I arrived to do my morning prayers at the chapel of the Missionaries of Charity. As usual the chapel is empty, with the Crucifix in the middle with words “I Thirst” beside it on the front wall. This time the altar was covered with a green cloth with the following words: “You did it to Me.” At first the words didn’t say anything to me, but the more I stared at them the more meaning they took on. I realized that the “Me” was capitalized. It clicked: You did it to Me! Wow whatever I did, good or bad, smiling or not, nice thoughts or bad, whatever I said or did not say, if I helped or not, if I prayed or not…..”Whatever…you did it to Me.”…I did it to Christ! That hit me hard.
When we look it that that way — wow! How I need to start working because I don’t think Christ deserves my bad mood, or my tiredness, or my headache, or my laziness. Christ deserves the best of me: my smile, my self-giving, my patience, my service, my generosity, my love, my all. As someone once said: Christ is not worth something, Christ is worth ALL! Christ is worth my life.
Once again here at the Missionaries of Charity chapel, where for the past three years I have received so many graces, I renew the yes I gave to Christ almost 18 years ago!
I want to live my days with that in mind: “You did it to Me”.
“You did it to me” about a month ago, I attended a retreat sponsored by my parish. To say I got a lot out of the retreat would be an understatement. Toward the end of the retreat, we had the opportunity to go to confession. That confession was the first time I realized that my sins caused Jesus pain on that cross. I’m sure the Priest thought I lost my mind, I could not stop crying…thank you for reminding me that “you did it to me”. Very powerful.