Live Jesus

For those of us who come to St Francis de Sales Church on E 96th St, this symbol should look familiar. It is the family crest of St Francis...and the motto on the bottom loosely translated means: "He will not fail". 

Not a bad motto to have if you're a saint or a softball team...(our parish does indeed have a softball team that takes this as its' motto, pretty clever huh?)

The other motto often associated with St Francis de Sales is the simple phrase: "Live Jesus". 

This past Tuesday was the feast of St Francis de Sales and this Saturday the parish will celebrate with what looks to be a great pot luck international feast. It is a time for the entire parish to come together for prayer, food and fellowship. It has been a blast the past few years and this year promises to be the same. 

I find myself wondering, especially in light of the Beatitudes this weekend, what might it mean to LIVE JESUS in our day and age. What did St Francis mean when he took this as his motto back in the day? I don't think it was as simple as live LIKE Jesus, because if that's what he meant, he would have said that right? So to Live Jesus...does that mean to see the world with the eyes of Jesus, with his heart, with his compassion?

The world talks about New Years resolutions in January...and by now everyone has given up. What if...to Live Jesus--was our resolution for 2017? To figure out how to be more...merciful, more forgiving, more loving...maybe it can be as simple as each of us prayerfully considering what one aspect of Jesus' life is most compelling to us...and then trying to adopt that attribute at least a bit more as our own? To try and live JC 24/7 would be way to hard and I'd give up before I even started. But if I thought I could be more open to strangers this year...more outgoing and share of myself...that I can try. 

So, Happy Feast of St Francis de Sales to each of you. I invite you all to think and pray about what it might mean for you to try and live Jesus this year. If we try together...we will not fail.