The Perfect Gentleman

The beauty of the role of a woman is that we are to be pursued. Men have the role of pursuing us. With this comes a free choice; we can accept or decline. If a man were to ask you out on a date, you can accept his invitation or not. If a man opens a door for you, you can accept the act or you can choose to go through a different door. If a man were to call you, you can accept the phone call or decline it. We are the pursued; the pursuers are the gentlemen.

Jesus…Jesus is the perfect gentleman! He is in constant pursuit of our hearts! However, Jesus is always a gentleman about it. He will offer, but then it is up to us to accept it. Jesus offers us His perpetual love and mercy. Do we accept it, or do we sulk in the distorted idea that our sins make us unlovable? Jesus offers us His healing. Do we accept it, or do run away because we are too afraid to surrender our whole beings to Him? He offers us His ever-flowing grace. Do we accept it and cooperate with it, or do we fail to acknowledge and trust in His gift? He offers us forgiveness in Confession. Do we accept it, or do we remain in our pride so as to not look into the short comings of our humanness? Most importantly, Jesus offers us His VERY SELF in the Eucharist! Do we accept Him and recognize the miraculous union taking place within us, or do we even pay attention? There has been moments, and there will continue to be moments when we fail to accept His offerings. However, the beautiful reality is that Jesus will never stop trying and He will never stop pursuing!

This past Tuesday, the Gospel (Mark 5:21-43) tells perfectly of just how hard Jesus will persist for you! There was a synagogue official named Jairus who came to Jesus and asked for Him to lay His hands on his daughter so she would get well. Jesus immediately went off with him. On His journey, friends of Jairus came and said it was pointless to continue because the girl was dead. BUT (and this is where it gets good!), Jesus disregarded the message and continued on to the girl! When He reached her He took her hand and said “Talitha koum,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise!” The Lord continues to seek us out-no matter how dead we think we are, or how dead we think our soul is! Jesus doesn’t love us on certain conditions. He loves us always! He endlessly runs to us and tells us, “Little girl, I say to you, arise!”

Today (or I guess yesterday!) was the first Friday of the month. Every first Friday of the month is devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The heart that bursts into flames out of love for us! Jesus (our perfect gentleman!) brings us His heart. He offers us new life. He offers us His whole self. He places His heart within us and tells us “Little girl, Arise!” That is..if we accept His heart.

Today, let us make this our prayer:

My Jesus, give me your heart- in exchange, I give you mine