“Come to Me and Have
Life” by Beth DeCristofaro
The LORD said to
Moses, "Go down at once to your people whom you brought out of the land of
Egypt, for they have become depraved. They have soon turned aside from the way
I pointed out to them … But Moses implored the LORD … So, the LORD relented in
the punishment he had threatened to inflict on his people. (Exodus 32:7-8,11,14)
But I have testimony greater than John's. The works that
the Father gave me to accomplish, these works that I perform testify on my
behalf that the Father has sent me. Moreover, the Father who sent me has
testified on my behalf. But you have never heard his voice nor seen his form,
and you do not have his word remaining in you, because you do not believe in
the one whom he has sent. You search the Scriptures, because you think you have
eternal life through them; even they testify on my behalf. But you do not want
to come to me to have life. (John 5:36-40)
Piety
May your testimony,
Lord Jesus, sink deeply into my soul and be expressed in my thoughts and
actions that I might have eternal life.
Study
As Jesus’ testimony
has been handed down, sometimes I feel as if I careen from learned writings to
sacred texts seeking Him. John of the
Cross, Henri Nouwen, Theresa of Avila, Richard Rohr, Thomas Merton, Cynthia
Bergault, Gerard Manly Hopkins, Mark Link, Pope Francis, Elizabeth Johnson, Teilhard
de Chardin, Pope Benedict and so many more I read. And I find inspiration. They witness to me in
words inspired by their deep relationship with Jesus. But I truly don’t find
Him.
His words to the
leaders of the Jews must have stung!
They practiced in the way that their fathers and their fathers’ fathers
handed to them. But you do not want to come to me to have life. And truly, without following the words of
these holy writers to the place of testimony where I meet Jesus, they are
hollow words.
That spark which I
feel while reading is only the beginning.
The hard work is to stop and pay attention to that spark. But that calls for me to put down the
inspirational words, lay aside the good things I do for others and the
important commitments I have in my daily life.
It calls me to be quiet, listening, feeling, closing the eyes of my
thinking mind to see beyond and deeper.
Jesus is
knocking! He comes to us in so many
ways: a shower of colors before us, a
tremor within, an awareness of a quickening heartbeat, a tiny interior sparkle,
the look in that person’s eyes you encountered, aurora borealis gleaming, an
absence more profound than our loneliness, a gentle air pressure of
presence. It can be scary! It demands that we leave behind what we
“know” and leap into the spiritual “unknowing”.
That is where we can be in His testimony and find that testimony to be a
part of ourselves, divinely bequeathed.
Action
My soul longs for you as the deer longs for running
water. Proclaims the Psalm
42. Let our soul take us where inspiring
words guide us. How is the Lord knocking
on your door this Lenten season? How do you come to Him to have life?
Illustration: “The Word was made Flesh”, St John’s Bible
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