Rev. Rawley Myers - Daily Reflections with Jesus

DAILY REFLECTIONS
WITH JESUS

Come to Me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:25).

DAILY REFLECTIONS WITH JESUS

THIRTY-ONE INSPIRING REFLECTIONS AND CONCLUDING PRAYERS PLUS POPULAR PRAYERS TO JESUS

By
REV. RAWLEY MYERS

Illustrated

CATHOLIC BOOK PUBLISHING CORP.

New Jersey

NIHIL OBSTAT: Francis J. McAree, S.T.D.

Censor Librorum

IMPRIMATUR: Patrick J. Sheridan, D.D.

Vicar General, Archdiocese of New York

(T-740)

1995 Catholic Book Publishing Corp., N.J.

eISBN 978-0-89942-209-1

www.catholicbookpublishing.com

PREFACE

A Note about Jesus

T HERE is no better way to follow Christ than by talking to Him and visiting with Him, which is prayer, and reflecting upon Him and what He said. Our Faith is not somethingit is Someone, the Savior. We must think about Him. And the more we know Him, the more we love Him and want to follow Him. This is what our religion is all about.

You can gain heaven without knowing the names of the vestments the priest wears at Mass or how many candles to light for Benediction or the size of the Vatican, but can you be a Christian and gain eternal life without knowing Christ?

Dont get bogged down in side issues, unimportant matters, trivia. Too many in the Church today play the game of trivial pursuit in religion. What matters is Christ. And He matters most; to know Him, to love Him, to follow Him. And the more you know Jesus the more you will be thrilled about the Faith.

The more you visit Him and reflect upon Him, the more your faith will come alive. Not some dull, if not boring, routine. You will be like the people in Palestine long ago when He came into their village. You will see Him, His face aglow and full of love, and you will listen to Him and say, No man has ever spoken like this Man.

Jesus is joy, He is love, He is glory. And right now at this very moment He holds out His arms to embrace you.

A Note about You

No one can know Jesus for you. You can only know Him for yourself. I may know a prominent person. I can tell you about him, but this is secondhand knowledge. You will never really know him unless you meet him in person.

The best another individual can do is introduce you to Christ. And then you will get to know Him by visiting Him on your own. I urge you then with all my heart to take time to reflect on Jesus.

When people mature and get over the juvenile notion that life is for fun, they begin, at last, to think seriously and see that Jesus is important. And He alone can make us happy. The trouble is the media night and day inundates us with their phony philosophy that life is to have fun, every day a picnic, happy time. They do this, of course, to sell their products.

To overcome all such false propaganda is not easy, and some people just never grow up. They have juvenile notions all their lives and act like silly teenagers. How sad.

One is mature when he thinks about Jesus.

CONTENTS

Reflections

St. Thomas the Apostle accepts the Risen Jesus as his Lord and God.

Day 1

Jesus, Our Joy and Our Hope

T HE life of Jesus is incredible to a loveless people. He loves us so much that He gave His life for us. He came on earth to save us from being devoured by our own selfishness. But because we are so self-centered it is most difficult for us to comprehend how Jesus could love us so much.

There is so much pride in our day. Few people seem to see things as they are. And so many people are unhappy. Bishop Sheen said, Never in the history of the world have so many people been so unhappy as they are today. They are unhappy because they think they can buy happiness. But it is not for sale.

Jesus is our model. He alone can show us the way to be happy in this world and to gain eternal happiness in the life to come. Christ is the source of all joy and of everlasting enthusiasm.

The Risen Christ, marked with the five wounds, is our hope. He in glory prays before the Father, and when we pray we pray with Him, and the Father embraces Him and embraces us. What could be more wonderful on this earth?

Christ is certitude. He is music, song, and sunshine. With Jesus there is no room for gloom, no room for mediocrity. Jesus is joy, if one truly knows Him. We come to know Him through prayer, for prayer is visiting with our Lord. Christ alone reveals the true meaning of our humanity.

Prayer

O JESUS, even when You were weary of limb, You had time for sinners. Come to my assistance. Bless me, help me. Your love is ever searching for souls. You pursue us constantly.

Give me the grace and the courage to turn to You in prayer so You can give Your gracious graces to me and my loved ones. Amen.

The Archangel Gabriel tells Mary that her Son will be the Son of God and Savior.

Day 2

Jesus, Son of the Living God

W HY, unless God loves us, should He have given us His only Son? The Incarnation was a torrential invasion of Gods love, so great that it overwhelms us.

Here on earth Christ founded a kingdom of love. In the Our Father we pray that it will prosper. But it is opposed by so many forces in our society. We must pray all the more that love will overcome hostility, that the kingdom of Christ will be victorious over the Evil One. Proud, power-hungry men in His day would not listen to Christ. Then, as now, they did not want Him around.

We must give Jesus a chance in our lives so that we may become Christlike. He gave the example for us so that we may do as He did. He is our model. Our goal is to imitate Christ.

One night long ago the cry of a Child was heard in a manger, and ever since the world has not been able to silence that cry. People everywhere have tried to do so. In our day they do not directly oppose Jesusthey just ridicule religion. They call it old fashioned and out of date.

The enemies of Christ sway the crowd by telling them what they want to hear. And they make money on having our society think childishly that life is all playtime. They promote this notion in every way through the media, and then laugh all the way to the bank at the stupidity of the public. And Jesus weeps.

Prayer

D EAR Jesus, the Incarnation is God bowing down to us. You came to be with us to help us. Thank You, Lord. This tremendous event showed once and for all Your great and overwhelming love for us. Thank You, Jesus.

But bless me, O Christ, so that I will take advantage of Your love and turn to You and pray to You and grow in soul. Amen.

After preaching in His hometown, Jesus is rejected by His own people.

Day 3

Jesus, Rejected by the World

H E came unto His own and His own received Him not. He was, from a worldly point of view, a failure. He lived in Palestine, a place of no importance. No one took seriously this little land. He was born in a cave, not a palace. When God became Man He chose a poor woman, quiet and gentle, for His Mother. He as a teacher selected fishermen for His companions and He preached to the poor.