Luke 9: 51-56 He Journeyed On
The Son of Man came to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. For this reason, he journeyed on, determined to go to Jerusalem.
There comes a time in every man’s life where he comes to a crossroad: Shall I love or shall I curse? Shall I give or shall I give in? The more power I have, the easier it is to dominate, to seek control, to consolidate and manipulate. For this reason, the Lord was stripped of his glory and became a meek and humble servant of man. We do not love a powerful God, we love a loving God, and to love means to serve, to sacrifice, and to give. We do not love a boastful God, we love a humble God, and to be humble means to forgive, to understand and to embrace. I must follow the Lord all the way out of love for Him, regardless of victory. Love does not know the final outcome. Love follows. I must prefer to be with the Lord in Hell, than to be with the devil in Heaven. I will follow you wherever you go and wherever you are.
Job experienced true loss, true misery and true, unfiltered, unadulterated death. He had lost all that was dear to him. He even lost the love for life. “Perish the day on which I was born, the night when they said, ‘The child is a boy!’ Why did I not perish at birth, come forth from the womb and expire? Why was I not buried away like an untimely birth, like babes that have never seen the light?” Job had been thrown to the gates of Hell but he refused to hate. He refused to open the gates and enter. He questioned, he asked, he sought and he found. He found God.
Rejection and humiliation are not demons. They are reminders that life on earth is lived in the chaos of sin and evil. Stupid am I if I live my life to preserve it rather than to consume it.
Who am I to call upon the Lord to strike down my enemies or to ask the Lord to hunt them down and take them out! I would be the first to go! “Contradictions, sickness, scruples, spiritual aridity, and all the inner and outward torments are the chisel with which God carves his statues for paradise.” (St. Alphonsus Ligouri) “Don’t worry too much about who is with you or against you. Be sure that God is with you in everything that you do. God will defend you. No evil can occur to you when God is at your side” (The Imitation of Christ). The Saints truly understand God’s language of love and help interpret it for us.
We worry so much about how we feel. Feelings come and go, and if you want to know the truth: we should probably feel miserable most of the time – especially during a retreat or spiritual exercises. The question really is, “What do you want? What are you looking for? What do you want to achieve?” Holiness is the only acceptable answer. Christ means total surrender. Our lives can become very bitter if we forget this. Victory comes with a price: the Cross. The most difficult wars are fought in the will. My mind knows what is right and what is wrong. My heart does not want to offend the Lord. It is the muscle, my will, that needs to be trained. Sacrifice trains the will, prepares the soul for battle.
Lord, give me the grace to give what you want and to take what you give, and journey on. Amen.
open and honest communication is key!
ReplyDelete"I must prefer to be with the Lord in Hell, than to be with the devil in Heaven. I will follow you wherever you go and wherever you are."
ReplyDeleteI just had this conversation the other day. Is my goal heaven or to be with God?
When I thought about it, I realized that heaven is not heaven without God. And hell is not hell with God. So actually I believe that heaven is wherever God is.
But in case I am wrong, I choose to follow Him wherever He is, heaven, hell, the moon, the sun….
"Rejection and humiliation are not demons. They are reminders that life on earth is lived in the chaos of sin and evil. Stupid am I if I live my life to preserve it rather than to consume it."
What good is a well-preserved good-looking corpse? Where does life in a bubble, protected from pain, suffering and the wear and tear of life lead me?
The saying, “Life is a journey, not the destination” started to have real meaning to me when I realized that the goal is not always the goal. I have had to remind myself of this very often lately, when I set my goal for heaven ASAP!
I have realized that I cannot speed up the process of getting there by working hard and trying to race through the obstacles. The obstacles are part of the journey; they are the lessons or spiritual exercises that will give me the strength and wisdom, the tools, for the next leg of the trip. These obstacles or lessons build on each other and are necessary ‘stops’ along the way. Without them, I will not reach my ultimate goal. Speeding through them will likely cause me to miss something and have to go through them over and over until I ‘get it’. Trust me on this one, I am the poster child for the saying “You get the lesson until you get the lesson”! Sometimes my life has been like the movie Groundhog Day, you know, where Bill Murray lives the same day over and over and over until he gets it right, only I don’t get to start fresh every day, I have to live with the consequences of my actions from the previous day.
How can I become a saint by simply jumping from point A to point B with no trials, no lessons, no bumps in the road, nothing but smooth sailing? That is not what saints are made of. That’s what well-preserved, good-looking corpses are made of!
Lord use me until I am all used up, then take me to Yourself, wherever that may be!