My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.
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What do you do when you suddenly wake up to find that a good number of the people around you have been deceiving you, lying to you, taking advantage of you, doing all kinds of evil things behind your back, speaking falsely about you, in effect, making a fool out of you? This dramatic situation may seem a little too much so, even melodramatic, but that is not the case. This question cuts to the heart of what is happening in the world, and in life. This is the agonizing question that keeps coming up over and over again in the Jewish and Christian Sacred Scriptures.
The reason this question is so persistent has to do with our human nature, which is no longer as our Creator first intended and still desires for us.
We have been damaged, weakened, confused, and disoriented from our origin and destiny. As a human race we are so lost that we remain in every generation in need of a saviour, and it is for this reason that our Creator God and Father sent his only begotten Son into the world to take on a human life in order to be with us in the very midst of our torment and pain.
Why was Jesus betrayed, falsely condemned, tortured and executed? Because those who make themselves at home in evil are in such darkness that they cannot tolerate the light. They hate the light and will do anything to put it out and stop their torment. What they don't realize in their blindness is that it is not the light that hurts them. The light merely forces them to become aware of the darkness, pain, and torment that is already in their soul. Their attempts to put out the light are futile, because the light will never go out... it is shining on the human face of Jesus and originates in the power and love of God the Father, Creator of us all.
So what do we do when we wake up and see all the evil and sin around us and all those who take their pleasure in evil and darkness tormenting us? We pray to our loving Father as Jesus prayed on the cross. We pray words, feelings, sentiments as expressed in the prayer Jesus quoted on the cross, Psalm 22. The other thing we do is imitate Jesus' own gesture, which was in accord with what the Father sent Him to do. He forgave his tormentors and even went further, making an excuse for them. "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." click for the Luke 23:34 text
The best thing we can do for ourselves is to follow Jesus' lead and seek to know and do the Father's will, because He knows the path that brings us to abundance of life. All the other ways are dead ends. Jesus came to show us the way, and He is himself the way to follow (John 14:6). We go to Jesus and will never be lost again. We open our hearts, minds, and souls to the Holy Spirit, the living flame of God's love that initiated the universe in the moment of the big bang or whatever it was that happened at the very beginning of the universe.
The Holy Spirit, the third divine Person in God, though all powerful so as to appear frightening, is nonetheless so gentle as to be expressed in the warm and secure embrace of a parent for a little child. Read, ponder, and pray with Psalm 22, and look around in the other Psalms, and find that the three divine Persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - are always present to us.... We are the ones who go absent, lost in the illusion that we are alone.... We are never alone, because they love us and care for us. They allow us to make our decisions and live our lives, but they watch over us and help us to make men, women, of ourselves and participate fully in the unfolding of our lives.
God bless you.....
Fr. Gilles
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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.
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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC
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