Centered in Christ

I watched a video on youtube the other day about a woman who is very attuned to the voice of Christ. She told the story of being in a very crowded airport and finding herself sitting next to a elderly gentleman (she described him as at least 120 years old) with below-the-shoulder length grey hair. She thought God wanted her to witness to him. God actually wanted her to brush his hair. After a bit of an internal struggle she offered her help which was gratefully accepted. The man explained, after she finished, that he was just going home after a long hospital stay and he was worried about his beloved wife seeing him so unkempt. He was very pleased to have had her help.

How awesome to be so aware of the Lord working in your life. Just imagine how different the world would be if we were all Centered in Christ. Our every movement done out of love for our Savior. The corporal works of mercy would take on new meaning for us; feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsy, clothe the naked, visit the sick and imprisoned, shelter the homeless, bury the dead. How many more times would we look past the face in the mirror and see the needs of others.

We hear and read these words in the Bible (aka: Basic Instruction Before Leaving Earth) and yet we leave the church or close the book and do nothing. What if we saved our spare change and put it in the poor box? What if we called Purple Heart and made a donation once a month?  What if we shopped a sale and bought nothing for ourselves, but instead donated that purchase to a crisis pregnancy center or homeless shelter? What about the food that keeps getting shoved to the back of the pantry to make room for the new stuff? There are people who would be so helped by having that food on their shelves.

How do we become more centered? The first and most important thing, PRAY. You must ask the Lord to change your heart. Beg Him to take away the things in your life that are keeping you from hearing Him. Beg Him to replace the selfishness with His desire for us. The Gospel reading at Mass today was about being perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. A tall order and one that we can't possibly accomplish on our own. The Holy Spirit must be alive in us in order for us to accomplish what God wants us to accomplish.

We must pray daily to become more Centered in Christ. In this way, we can do our part to change the world.