only one ear.) This is why we must never rest in our pursuit of Jesus. Every Saint you ever study will end up telling you one thing, dig deeper! Pope John Paul 2 said that, "everything else is secondary." Do we truly believe this, and treat the world around us this way? "Without the love of Jesus, everything else is useless." Is this true? Is everything in this life useless to me compared to the love of Jesus? I want to scream, YES! But honestly, I have to struggle on. I worry about things to the point of anger and anxiety. I allow my fears to make me try on my own instead of looking to Him, and waiting on Him. But, St. Paul said this, "I press on!" St. Paul knew the love of Jesus, he knew Jesus probably better than any man of his time. Yet, he said things like, "I have not yet attained the calling for which I was called heavenward in Christ Jesus." If St. Paul felt this, whew! This is why I am so thankful for the Church and the Sacraments, and the Saints. Jesus did not leave us alone in this expedition. Never try to dig without the help of the Church! I have done this in the past, and it always brought me to something strange and self possessed, not community, and not the love of Jesus.

 

wkm