5th Sunday, Know Jesus is With You

 

In today's Gospel, after Philip asked Jesus to be able to see the Father and Our Lord responded, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? To have seen me is to have seen the Father.” (John 14:9)

If you know Jesus, then you know He is always with you, and you invite Him to go with you wherever you go.

This last Thursday, I said a prayer to Jesus in the Tabernacle saying, "Lord, let's go to the Senior Center. Please come with me."

On Thursdays, the Senior Center has a meal for seniors and it only costs $5. The food is delicious! And you don't have to be a senior to eat there.

I eat there a few times a month. As I was walking down the street, and as I came to a corner, one block from Main Street, I noticed a man driving a golf cart, rather fast, who about to run a stop sign. And just then, a pickup truck was entering the intersection. I quickly looked at the truck and then looked at the man in the golf cart. Because I quickly turned my head in both directions, the man saw that he was about to have a terrible collision with a pickup truck traveling at least 20 miles an hour. By turning my head quickly, it caused the man on the golf cart to slam on his brakes. His cart made a loud screech and skid at least 10 feet leaving a black trail of rubber. He stopped before entering the intersection.

Had I not been in the exact location, at that exact time, there most likely would have been a terrible crash between a pickup truck and a golf cart.

At that moment, I realized Jesus answered my prayer and was with me. He inspired me to be there on my way to Senior Center to prevent a terrible accident. But that was not the end of it.

Because I arrived late to the Senior Center, the ladies were cleaning tables, and so I asked for a meal to go. While she was packing my food, I took out the trash, and when I returned, a different lady accidentally tossed food in the empty trash can with no liner. I had just removed the trash liner to take out the trash.

Seeing, that it was impossible for her to clean the trash can, I cleaned out the garbage can, took my meal and departed.

Then as I was walking down the street, I saw an elderly man with a shopping cart full of bottled water. I walked across the street and helped him put it in his car.

When I returned his cart to the grocery store, I met a man at the grocery store who was very sick and on oxygen. We had nice conversation and so I said a prayer for him.

As I walking back to the house, it dawned on me, Jesus was with me in all these places and it was Jesus who inspired me to help others. Jesus put me in that location to prevent a terrible accident. Jesus motivated me take out the garbage. Jesus helped me clean the garbage can. Our Lord caused me to look in the direction of the older man to help him put the bottled water in his car and then to visit and pray for the sick man, who is on oxygen.

All this happened in about a 30 min. And it was clear Jesus answered my prayer, "Lord come be with me."

Fr. Dan Rehill a priest of the diocese of Nashville, Tennessee, in a podcast said, "If Jesus appeared to you at the end of the day and said, literally, He's like looking at you and says, "When you wake up in the morning, I will be with you in person, the man, Jesus, for 24 hours and we are going to go through the day together and see how it goes" and in response you say, "Okay."

Then you go to sleep and forget about it. You wake up in the morning roll over and Jesus is sitting right next to the bed. And you're like, "Wow, you're here."

How do you think your day will go with Jesus? It's going to be different. Totally different. As the day goes on, on the way to work, you get cut off on the road and you tell Jesus, who is sitting next to you in the car, "Did you see what that guy just did to me?" Jesus says, "Yes, do you know what that driver who cut you off is going through?" You say, "No". "He's having a horrible day." And then you say, "Oh, we should pray for him." And Jesus says, "Yeah, we should, let's pray for him."

And all day long, you are changing the course of history because you see the presence of God with you. And He's with you through the entire day. When you get home from work, you praised your wife for the meal she just made, even though it was not that great. But her heart was in it and the love was there.

And you come home from work and instead of watching sports and scores, and having a beer, the kids are wanting you to play with them. And, Jesus says to you, "The kids are eager to see you, you should play with the kids."

And you do, then you go into the TV room, after the day is over and you hit the Netflix button, and Jesus is sitting right next to you on the couch. Instead of what you were planning to watch, because Jesus is right next to you, you watch an On Demand Catholic movie.

Because Jesus is with you through the day, every decision is altered. Once we know, He is there, and actually remember Jesus is there, everything we do will be different.

The mother of one of the children making his First Communion told me that her son used to have spider man on his bedroom wall. But he took those down, and now he has pictures of Jesus. At Halloween, his parents asked what he wanted to dress up as, and said he wanted to dress up as Jesus. He wore a white tunic and a beard.

When he goes to school, he carries a stuffed image of Jesus with him in his backpack. He loves Jesus. He brings Jesus wherever he goes.

For us adults, the hard part is to remember Jesus is there. To remember in those moments, when we all get heated up and confused or scared, Jesus is with us.

If you just looked over and saw Jesus standing next to you, you would be different. But, He is standing there. You just can't see Him. If you knew Him, you would know He is always with you.

And once we begin to see Jesus wherever we are, we come to know Jesus. And we will recall, His words, “Do not let your hearts be troubled, have faith in God and faith in Me.” And He also told His apostles, "And remember, I am always with you until the end of time.”