March 29, 2023 It wasn’t what I was expecting. I had to look twice. At the NCC office, we get copies of lots of other diocesan, religious order and generally Catholic publications. It was a headline in one of those publications that caught my attention. “Jesus Likes You!” I’ve heard before that Jesus loves me. I’ve heard before that Jesus loves each of us as individuals. I’ve heard before that Jesus loves humanity. I’d never heard that Jesus likes me. The idea of Jesus liking me seemed underwhelming, but I loved the headline! It was the kind of headline that makes someone say, “I need to know more about that,” likely for the very same reasons it stood out to me. I cut the headline out of the newspaper, and I taped it to a wall in my office, the wall directly behind my computer monitor. I never read the story. I was afraid the story wouldn’t live up to the headline. That newspaper clipping has been on my wall for a few months. When I look up from my computer, one of the first things I see is “Jesus Likes You!” I still don’t know the intention of that original article, but that headline has made me think a lot about Jesus liking me. There are people in my life I love but with whom I don’t want to spend long periods of time. Sometimes I love them, but I don’t like them. Jesus always wants to spend time with us. There are people in my life I love but with whom I can’t discuss particular topics without both of us getting heated. When those topics come up, I love them, but I don’t like them. Jesus will talk to us about anything. We’re blessed to have a God who loves us unconditionally and likes us unconditionally. He even likes the parts of our personalities we try to give to Him to change. “Jesus Likes You.” And that catchy headline gave me more than I expected. |
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