Daily reflection from the CPLO and the Jesuit Institute for 19 May 2022
Published: Thu, 05/19/22
Daily Reflection
Thursday, 19 May 2022
“You did not choose me, no I chose you” John 15:16
For me there is something deeply significant about feeling chosen. As a school child I remember vividly experiences of not being chosen. In our sports classes in the unlikely event that I ever caught the ball, I might well end up throwing it to the wrong team, so I was always among the very last to be chosen when teachers asked two of the strongest students
to “choose their teams.” I remember how it felt to be left standing right until the very end. I also remember as a ballet student at a professional dance school waiting to see if I had been “chosen” to perform in the final year school production, and when the lists came out finding that my name was among those not chosen.
When we are not chosen, we feel that we are not enough. That if only we had been better or performed better, things might have been different. We might have had a place. We may not be chosen in many of the circumstances of our lives. Someone who once loved and
chose us may leave us for someone else. We may no longer be included in a group or activity that was significant for us. Sometimes we are chosen and later we are dropped, and there is a very particular sense of loss in that. A place I once had is no longer mine.
Jesus says: “I chose you.” I find that knowledge so deeply consoling that if I had to chose only one line of scripture to live with this would be it. My relationship with Christ is not dependent on my choosing of him. Even if I waver in living my call, I remain always chosen and called.
In Christ we are assured of a different reality. I am chosen – with all that that word holds. I am wanted. I belong. I am safe. I have value. But Christ’s choosing of us is permanent. It is never withdrawn. It is not contingent on our performance. We can never be un-chosen.
Take some time today to stay with the words: “I chose you.” Hear Jesus saying them to you. Respond in a heart to heart conversation with him.
Risen Christ,
When I sense that I am becoming disconnected
from the flow of your life-giving presence,
Draw me back to remain in your love
That it may flow with new strength in me.
