Jesus today now

Of course, that''s the most well known name among Christian believers. But is he truly well known by us?

We look around and it would seem that often Jesus is just a name we like to call on certain occasions, an interesting idea that satisfies a passing curiosity, a mere historical figure, or even a psychological crutch, a social slogan…

Could we really say that we have a living relationship with him? Is he always in our mind, in our heart and in our senses? Do we truly follow him, love him, apply his teachings and commandments consistently in the different aspects of our life?

Are we constantly aware of his presence? Do we not confine him to some periods of our life only? Do we not often close the door on him when we go about our human affairs, like our business and politics, the arts and sciences, sports?

I''m afraid that even while Jesus is actually in our midst, we continue to ignore if not disbelieve and even taunt him. Yes, much like what happened some 20 centuries ago. His own people were skeptical of him, and even those who were supposed to know him very well finally put him to death.

Ironically, this sad affair continues to take place up to now. We may be hearing a lot about Jesus, do many things for him, and yet there is so much ignorance, indifference, confusion, disloyalty and infidelity to him.

Some even manage to make use of him, exploiting his name and the basic faith and goodness of people to squeeze some business or political capital. Even some Church leaders do this when they foray into areas they have neither jurisdiction nor competence in.

There are also others who think that this business of Jesus is largely just our invention, an expression of a completely subjective faith that has no basis in reality. They like to distinguish between the Jesus of history and the Jesus of faith.

Some even go to the extent of claiming that if we are to be radically consistent to our faith, trying to consider Jesus as a living, abiding figure in our consciousness, then we would end up losing our humanity. That is to say, we will become nuts, self-alienated!

Yes, sadly, we already have this kind of wild and complicated reasoning about Jesus, a clear effect of human reason allowed to do its dangerous work without the benefit of faith.

There are people who hold human reason as the supreme source of wisdom and of what is good and evil, a ridiculous state of affairs given the supposed advancement of knowledge.

Is it any wonder then that when Jesus was born, the good news was given first to simple folks like the shepherds? And those who could recognize and accept him as the expected Messiah were the simple people, and not the leading and conceited people of the time.

Anyone who wants to keep his faith in Jesus alive has to remain simple and humble, no two ways about it. This condition enables one to keep his heart in the right place, allowing him to see things objectively.

Knowing, loving and serving Christ is our continuing duty and task, and it requires faith, our whole heart-our Lord telling us, "My child, give me your heart." Any human effort to understand the whole situation should flow from this principle.

Our Lord does not delight in playing hard to get. He is in our midst, he is in the Gospel, he is in the sacraments, in the doctrine, in the Church, in our human affairs, and even in the disasters that we from time to time suffer.

It is the simple and humble heart, full of faith, who can discover him anytime and anywhere. A person with such heart enjoys an abiding awareness of Jesus, whether he is alone or with others, in good times or in bad, etc.

To this person, Jesus is as real as that he is alive. Jesus is in his every breath, in his every heartbeat.

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