Jesus was a travelling Jewish preacher and teacher of two millennia ago who was executed by the Roman authorities. His name is often used thoughtlessly as an expletive of surprise or other strong emotion. But if we do think about Jesus, what do we think about him?
A nineteenth-century nun called Anne-Catherine Emmerich had remarkable visionary experiences. Housebound by illness in a small German town she received daily visits from a young writer called Clemens Brentano between 1820 and her death in 1824. She described what she ‘saw’ of the ministry of Jesus on a day-by-day basis and he carefully recorded it....
God our Father,
Your will be done through your Church.
We do not ask it with passive resignation
but in active pursuit of what pleases you.
Risen Jesus,
Do what is in your own heart to do,
Drawing many more to be your disciples.
Come, Holy Spirit.
Show us your fresh touch on inherited things.
Help us beyond the limits of our own resource.
Lord God, your purposes.
Jesus Christ, your passion.
Holy Spirit, your power.