Recently, a priest who was saying Mass for us at the convent told us a story about Dr. Ralph Martin and Pope St. John Paul II. He said that in a conversation they were having, the pope asked Dr. Martin, “What is the Holy Spirit saying?” Dr. Martin replied simply, “Jesus.”

It occurred to me that this is what the Holy Spirit is always saying: “Jesus.” In every situation, with any problem or question that may arise, in any uncertainty or confusion, the Holy Spirit’s answer is always the same: Jesus. Jesus Christ alone is the answer to all our hopes, desires and longings.

What is so powerful about this man named Jesus? He lived more than 2,000 years ago and yet still has an impact on people today. During His life, He preached and performed miracles, particularly healings, and many people thought that He was simply a great prophet, even perhaps one of the great prophets of old who had risen from the dead. But those closest to Him recognized Him not simply as a prophet but as “the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16), “the one who is coming into the world” (John 11:27). In other words, they came to recognize that He was, as He proclaimed, one with God the Father; that He was God Himself.

To fulfill “what had referred to Him in all the Scriptures” (Luke 24:27), He suffered and freely gave up His life to save the people created in His image from the eternal death they had chosen for themselves by sin. But His free act of self-gift in His crucifixion and death were not the end of the story. Three days later, as He had promised, He definitively conquered death by rising from the dead. He is alive now, at the right hand of God the Father in heaven. But He has not left us alone; He has sent us His Holy Spirit, who in turn makes Him present to us in the sacraments, most especially in the Holy Eucharist.

This Jesus, Son of God and Son of Man, is not just some great figure of history; He is not simply some good teacher or prophet from the past. Rather, He is alive with us here and now. We can encounter Him in the Scriptures and in the sacraments even more profoundly than those who met Him in the crowds 2,000 years ago. In those days of His earthly ministry, He shared His life with the people through His words and actions, but now He shares that very same life – the life of God Himself – with us through the sacraments. In fact, while the people of His time could see Him, sit next to Him, and hear Him, we are able through the sacraments, and especially through the Holy Eucharist, to have Him actually come to dwell within us.

Do we live as though this Jesus is really the answer to every question in life? In His lifetime, no one met Him without leaving unchanged. Is it clear in your life and in my life that we have met and daily continue to meet Him? If we are truly encountering the one who is the reason we are called Christians, we should never cease to be changed; His very presence in our lives should call each of us to a constant and continual conversion. May we allow the power of Jesus’ name to transform our lives in the grace of the Holy Spirit, to fill them with purpose, meaning, love, and joy!

Sr. Mary Martha Becnel is a member of the Ann Arbor-based Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist.