Posted by The WORD in other words (2018) by Fr Jose Luis Lorenzo SVD – Japan
Wednesday 1st Week of Lent
On Japanese television was a program depicting a Japanese expert on the ancient ninja arts. He went to America to look at how one martial arts school taught ninjutsu (the art of the ninja) to its students. He went in as someone interested in learning how to become a ninja and, along the way, spotted the sensei’s many mistakes. Discovering the Japanese to be a master, the school instructor was humble enough to acknowledge his own limitations and asked to be taught by the true master himself.
Nowadays, there are a lot of foreigners interested in learning many Japanese traditional crafts, such as pottery making, carpentry, calligraphy and the like. But unlike the television program I just mentioned, it is the interested party who would come to Japan and seek to be an apprentice to a master of whichever craft that person is interested in. The pupil would look for the teacher and not the other way around.
Such is not the case with Christianity. We also seek a master in our lives. Someone who can lead us to true happiness, a guide who will teach us how to truly live meaningfully. We believe that we have that person in Jesus Christ.
But we do not need to go out of our way to seek Him for He himself has come to us. The master has come to the disciple. And we do not even need to ask for signs of His presence for He has given us many external manifestations of it. The beauty we see in nature, the love of our family and friends. These are but some of the ways God takes care of us.
May the Holy Spirit give us the grace to always recognize God’s presence in our lives.
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