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Radiate Love

Radiate Love: Do You Radiate Christ to Others?
Dr. Edward Sri

Do you realize the people around you are depending on you to pray every day?

I know that my wife and children, for example, need a lot more than my human love for them. They need Christ loving them through me. But that can only happen if I have a consistent, daily prayer life. I do sincerely love my family. But I also know my love is tainted by my own pride, selfishness, weakness, wounds, and sin. My wife and children need more that what I can give them on my own. They need Christ’s love supernaturally working through me. And that comes from daily prayer.

How about you? Consider the people at work, in your parish, and in your community, the people you serve: do you give them more than merely your own personal skills talent, wisdom, leadership abilities, or charming personality?

We should use all of our humanity, of course, to give the best of ourselves to  others in all we do. But the best of ourselves, actually, is more than ourselves. It is Christ radiating through us.

How about your family, your spouse, your closest friends—do the people in your life encounter something in you bigger than you are? Do they encounter Jesus Christ radiating through you?

Mother Teresa emphasized this point with her Missionary of Charity sisters throughout the world….they recite a prayer that contains this beautiful petition to Jesus: “Shine through us, and be so in us, that every soul we come in contact with my feel your presence in our soul. Let them look up and see no longer us but only  Jesus.

What a remarkable prayer! “Let them look up and see no longer us by only Jesus.”

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if every soul we come in contact with each day—our spouse, our children, our friends, our colleagues at work, the people in the parish, the poor on the street—if every person we meet each day looked up and saw “no longer us but only Jesus!”

If we wish to truly radiate Christ in this world, we must be committed to daily prayer.

Rejoice in the Lord Always

Gaudete Sunday in Advent is a day to celebrate the joy of anticipating Christmas. The name comes from the Latin word Gaudete, which means, "rejoice." The day's theme is a shift in focus from "The Lord is coming" to "The Lord is near." The excitement for the birth of Jesus was tangible in Mary and Joseph, let us recall our own excitement when we were children, anticipating the beautifully decorated church with lit trees adorning the sanctuary. There is a certain peace in knowing the church draws us into the real reason for Christmas, namely the birth of Jesus. How do we celebrate Advent and the coming of Christ in the form of a newborn child?

Amid the stress of cleaning, baking, decorating, shopping, wrapping, and getting ready for company, often there is little time to experience the joy and peace of Christ’s coming.  Living in a culture of immediate satisfaction, it is very hard for us to slow down, to immerse ourselves in silence and prayer. 

This past summer, as part of a course I took, we attended a 10-day silent Ignatian retreat. We participated in daily Mass, Adoration, and an hour of spiritual direction. Outside of that. . . total silence. Of the five chapels on campus, I found a tiny chapel dedicated to the Annunciation of Mary. A simple but beautiful tabernacle was in the center. I had to silence so many things I carried into the retreat: work, and what was not completed before I left, the news of my younger sister, diagnosed with cancer, and suffering multiple injuries after being hit by a car, and the shock that her 30-year-old son had died unexpectedly. I knew I had to focus on what God had in mind, not what I was carrying. After all, he knew what was heavy on my heart.

I was reminded of today’s scripture from the second reading: “Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition…then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and mind in Christ Jesus” (Phil.4: 6-7). When the 10 days were over, there was an amazing wealth of PEACE in my heart, a peace that I have never experienced. In that peace, I experienced, to this very moment, unexplainable JOY.

It is counter cultural to slow down and place ourselves in silence before Jesus. I invite you dear friends to come to the church or chapel and just sit quietly before the tabernacle and allow God to silence your heart and fill you with JOY. He is waiting, and longs to fill you with his love.

He's got This

Apologies to my mom in heaven and sister in Vernon who will roll their eyes as the word “got” is used thirteen times in this reflection.

Walking through the school hallway, you hear some interesting phrases. One that caught my attention was “I got this.” This phrase was more popular when our son was in grade school, complete with an inflection at the end. A few years ago, our campus access road was named “you got this.” On the softball field, a fly ball is met with “I got it.” We are proud; don’t need anyone to help us. We got this. Right?

Wrong!

While it may be true that you and I think we “got it,” the truth is we don’t “got this” and we don’t need to get it alone. The Good News is God’s got it and He provides everything we need to get it.

Fast forward to the Mass of Remembrance, a beautiful part of the grieving process. How else can you explain it? Families coming together to put their trust in God after losing a loved one. Having participated as a grieving family the past two years with the loss of my mom in 2023 and mother-in-law in 2024, it became quite clear. We don’t got it. God does.

All of us have or know people who have challenges or are suffering . . . medical issues, mental health, relationships, finances, and a host of other things. I am not saying doctors don’t play a part (lest the Pastor get upset with me), and we certainly have an important role in dealing with our own issues and those of someone we love or simply know. God puts the people we need right in front of us. Sometimes we are the person who is called to be the support and guidance needed for another.

What can we do? Pray. Pray WITH others...right then and right there. Be Christ to someone in that moment. Don’t worry, He will give you what you need in the moment.

Lean in. “Let go and Let God.” Give it to Him fully and without reservation. Listen to Him. While we “got a little,” He’s got it all. All we need to do is ask Him and trust Him. One day we hope to understand His reasons for all that occurs in our lives, the blessings and the challenges. For now, just know . . . He’s Got This.