Luke 10: 13-16 Will You Be Exalted to Heaven?
Lift me up, Lord, from the land of the dead to the land of the living. This world is such a mirage, filled with masks and mirrors. I no longer desire the things of my youth: attention, importance, flattery or title. I seek authenticity. I seek your face. God forbid that I should live in a manner unbecoming of you. I do not seek any love above your love. You cannot be replaced! No treasure on earth, no pearl lost in the seas, no possession above or below can ever replace you. Why? I know why, because I have tried, and I have failed.
“Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.” (Ps 139:24b)Your way is The Way; the only way; the true way to live life; to serve you and man. And your way is so simple! “I must increase; you must decrease.” It is so obvious that the world desires you over me. And yet I fight tooth and nail, jump up and down, to be seen and to be loved. It is you, my Lord and my God, that makes man more than “a little”. And a great man is one who knows how little he is.
Every night I wake up in a cold sweat because I know, my God, that you are a demanding God. You expect the most, the best from me. Why do I sweat? I know why, because the greatest temptation that I face each and every day is to fight evil with evil. To the wounded I say: You hate me, I hate you. If you are mean to me, I will be mean to you. If you don’t love me, then I won’t love you. If you hurt me, then I will hurt you. This is not the way of the Christian. This is not the way we fight. We love more, forgive more and give more than we receive. For this reason we are considered fools! Aliens! But only in the land of the dead.
The Lord answered Job: “Have you ever commanded the morning and shown the dawn its place? Have you entered into the sources of the sea, or walked about in the depths of the abyss? Have the gates of death been shown to you, or have you seen the gates of darkness? Which is the way to the dwelling place of light, and where is the abode of darkness? Tell me since you know so much!” (Jb 38: 12-21) We think we know so much because we have all studied Earth Science. And yet what we seem to forget, is that we study what we did not do. The greatest danger to life on earth is man who turns into an animal, which is the lowest form of evolution on earth. As our minds continue to grow bigger and are hearts grow ever smaller, we will see more wars on earth more death and more destruction. The Holocaust, the Rwandan massacres, the genocides that have plagued the 20th century were for one reason alone: We refused to listen to our God. What did God say to man? “Love one another.”
The Lord said, “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! Woe to YOU! You, who do not listen; who refuse to believe. You, who refuse to accept the truth: There is a God and I am not Him!
Lord, help me to see Your Way as the best Way, Your Truth as the only Truth, and your Life as the life for me. Allow me to be with you when all hope seems to be lost, when the benefits do not outweigh the risks or when success is not guaranteed. Only then will You be the one who burns brightly in the dark and your loving servants be exalted to heaven. Who will be exalted to heaven? The one who is more like you.
“If you don’t love me, then I won’t love you. If you hurt me, then I will hurt you. This is not the way of the Christian. This is not the way we fight. We love more. Forgive more. Give more. For this reason we are considered fools! Aliens! But only in the land of the dead.”
ReplyDeleteI was just thinking about this very thing as I was making out my confession list last night. I figured out why I quit loving, because it hurts so much when that love is not returned, or when I don’t ‘feel’ the love. I know that pesky ‘f’ word.
Why is BEING loved not enough for me? Why do I doubt it at the drop of a hat? I know feelings are not necessarily true. I can feel loved and not be loved. It happens every single day when women say yes to a man, just to ‘feel the love’. So why do I think I need to feel loved by my husband who I know loves me? He tries so hard to ‘do’ things for me, he supports me in all my ventures, and he sacrifices for me. Why isn’t that enough? Why does it still hurt and why can I not disregard the pain I feel and just love him?
How guilty I felt when the thought of Jesus hanging on the cross crossed my mind just as that selfish thought of not feeling the love passed through my heart.
I don’t always ‘feel’ the love of Jesus, but I know He loves me because he made the ultimate sacrifice for me.
How selfish am I to withhold my love because of a little pain when Jesus endured so MUCH PAIN for me?
Ok, my selfish, unloving heart still goes on the list until I cooperate with the Grace, I’ve been given to love, forgive and give anyway.
This Christian thing has some pretty hefty requirements.
Christ would say: you hate me; I love you! If you are mean to me; I will love you even more! If you don't love me; I will still love you! If you hurt me; I will love you until the day I die! Christ's love would never purposely hurt another; crush their soul. Christ's love, which is true love, would try to do everything imaginable to avoid inflicting pain onto those they "love" or others.
ReplyDeleteIt is God who gives us the grace to love and forgive and to not want to wish harm to those who have harmed us I so often think of the example of St. Maria Goretti when in her dying moments did not wish harm on the man that attempted to rape her but actually forgave him for both the attempted rape and the 14 times that he stabbed her and in later years he also turned his life around and probably the most Christ like attitude was that of Maria's mother when she forgave Allesandro Serinelli when he came in person after his release from prison to ask forgiveness from Assunta Goretti. I am not real certain but I also think that maybe Allesandro Serinelli may have been at Maria Goretti's canozation along with her mother Assunta Goretti.
ReplyDeleteDear Brenda in Christ,
ReplyDeleteAlessandro Serenelli was present at her canonization.
This is one of your most beautiful meditations Father! It brought tears to my eyes :-)
ReplyDeleteDear Fr. Alfonse,
ReplyDeleteThis is the second time this week I have heard you mention that evil enters the world through me.
At the retreat on Saturday you said that evil enters the world through my sinfulness.
I know there is evil in the world but to hear that I am an instrument in which evil enters the world was a wakeup call.
And in your meditation today you mentioned fighting evil with evil.
But the other thing that struck me were your words, "To the wounded I say, 'You hate me, I hate you'."
It is the wounded that say these things. How often in my woundedness have I lashed out; I want others to hurt like I am hurting.
The next time I hear hurtful words said to me, I hope I can take a step back and realize where these words are coming from. Is it out of their woundedness they are saying these things to me?
And instead of returning hurtful words with more hurtful words, I can rise above my selfishness and offer love. Love that will put an end to the hurt.
Love is ALWAYS the answer to all lifes problems. Because love never fails! Christ's Love is what is missing from my life. I am really going to work on bringing that love back into my life. I am dead without it.
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