The Human Feelings of Jesus our Lord

The Holy Spirit can do wondrous things and sometimes when we least expect it.

It was the week leading up to Annual Leave for 7 days; a break from work and from a ridiculously busy schedule, so hectic that I felt as if I was being run ragged. So much so that the few days before the weekend had been really difficult to get through, feelings of heaviness and stress with that ‘Head on another planet’ feeling and possibly a virus that kind of took the feet away from me for a couple of days and made everything feel like a big effort.
This feeling accompanied me right through to the weekend and I worried that I wouldn’t make it to Mass on Sunday, especially when I felt that I needed it even more than normal.
Mass seems to enrich me and feed me with the Spiritual food that I require to get through the week ahead; It is an essential and I really look forward to spending a quiet hour listening to and taking part in the word of God.
So when I woke up on Sunday morning feeling lighter and fresher, I was eager to make my way to 11.30 Mass,feeling quite chirpy and with a bit of a spring in my step.

My attention was sharp as I listened with so much eagerness to the Sacred Scripture readings.
The Gospel was about the raising of Lazarus who was the brother of Martha and Mary.
They lived in Bethany and were really close friends with Jesus and were deeply loved by him.
He was like a part of their family. How beautiful this relationship must have been to actually have the company of the Lord and the warmth of his presence right there in their midst and on a regular basis. Can you imagine that? How lucky they were.

The reading also showed that Jesus had the same feelings as man; Jesus was at the same time both fully human and fully divine. He loved his friend and showed him so much compassion, and even though he had prayed to God his Father for Lazarus, and he as the son of God would have a fervent confidence in his prayers; he would know they would be answered. Yet, he still felt deeply sad at the experience his friend and two sisters had faced while Jesus was in another part of the country. He felt the same deep feelings we as human beings feel and …….
Jesus wept…………..What a picture that conjures up in my minds’ eye; to think of the Lord feeling that way. His Beautiful eyes and face with sorrowful tears on them, his Sacred Heart feeling pain and longing for his friend; his sadness at the grief suffered by Martha and Mary. It made me wonder how often does he feel like that with all the suffering in the world. It makes me so sad, but also reassured that our Lord Jesus is real, so real that we can identify with him deeply in our minds and hearts. So compassionate that we can turn to him at any time and speak to him as our friend and companion and he will listen and answer our prayers.

The Holy Spirit must have really been at work in my heart because when we started singing the hymn ‘Our God Reigns’ It was an effort for me not to SING it with a Shout in my voice, I wanted to sing it with arms raised in the air, with passion, joy and feeling and tell the world that he is the one true God who does reign over us and over the world. He is our friend and companion just as he was to Lazarus, Martha and Mary, and he loves us with that same deep compassionate love. How wonderful is that? I left Mass feeling so lucky to have such a friend who is so freely available to us and with so so much love. Praise Jesus!