More Comments and Questions from Under the Influence Webinar

Here are some more wonderful comments and questions from last evening’s Webinar on my new book, Under the Influence of Jesus: The Transforming Experience of Encountering Christ.

• Love your reference to the lightness of being in children.   I teach first graders and they remind me of this everyday when we stop our day to teach Religion and kearn about the love of the Trinity. (Kathleen K.)
• The idea of simplicity in how we approach others is very interesting. If you think about this, it is about love, about meeting people where they are, about forgetting self and focussing on the other. (Mary J.)
• The birth of a child to one of my RCIA candidates this week, brings us all joy (Dave G.)
• How do you maintain that inner peace when you are around people who do not have that peace? (Ivonne B.)  Answer: Easier said than done, Ivonne! This is always a challenge. I think this is where prayer and a faith community come in. We need to go within to find that inner peace and we need the support of a faith community to instill Christ’s peace within us.
• I have noticed that as I’ve grown older and matured in my faith life, and have seen the graces work out in daily life, and that of others, I am more calm and tend to place so much trust in Jesus.  I have been able to “calm” fears of people in distress. (Patricia R.)
• In the last months of my mother’s life and when she was not in the hospital, she was in bed and it often seemed that she, in such a quiet way, was resting in the Lord. (Connie O.)
• It’s so easy to worry about future events.  I try to remember that Jesus’s prayer to “our Father” says to give this day our daily bread, not give us this day our fully funded 401K.  Helps me to remember to live through today and not worry. (Colette M.)
• How do you impart the image of being inebriated with Jesus to people who are not yet, or are struggling to reach a higher level in their spiritual journey? (Edith D.)  Answer: Edith, I think that all of us move deeper in our spiritual journey by being exposed to people who are a step or 2 ahead of us. For that reason, it is important to practice our faith “under the influence of Jesus” around those who are seeking to take that next step. Our example is often just the think that is needed for them to progress.
• I say the Anima Christi prayer always after I recieve the Eucharist.  This will add so much more to my prayer after reflecting on being inebriated with the Holy Spirit. (Elizabeth F.)
• When I was going through a rough patch in my life, whenever depressing or hurtful thoughts come into mind, Ii started praying the Our Father and it refocused my thoughts to better things.(Polly F.)
• How do we strike a balance between being charitable to others in response to their negative behavior – and – being a doormat or an enabler?  (Lisa J.) Answer: Lisa, a charitable response does not require us to sweep negative behavior under the rug. Dr. Martin Luther King taught people to expose those negative behaviors for what they were but to respond with a different kind of force that he called “soul force.” Being charitable does not mean ignoring but responding differently – positively.
• I have a long commute that often has several minutes of stopped traffic.  I have found that I am much more peaceful when I just continue to “let people in” and then pray for their day to go well. (Theresa R.)
• Many times our acts of kindness in the name of Christ are the only bible people will ever read! (Sandy V.)
• The Cross is never too big for us to burden. (Dave G.)
• I was the surprised recipient of the person in front of me at the drive-thru paying for my morning latte. It transformed my whole day…my whole week. I still can recall that sense of connectedness and love, despite not knowing who that person was. (Kelly F.)
• When God comes first all else will fall into place.(Ida A.)
• Where does teaching fall? Lack of inhibition in spreading the Word? Is that something we should feel  compelled to as much as, say, paying it forward? Answer: Absolutely!
• In reference to the slide with Mother Theresa, the catechetical leader in my vicariate reminded us we are not to worry if the “yield” is small , because it is of enormous importance since it can mean the difference between life and death. (Mk 4) (Leslie G.)

More to come…

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