Luke 24:35 + Jesus Christ is Lord, the One Saviour of the world + known to us "in the breaking of the bread". Jesus is our joy! See how a full and meaningful human life is compatible with and actually enhanced by living with faith in God through Jesus Christ.
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.
We've heard of, read about, and even studied plagues, epidemics, and natural disasters that have occurred throughout recorded human history. Until now, our perspective has generally been that of the outsider looking in from outside, from a safe distance.
In recent decades there have even been several feature length films on the theme of worldwide plagues or pandemics, which for the most part convey an "end of the world" sort of danger and suspense, including hoped for heroes who lead the containment of the outbreak and the discovery of effective treatments and vaccines.
Now, suddenly in February, March, and April 2020 we all find ourselves no longer outsiders peering into such a threat to the survival of humanity from outside, from a safe distance. Collectively, we find ourselves waking up progressively to the shocking reality and truth that we are, all of us, INSIDE of a worldwide pandemic. We are the human species, immersed in the biosphere on the surface of Planet Earth, under attack by the rapid and invisible propagation of a novel coronavirus - SARS CoV-2 - which, upon entering human air passages, causes the illness Covid-19 (coronavirus disease 2019).
This virus, like all such microorganisms, knows no boundaries, no distinctions of language, color, racial or ethnic origin, age, or gender. It is airborne and can also cling to inanimate surfaces, and it is otherwise helpless, needing our help to find its way into our nose or mouth and beyond into our airways, where along it can land, secure itself, and attack healthy cells. It is RNA and incapable of reproducing by itself, and needs to attack a healthy cell in order to make copies of itself and propagate, and in the process, compromise our lungs and breathing passages, thereby producing symptoms of illness and, in the worst cases, causing death.
We human beings living all over the Earth find ourselves without distinction all in the same boat. We are all under threat. Our various civil and religious leaders are trying to mobilize our cooperation to modify our behaviors and adopt safety practices to limit the propagation of this deadly virus. It is a common and worldwide appeal to our collective sense of responsibility, to no longer think only of our own selves and personal interests, but to put the health and well being of others first.
We are coming to understand during this crisis that she and he is most human who is able and willing to take good care of herself / himself, and in addition also commits to joining our collective effort to do all that is personally possible for them to do in order to advance the common good, protect the health and safety of all - especially the most vulnerable - and to count on our collective effort rather than only on oneself. The reproduction above is called the Madonnina, commonly known as the Madonna of the Streets, was a painting created by Roberto Ferruzzi (1854–1934) that won the second Venice Biennale in 1897. The models for this painting were Angelina Cian (age 11) and her younger brother. As Catholic Christians our faith helps us to rise to the occasion of this "best quality of humanity" that takes care of itself while also putting a shoulder to our common load and challenge. People who take the path of this fullness of humanity may do so simply as a best strategy for their own survival and / or that of their family, friends, and community. Without faith in God they may even commit their efforts for "the good of humanity" as a noble ideal. What Jesus Christ offers us is to be - through personal experience and faith - so convinced of God's love for us that we can in our turn live out of selfless and even self-sacrificing love for others and even in a return of love to God. Jesus' resurrection reveals our common destiny beyond death in life that is eternal in the company of God, the Eternal One. The "price of admission" is complete trust in this love of God, which we are to demonstrate through our unreserved and unconditional service of our neighbor, of all without distinction, even to the point of offering our life.
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.
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.
Dear Reader and Fellow Pilgrim on the Journey of Human Life,
The 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time will be, beginning with this New Year 2020, The Sunday of the Word of God. In the Gospels especially we meet Jesus who found so many creative ways of describing the Father's will for us to have life in abundance now and in eternity. One day Jesus defined eternal life in John 17:3: "And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent."
So, we can truthfully say that the Word of God, the Bible, is "God's plan to bring us into abundance of life on Earth and in eternity". This sounds wonderful, but on considering who and what we are, and into which state of awareness and condition of living we are hearing these words and "taking them in" to consider them; we begin to make some difficult observations....
1. There is a big "hole" in the middle of the human heart which no one call fill except God the Father with Jesus and the Holy Spirit. When we expect other human beings to fill this empty place - which makes us feel isolated, alone, lonely, abandoned - it never works, because only God can fill our empty heart, mind, and soul.
2. This is not bad news or a tragedy... it is really good news... because God fully intends to "move in with us" if only we let Him, if we let Them, the Holy Trinity, make themselves at home in us. God made us this way so that we would become motivated to pay more attention to God and welcome the divine presence within us.
To this end there are many ways God has given us to help us open the doors of our mind, heart, soul, and body to the divine presence: in what comes next you will see words highlighted in blue and underlined - these are called "hot links" that when you click on them with the mouse pointer, they open up your browser which lets you go on the Internet to other websites, where you will find teachings and instructions useful for you:
3. We are also made for human companionship, but this doesn't work very well when we go out looking for companions, just like we do when we go shopping for things we need for ourselves or our home. People are not things that we can go looking for in order to find them. The opposite is true: we are the ones that others can find.
4. God's plan for companions to find one another is really quite simple... it is like fruit growing on trees. When the fruit become ripe, all living things are attracted: people, birds, animals, and insects. The goodness of the ripe fruit makes the fruit attractive. It is the same with us. We need to do what the fruit does - we need to welcome God's vitality and grace in order to grow, mature, and ripen. That we grow and become ripe is God's affair, his work, his worry, and sometimes his problem. Our part is to keep paying attention to God and all day long to make room for God and his love inside of us.
5. If we do this and do our best to put God first all day long and every day, then in time we will become "ripe" and others will be attracted to us and companionship will become possible between us and them. It is important not to worry or obsess about "getting" a companion; instead, we need to look around and begin to notice others more, to see what is happening to others around us, to notice when they are in need, and each day not to close our heart to others in their need, but rather to consider what we might do to help them or lighten their load, such as: to offer a sincere and heartfelt smile, to offer assistance, to get their groceries along with our own for a person that is house bound, and so on....
6. In the meantime, Dear Reader, you can look for opportunities to meet other people, such as "Singles for Christ" in the "Couples for Christ" movement. If you decide to check out this movement or any other, go just for the sake of finding out what is their purpose, and simply to meet other people. We all belong in community, and when others welcome us, it is a good thing. Just be careful not to allow any lonely feelings to push you to "go shopping" for companionship. Instead, do your best each day to live the five points listed above this one.
Please take this to heart and try doing these things, and then let me know how it goes....
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.
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.
Much is said and written these days about the anomalous fact that the majority of peoples suffering persecution all over Planet Earth in our day are Christians. Perhaps not surprisingly, it appears to have always been so. It is believed that the following "Letter to Diognetus" was written in the second century A.D. It is astounding to see how relevant even today, almost two millennia later, the author's observations remain pertinent today.
While individual Christians actually manifest human weakness and do not always follow perfectly the example of their Lord Jesus in the face of persecution, hatred, and suffering; Christians generally tend to eventually rise to the occasion as individuals, and as a collective body, they do effectively make Christ visible in each generation. This would be the most dramatic way in which the Christian faith continues to give witness to the presence and action of the risen Christ in every time and place.
Christians are indistinguishable
from other men either by nationality, language or customs. They do not inhabit
separate cities of their own, or speak a strange dialect, or follow some
outlandish way of life. Their teaching is not based upon reveries inspired by
the curiosity of men.
Unlike some other people, they champion no purely human
doctrine. With regard to dress, food and manner of life in general, they follow
the customs of whatever city they happen to be living in, whether it is Greek
or foreign.
And yet there is something
extraordinary about their lives. They live in their own countries as though
they were only passing through. They play their full role as citizens, but
labor under all the disabilities of aliens. Any country can be their homeland, but
for them their homeland, wherever it may be, is a foreign country.
Like others,
they marry and have children, but they do not expose them. They share their
meals, but not their wives. They live in the flesh, but they are not governed
by the desires of the flesh. They pass their days upon earth, but they are
citizens of heaven. Obedient to the laws, they yet live on a level that
transcends the law.
Christians love all men, but all
men persecute them. Condemned because they are not understood, they are put to
death, but raised to life again. They live in poverty, but enrich many; they
are totally destitute, but possess an abundance of everything. They suffer
dishonor, but that is their glory. They are defamed, but vindicated.
A blessing
is their answer to abuse, deference their response to insult. For the good they
do they receive the punishment of malefactors, but even then they rejoice, as
though receiving the gift of life. They are attacked by the Jews as aliens,
they are persecuted by the Greeks, yet no one can explain the reason for this
hatred.
To speak in general terms, we may
say that the Christian is to the world what the soul is to the body. As the
soul is present in every part of the body, while remaining distinct from it, so
Christians are found in all the cities of the world, but cannot be identified
with the world.
As the visible body contains the invisible soul, so Christians
are seen living in the world, but their religious life remains unseen. The body
hates the soul and wars against it, not because of any injury the soul has done
it, but because of the restriction the soul places on its pleasures.
Similarly,
the world hates the Christians, not because they have done it any wrong, but
because they are opposed to its enjoyments.
Christians love those who hate
them just as the soul loves the body and all its members despite the body’s
hatred. It is by the soul, enclosed within the body, that the body is held
together, and similarly, it is by the Christians, detained in the world as in a
prison, that the world is held together.
The soul, though immortal, has a
mortal dwelling place; and Christians also live for a time amidst perishable
things, while awaiting the freedom from change and decay that will be theirs in
heaven.
As the soul benefits from the deprivation of food and drink, so
Christians flourish under persecution. Such is the Christian’s lofty and
divinely appointed function, from which he is not permitted to excuse himself.
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.
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.
God is constantly at work in his Creation and in the lives of his human creatures. The Creator has revealed his intentions through inspired words and writings we call the Sacred Scriptures of the Holy Bible. God's intention manifestly is that human beings should come to know God as their Creator, as their origin and destiny, because He offers human beings a relationship of friendship based in freedom and love.
Regardless of whether a human person has any religion or no religion, God our Creator is at work and "speaks" to the depths of spirit which exist in each and every human being. For this reason it is possible for any human being to notice the "inner promptings" of the living God within them, and paying attention to these inspirations, to discern a "word" or "call" from God.
The story of Adam and Eve in the Book of Genesis is an inspired story showing how from the very beginning human beings enjoyed a close friendship with God but how it was lost when they turned away from God in preference of unsubstantiated "words from a stranger" and of their own "opinions". The story of Noah tells how God began to call human beings back to friendship with him. The story of Abraham tells how God began to form a family or tribe for himself of people who would put their faith in him. The story of Moses tells how God developed this tribe into a whole people, a whole nation of people who would believe in him and follow his ways.
What Jesus has accomplished for humanity
Jesus was fully human, but being also the Son of God, He transcends time and has come to call humanity into a much closer relationship with God, far surpassing even what human beings first enjoyed with God on the morning of their creation. To be very specific, Jesus offers to every human being who would believe in him, to be baptized by water and the Holy Spirit and then to come and follow him. All those who accepted Jesus' offer and were baptized were joined to him in the love of God the Father, forming a new and living "corporate body" of all the baptized with Jesus at their head in the power of the Holy Spirit.
At this point it will be useful to review briefly what God has been doing in his Church and for humanity on Earth since the time of Jesus. This reply may a little longer than you expected, but I hope that it will bring light to dark places and help you to understand what God is doing in your life and to discern what the Lord is asking of you.
Jesus Christ revealed to humanity who God really is. Jesus confirmed what God had previously revealed to Adam and Eve, to Noah and his family, to Abraham and his family, and then to the people of Israel through Moses, namely, that God is one and there is no other god.
Jesus further revealed that God is not only One, but God is a divine being who is a community of 3 divine persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Father sent his divine Son to Earth to take flesh by the Holy Spirit in the virgin Mary of Nazareth. After she gave him birth in Bethlehem with the assistance of her husband Joseph, his parents protected and raised Jesus until the day when He began his public ministry, which after only a few years, led to his passion, death, and resurrection, which He freely accepted to endure in order to reveal fully to humanity for all time the full depth, meaning, and purpose of God's loving will for us.
When a human being believes in Jesus, that He is the Son of God sent to save us, and in faith accepts Jesus as the Saviour of all but also as my personal Saviour and Lord; then my faith as it were gives God permission to pour his divine life, the life of the Trinity, into me, and the life of God flowing in me transforms me. Because I still have my free will, this divine transformation will proceed more quickly or more slowly as I open up entirely to God with complete trust every part of my life.
God is a Holy Trinity
God has always wanted his human children to share his divine life in eternity beginning even now while we are still living and breathing on Earth. The Holy Trinity - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - have from the beginning created the universe so that human beings might have a home from which we could come to know God and would freely choose to give to God and to our neighbors a "return of love". God is our Creator and knows that our life will only achieve its full purpose, meaning, truth, goodness, beauty, fruitfulness, and fulfillment in a life of love that is lived freely and deliberately in the image of God, the Holy Trinity, which is a divine community of love - one divine being in three divine persons perfectly united in an eternal communion of love. It is God's will that our life on Earth should reflect the life that is in God.
The Spirit of the living God, the Holy Spirit, manifests the power of the Holy Trinity to create and give life, and the action of the Holy Spirit takes place when the Father utters a Word to manifest his holy will, and the Son is that living Word of the Father. The Father has a will for us, the Son expresses that will in himself in a living Word, and the Holy Spirit brings about the effect intended by that will of the Father and word of the Son.
What happens to us when we hear God speak in our soul and we respond
The Holy Trinity finds us and touches at any time and wherever we may be. As soon as we respond, the Holy Spirit already begins to pour the life, vitality, peace, love, and joy of the Holy Trinity into our life, our body, mind, heart, and soul....
Water Baptism in the will of God for his work of salvation within humanity
Water baptism is a further step in our response to almighty God speaking to us and calling us to enter more deeply into the life of the Holy Trinity. Jesus revealed the will of the Father to his disciples just before his ascension into heaven, as recorded by the evangelist Matthew in chapter 28 verses 16-20.
The Commissioning of the Disciples
16 "Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
Since that very day, the apostles and other disciples went out and did as Jesus commanded them to do: Go - make disciples - baptizing them - teaching them to obey.
The result is all the Christian churches and traditions on the Earth today.
A brief history of how the Holy Spirit developed the Church which Jesus founded
Initially there were only 5 great churches differentiated by the language and culture of each: the Jerusalem Church spoke Hebrew - the Rome Church spoke Latin - the Constantinople Church spoke Greek - the Alexandria Church in Egypt spoke Coptic - the Antioch Church in Turkey spoke Aramaic, the language of Jesus and his family.
Now the life, growth, and development of the Church Jesus founded has always been and will always be a kind of "dance" or relationship between the Holy Trinity and the living human members of the Church and her pastors, leaders, and members. God has given us free will and He fully respects our free will, which means that God gives us plenty of room to make mistakes and to learn from them. Only in this way can our response to God's advances and invitations and calls be true and authentic, and done in complete freedom and generosity in faith, in hope, and in love.
For these reasons, the history of Jesus' Church on Earth looks rather "messy" with lots of divisions, restorations, reforms, and all the problems we come to recognize as all too human.
From these original 5 churches we developed into the Western and Eastern Christian Churches. By the year 1000 AD there was the Roman or Latin Church which we call Roman Catholic today. It is the oldest continually existing Christian Church in the West, along with the Churches of Constantinople and Alexandria or Coptic in the East.
In the 16th century, there was need of reform - in every generation the Church of Jesus is in need of reform because it is composed of human beings who are never finished living a life of conversion and repentance in order to more perfectly follow Jesus - and some people wanting reform found it wasn't happening fast enough; so they initiated reforms on their own, which came to be known as the Protestant Reformation, which produced the Anglican Church in England, Presbyterian Church in Scotland, Calvinist Church in Switzerland, Lutheran Church in Germany, which in their turn led to the forming of more and more "denominations". These are the Christian Churches of the Western World.
In the Eastern World, the Churches were more specifically national or ethnic, with the language of worship being the language proper to that Church and nation: Greek in the Greek Orthodox Church in Greece and some neighboring countries, Aramaic in the Chaldean Orthodox Church in what is now Iraq, Coptic in the Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt, Ukrainian in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Ukraine, Russian in the Russian Orthodox Church in Russia, Maronite in the Maronite Orthodox Church in Lebanon where the common language now is Lebanese, Melkite in the Melkite Orthodox Church in Palestine where the common language now is Arabic, and so on.
In 1054 there was a misunderstanding and disagreement between East and West, between Constantinople and Rome, and that separation is in our day being slowly healed and unity is slowly being restored. Some of the Orthodox local churches led by their bishop didn't want to wait; so they independently sought to reunite with Rome and they came to be known as no longer Orthodox but Eastern Rite Churches, such as Ukrainian Catholic, Melkite Catholic, Coptic Catholic and so on.
Water Baptism in the all the Christian Churches
In all these Christian Churches and traditions, Baptism by water and the Holy Spirit has always been practiced and continues to be practiced today; for the simple reason that Jesus commanded us to do it and the Apostles and other disciples did so and taught others to do so.
They soon learned, as they were taught by the Holy Spirit, to remember Jesus' teaching that Baptism is given by God through water and the words Jesus gave for Baptism "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" and also through the powerful action of the Holy Spirit who confers the life of the Holy Trinity to the baptized soul.
What difference does Baptism by water and the Holy Spirit make?
Before Baptism by water and the Holy Spirit, the soul is capable of perceiving within itself the "voice" of God whispering within it by the Holy Spirit, guiding the soul to Jesus Christ who alone reveals the Father to us; as Jesus taught.
Jesus commanded us to go and make disciples, and once people hear the Good News and respond to it by beginning to follow Jesus as his disciples; then the Lord wants them to be baptized by water and the Holy Spirit so that they can be joined and united to Christ as our Head in the mystical body of all the baptized who become one with Jesus in the love of the Father.
The Baptism by water - whether by immersion in water completely or in part or by simple aspersion or sprinkling - is a saving action by almighty God the Holy Trinity when it is accompanied by the words given by Jesus: "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" with the intention of doing what Jesus commanded us to do.
The moment of Baptism is a beginning of the action God is taking to save the baptized soul by removing it from the empire of the enemy of God and humanity, the rebellious angel the devil (which means "adversary") - Satan (which means "accuser") and Lucifer (which means "light bearer") - and bringing the soul under the lordship and saving grace of Jesus (which means "God saves") Christ (which means "anointed one").
The moment of Baptism is a timeless and eternal moment of God's presence and saving action in the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit which frees the soul from the influence of the devil, cleanses the soul of all personal sin from the past until the present moment, repairs in the soul the damaging effects of the original sin and rebellion of the first human beings represented by Adam and Eve, unites the soul to the life and love and union of the Holy Trinity and to all the other baptized souls of all time, and gives the soul strength to undertake its life long journey of faith in the steps of Jesus who lived a life of faithful obedience to his Father's holy will in order for the soul in communion with Jesus to make of its life on Earth a gift of love for others - even enemies - and a gift of worship to God. While Baptism integrates a soul into Christ, the soul remains free to turn away from God, to rebel, to fall into sin, but also to repent, to come back to God, to welcome God's grace, and to commit itself to living and dying as Jesus lived and died and then rose again and ascended into heaven.
How to go about preparing for Baptism by water and the Holy Spirit
Because God has willed for the Church of Jesus to be very human, Baptism by water and the Holy Spirit not only makes one Christian, but it also makes one a Christian belonging to a particular Church tradition. I was baptized in a Roman Catholic Church and so I became a Roman Catholic Christian and learned to follow Jesus Christ from all the riches of teaching and practice God has given to the Roman Catholic Church and Tradition.
One who is baptized in a Greek Orthodox Church becomes a Greek Orthodox Christian, and so on with each and every Christian Church and Tradition.
So a soul must listen to the Holy Spirit and discern to which Church and Tradition the Holy Spirit is prompting, inviting, calling that soul to go. So a person seeks and finds a Church locally within that Christian Tradition and asks about Baptism.
Christian Initiation in the Roman Catholic Tradition
In the Roman Catholic Church, one is initiated into the faith in 3 steps: Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Eucharist and Communion.
In Baptism by water and the Holy Spirit God introduces the soul into the life of the most Holy Trinity with all the benefits and effects described above.
In Confirmation by Holy Chrism - a perfumed pure olive oil consecrated by the Bishop the week before Easter each year - God fills the soul with the power of the Holy Spirit and the life and love of the Holy Trinity to strengthen the soul and enrich it with supernatural gifts to enable the soul to truly begin to live the life of a disciple of Jesus in the midst of the world which is for the most part trapped in error and darkness and sin under the dominion of the evil one.
In Holy Communion at the Holy Eucharist - which is the ritual celebration of Jesus' Last Supper - Jesus nourishes the soul of the baptized and confirmed soul with his own "Body and Blood" which is a share in his own divine life which He as divine Son has with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Much as a mother gives of her own life to her baby nourishing at her breasts; so does Jesus give of his own divine life to those who receive with faith his Body and Blood in the Eucharist.
An adult who is initiated into the Roman Catholic faith, Church, and Tradition receives all three mysterious divine actions or sacraments at the same celebration and is baptized by water and the Holy Spirit, then confirmed in the Holy Spirit, and then receives Jesus' Body and Blood in Holy Communion. One is baptized only once in a lifetime, and one is confirmed only once, but one is called by Jesus to eat his Body and drink his Blood every Sunday at Sunday worship at Holy Mass.
When parents have their infants baptized, these must grow and learn and prepare for Confirmation and Holy Communion. For example, I was baptized the day after I was born, and then I was confirmed on day and received Jesus in Holy Communion the next day when I was 8 years old.
Jesus knew that we are weak; so He provided opportunity for us to come back to Him if we sin after we have been baptized. This sacramental action of Jesus in his Church is called the Sacrament of Penance or Reconciliation or Confession.
Penance - a grace God gives to strengthen the soul to repent, to turn away from sin and to turn back to God
Reconciliation - the grace God gives to reconcile to Himself and to his Church the soul that has separated itself from God and his Church through sin and rebellion
Confession - this is the action whereby a sinner, one who is baptized, confesses his sins to a priest who gives him absolution - through the words of the priest it is Jesus himself who forgives the penitent and reconciles him to himself and to the Father and to the Church.
Dear Brother or Sister in our common humanity, I will be happy to enter into dialogue with you and do my best to answer any questions you may have.
God's peace to you and your family, in the Name of + Jesus Christ, the Son of God and our Lord, in the saving power of the Holy Spirit.
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.
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.
I received a wonderful grace on retreat this past week at Villa Chateauneuf - Foyers de Charité in Sutton, Québec's Eastern Townships region, where Père Jacques Beaudry c.s.v. gave what the Foyers call "Retraite Fondamentale" all about the sheer magnitude of God's love and the intimate life of spiritual marriage the Son of God initiated with humanity in his Incarnation.
Like many people I had always understood Jesus' reference to the gates of hell when He established Simon as Peter, the rock on which He would build his Church, as meaning that we the Church are under constant attacks from hell and that their very gates are upon us but that those gates would not prevail against the Church.
The Lord gave me finally to understand that, no, it is God himself who is on the offensive against hell and its gates, most potently at the very moment of the Incarnation, and then or course on Calvary, which are Jesus' "1 - 2 punch" against the devil and his rebellious demons.
Our very existence as baptized and confirmed disciples is an offensive against hell; as is our every thought, prayer, word, decision, and action on behalf of faith, hope, love, justice, and mercy for the glory of God. We are part of the army of the Lord of Hosts and the Bride of Christ who follows her Lord in his offensive against the gates of hell, and they shall not prevail against Him!
That is a wonderful answer to share with those who feel under siege by the "minions of hell" with their sexual liberation agendas and lobbies.... This is also very motivating for us to go on accepting to endure the "purifying fire" of rendering our Church more transparent and responsible and bent on the protection of the innocent and the reform of the guilty in the current environment in which human society - after thousands of years of taboo and silence - is finally addressing the issues of sexual and other forms of abuse.
Once again, in a strange and unexpected way, the Church of Jesus Christ is manifest as his "sacrament of salvation" for humanity. We need to keep in mind that before the sex abuse scandals erupted in the Church, sexual and other forms of abuse were heavily taboo in most societies. It was impossible to talk about such things and obtain a fair hearing. First, people were uncomfortable believing allegations about persons they knew, especially familiar persons like close relatives and adults with responsibility over their children.
As we are learning, the vast majority of sexual and other forms of abuse happens in the family, which is the basic "cell" of human society and the first place where children are formed and learn to become "civilized". It is therefore inescapable that whenever there is abuse, it is likely to happen within the family, where distortions of character in the adults are unavoidably cause for suffering in everyone in the family, especially those who are most vulnerable like children, youth, the aged, and the sick and disabled.
God has obviously used his Church, Jesus has used his Bride, like a scalpel to "lance" this terrible boil on the body of the human family. This terrible infection of abuse can now finally be addressed and we are already learning much more than we have ever understood about the human process of maturation and how it happens that there are interruptions of development which distort people with disastrous results like abuse of others around them.
It is becoming known that those who abuse others are almost always troubled souls suffering deep wounds and distortions of personality and character, and when they misbehave and abuse others, it is out of the overflowing of their own misery and suffering. They are sadly passing on the harm that was done to them.
The only way to stop the terrible cycle is the strategy that Jesus introduced. People who behave horribly, for the most part, have never experienced true life-giving love. Their human deficit is in effect a deficiency of development, like a big hole in the ground waiting for a house to be built there. Digging the hole deeper won't show any sign of the house to come, but only actual building materials.
Love is the primary building material composing the human person, and Jesus, being the Son of God, understood that. Our chief challenge is moving beyond the "fortress" attitude of defending ourselves in the jungle attitude of the "survival of the fittest" which is a primary motivator in human affairs, from the economy to culture, and our health, social, and justice systems.
Jesus demonstrated, however, that to commit to practicing universal love is very costly. Those who are motivated by different motives are likely to perceive the "universal lover" as a threat to be eliminated - which is how they dealt with Jesus - or an enemy to be subdued or perverted to adopt their own violent and self-serving ways. Anyone who wants to follow Jesus needs the strength He had from his Father's love and the Holy Spirit in order to remain faithful to the call of universal love to the end.
Matthew reports in chapter 5 verse 43 and following: "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."
Luke reports an even stronger teaching and warning by Jesus to anyone who would listen in Luke chapter 6 verse 27 and following:
27 "But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. 29 If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. 30 Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.
32 "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. 35 But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
37 "Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; 38 give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back."
39 He also told them a parable: "Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit? 40 A disciple is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully qualified will be like the teacher. 41 Why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? 42 Or how can you say to your neighbor, 'Friend, let me take out the speck in your eye,' when you yourself do not see the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor's eye.
43 "No good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit; 44 for each tree is known by its own fruit. Figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. 45 The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil; for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks.
46 "Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I tell you? 47 I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, hears my words, and acts on them. 48 That one is like a man building a house, who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock; when a flood arose, the river burst against that house but could not shake it, because it had been well built. 49 But the one who hears and does not act is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river burst against it, immediately it fell, and great was the ruin of that house."
Peace to you, dear reader, and to your family, friends, colleagues, and neighbors... the Peace that Jesus offers but which the world can never give or truly understand. It is a peace that comes from God the Creator's confidence in his design and plan for humanity and in his confidence in our ability and willingness to accept his love, to follow his guidance, and to choose wisely.
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.
