One day Susan went to visit her friend Michael. Michael, who moved from his parent’s house and hometown when he was 18 years old, lived alone. He was depressed but she did know that when she decided to visit him. He had not told her that he was depressed, she just missed him, and she wanted to surprise him so she did not tell him that she was going to visit him.
When she arrived to his house, she could not believe what she saw. His house was a mess, his health was a disaster, and his life was terrible due to his depression. He had not gone to the doctor, he just abandoned himself and the worst thing was that he did not realize that he was in this state.
Fortunately for him, she was a woman of strong character. So, she decided to stay with him in order to help him. Little by little she got him back. Of course, he continued with his depression, but he recuperated his health, she put order in the house, he went to the psychiatrist and began taking medicine which made him better.
One day, after several months of being with him and seeing that the situation was much better, she decided to go back to her home to visit her parents and friends. She was just a couple of weeks at home and then she returned to continue taking care of her friend. When she arrived to his house, again she could not believe it, everything was a disaster. It had all gone back to what it was when she visited him the first time. In just two weeks he had gone back on all of the progress he had made when she was with him.
This parable can help us to understand a little bit of what happens in our life if we do not remain in Jesus. Our life becomes a disaster, and the farther we are from Jesus the worse our life becomes, even though, like Michael, we may not realize it. We must keep contact with good things in order to combat and defeat evil things; we must keep contact with Jesus in order to defeat the Devil.
However, by contact with Jesus I do not mean exterior contact, like what Susan had with Michael in the parable, but I am speaking of interior contact. Jesus helps us from the inside since He lives within us, and we reinforce that presence of Jesus each time we receive the Eucharist.
This means that there is mystical contact rather than physical contact, which could make some Christians confused about this “being in contact with Jesus.” Many Christians think that this contact with Jesus should be physical, meaning that they hope for Jesus to appear to them in order to have contact with Him.
However, mystical means supernatural. He continually gives us “supernatural pushes (impulses)” in order to move us to good things. We need to discern those “supernatural pushes.” The Devil, who always tries to imitate God, also pushes us but we must not accept those impulses in order to keep contact with Jesus. Without a good discernment we could end up doing certain things thinking that it is Jesus pushing us to do it, when in reality we are being moved by the Devil.
