10 minutes wih Jesus are group of Catholic priests who share friendship with Jesus, plus keenness to help young people of all ages to learn the art of loving Jesus and speaking to Him. You can find them in WhatsApp, Spotify, Ivoox, Telegram, Goggle Podcasts and Apple Podcast. Every saturday, we are going to share one meditation by 10 minutes with Jesus. Enjoy it.
My Lord and my God, I firmly believe that you are here, that you see me, that you hear me. I adore you with profound reverence, I beg your pardon for my sins, and the grace to make this time or prayer fruitful. My Immaculate Mother, St. Joseph, my Father and Lord, my guardian angel intercede for me.
The apostles and the parables
The apostles were always struggling to understand the parables Jesus would tell them, even just the basic stuff didn’t seem to make much sense to them, or maybe it was more than they just couldn’t make sense of it, in one sense it must have been really frustrating for them, listening to all the stuff and not understanding, and then having to ask Jesus again later on the day, what did all that mean. So, you can understand the apostles enthusiasm in the last supper, where it finally seems, so it seems to them, that Jesus is talking to them with clarity, they don’t need to get an explanation, and that’s where we enter the scene today, the apostle John tells us, his disciples said, yes, now you are speaking plainly, not in any figure of speech, now we know that you know all things, and do not need to have anyone question you, by this we believe that you came from God. Well, funnily enough, just like with the parables, they hadn’t actually understood that either, it’s because you speak the truth plainly, that we know you come from God they say, you can almost see the smile creep onto the face of Jesus Christ, as he looks at those souls whom he loves so much, those souls who are so enthused with the idea of helping him, even though it seems that they’re always bumbling along and getting it wrong. And now, he looks at them with that smile inside his heart, as they get it wrong, yet again, but this time they get it wrong in a different way, yet they do understand what he’s saying, and so they think that they’ve got it now all sorted, but they don’t. Jesus is about to lead them to the next level, they’re about to realize that believing the facts is one thing, but then that belief has to reach their heart, where they have the strength to believe with their actions. The thing is, our life with our lord is much more than hearing and believing, it’s believing and doing, we all kind of know that because in general we struggle much more with the doing than with the believing, and that’s what the apostles are just about to learn, so the gospel continues, Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each one to his own home and you will leave me alone.”
Souls and friends
And Jesus, I have to turn my voice to you now, and tell you that I see you there with those few souls whom you called friends, I see you smile slightly, even if only within yourself, as those bumbling souls you love get it wrong yet again, and you reach out to guide them, with the infinite patience that we’ve all seen you have with us as well. I see you talking with those few friends of yours, and I think how pleasant it must have been to have had those souls you loved around you, even with all their foibles they are still friends, and you still enjoyed their company, and with a certain sense of tragedy, I hear how the conversation goes, you tell them “you will be scattered each one to his home, and you will leave me alone.” The contrast of seeing you enjoy their company, and then being abandoned, left alone, well, that doesn’t fill anyone with joy. I think most of us know what it’s like to feel alone, it’s one of the great tragedies of the modern world, that we are so connected, and yet so alone, so we probably understand what you felt here, at least to some degree. I don’t know what it would have been like to have been abandoned like that, and what was your greatest hour of need. I think if it was me, I would have spent that long night of solitude, thinking of the people who had abandoned me, lamenting my solitude, feeling unloved, like someone forgotten and sidelined, unimportant and unwanted, and then, I listen to you, and even as you prophesy this, you want to both, console and teach the apostles. You tell them, yet I am not alone, because the father is with me, you wanted them to know that you would not be left completely abandoned, and that thought consoles us too. We think of the moments that we haven’t lived up to all your friendship has deserved, and we can see that you still look at us with the same loving smile that those apostles saw in your face time and again, we can see that you’re never alone, that’s a great consolation for every Christian, but to be honest lord, I think the lives of countless people would change, if they really understood what you are teaching us here, those simple words, – I am not alone because the father is with me. – I meant for us too. How many souls are there in this world who find themselves lonely? How many souls whom you love, alone with no friends, feel themselves so often trapped in solitude, even when surrounded by people. Lord, how many people feel the need to present a public persona, because they think that the real them, the one on the inside, is not worthy or approved or good enough for the world. But that real them, is the one you treasure and cherish, the one whose friendship and chance move you. There are so many souls who feel alone and abandoned, and need never feel like that, because just like you, they are always present in the love of the father. I can’t help but think lord that you are talking to those countless souls with these words, and with your deeds, we can look at your solitude, and the way that you are abandoned, even in your darkest moments, and realize that you suffered there for us. I pray that so many souls might realize how much you want them to know how you suffered the same as them, even more, and that you suffered it for them, to be with them in their suffering, and in their solitude too. Years ago a friend of mine told me about a trip she went on to Medjugorje, she went there already living the faith but she was carrying a lot of suffering with her, to be honest her path in life was anything other than easy, like pretty much everyone for all that we talk about the cross, the theory is very different to actually encountering it, and that young woman had suffered more than her faith shared of the cross.
It wasn´t easy
It wasn’t easy for her to cope with everything that had happened in her life, so she arrived to Medjugorje believing, maybe hoping, but not expecting, and most definitely hurting. She told me about the details of the trip, of bits and pieces that happened there, the place they stayed, the people they met, the stuff they ate, but all of that was by the by, then she told me something more, the real thing the thing which actually mattered, how she went to do the stations of the cross. Now, thinking of that friend, I could say that she already had enough of the cross, she didn’t need any more, but she told me how as she went through the stations of the cross, she saw how Jesus was there suffering everything that she suffered, being there and enduring it even before her, and without any mystical visions, that Jesus was telling her “everything that you have suffered, I have suffered too, and I suffered it for you and with you, you will never be alone.” That young woman certainly didn’t need any more of the cross, but she did need to discover that Jesus was there waiting for her, as he is for you and I as well.
At the end of today’s gospel, Jesus tells the apostles “I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace, in the world you face persecution, but take courage, I have conquered the world.” He wants you to have peace, and that’s why he has come before us in our suffering, when you feel yourself alone, abandoned, unwanted, look to Jesus Christ, and see that he has also found himself alone, abandoned and unwanted, and that he wanted to be there for love of you, so that even if everything else fails, you would know that he is with you, and will never leave you, he will never leave you alone. Oh mother Mary help us to know how your son wants us to never suffer solitude and loneliness without him, that our God longs to keep us company, even in those melancholic times, and so he calls out to us in the depths of his own loneliness, crying out for a chance to accompany us.
It´s the end
I thank you my god for the good resolutions, affections and inspirations which you have communicated to me in this time of prayer. I ask your assistance in putting them into effect. My immaculate Mother, Saint Joseph my father and my Lord, my guardian Angel, intercede for me.
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