Jesus and Mary

Jesus and Mary

            A few years ago, I was at the old St. Paul’s Hospital in Dallas to see a member of the church I was serving.  I stepped out into the courtyard of the hospital and found a bench to sit on.  I decided to have a prayer time. I looked to my left and saw a statue of Jesus. I looked to my right and saw a statue of Mother Mary.  I held my left hand out and said, “Come Jesus come.” I held my right hand out and said, “Come Mary come.”  In that moment, in a way I cannot explain, I felt the presence of Jesus on my left and Mary on my right.  My thought was Jesus should be on my right and Mary on my left but that was not what I experienced. It could all be in my imagination, but it felt so real. This soon became a method of praying – holding out my left hand and saying, “come Jesus” and holding out my right hand and saying, “come Mary.”

            After I began this Wild Mustang journey over four and half years ago, I was meeting with my therapist friend Suzi and our good friend Patti.  Patti had stage four metastasized breast cancer, with just a few months to live.  As a woman who was facing her death, she lived in a new, transformed way.  When Patti spoke, I listened.  As I was sharing that evening, Patti told me my energy was blocked.  I had tremendous energy within me, and I was using an equal amount of energy keeping that energy contained. I needed a Reiki treatment.  “A what?” I asked.  “A Reiki treatment – an energy treatment that originates from Japan.” Suzi had the name of a Reiki master in Denison, Texas and gave me Terri’s card.

            I set an appointment to meet with Terri.  I learned she had studied in Boston and had grown up in Whitesboro, the very town I had just served as a pastor.  The story I want to share today is from our second visit.  In Reiki treatment, I lie on a massage type table on my back, fully clothed. As I got on the table, Terri stepped out of the room to prepare for the treatment.  I decided to say my Jesus and Mary prayer.  I held out my left hand, “Come Jesus, come.” I held out my right hand, “Come Mary come.”  Again, I felt their presence. Terri came in and did the Reiki treatment, starting at my head and spending time at each part of my body, especially my feet.

            Afterwards we met in her office. She looked at me and said, “I experienced something with you I have never experienced with anyone before.”  I said, “oh really. What was that?”  She said, “I experienced Jesus on your left and Mary on your right.”  I looked at her in amazement and told her about my Jesus and Mary prayer practice. It is one thing to have an experience that you believe to be real.  It is another to have someone you just recently met tell you they have experienced Jesus on your left and Mary on your right. 

            Terri then told me Christ is very present in me.  Christ is working on me.  Then she said Christ is preparing me for a White Robe.  A White Robe? What does that mean?  I knew of the martyrs in the Book of Revelation who are clothed in white.  I didn’t sense that was me. 

I have more stories to tell about this White Robe but let me say for now it is the mystical presence of Christ.  Christ is always fully present with us but there is work that we do to receive Christ and work that is done to us to prepare us for Christ. This is the work of transformation.

I wonder this Advent Season what is being birthed in you. How is Jesus present in you in a new way?  How is Mary coming to you?  How is Christ working on you, preparing you? How are you receiving their gifts and presence? I deeply believe Christ is working and preparing you to be Christ’s presence in this world. My prayer is that you will be open to it.