Luke 11: 29-32 Freedom to Love
I have found freedom and I have found meaning. Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life. How often do I repeat these words and I find the strength and courage to follow the Way - His Will, the Truth and His Life?
Yesterday was a long day that got even longer. After celebrating the seven o’clock Mass at St. Ann I went to visit a beautiful family nearby and they provided me with a much needed hot meal, fantastic friendship and wonderful conversation. As I was driving home, ready to complete the day with an early evening rest (it was already 11:20 pm), I received a text message from a young student I had first met at the minor seminary. A great young man who is currently a freshman studying Philosophy at the University of Dallas. He wanted to get together and talk. I know my schedule well. It was now or not for a few weeks. I was so happy to hear from him after a couple of years of minimal contact. I asked him if he was getting ready to go to sleep. I should have anticipated his response. After all, he is a College student. “Father, the evening is still young.” I’m not sure if it was the Holy Spirit or the spirit of stupidity but I found myself making a U-turn and telling him I would be at UD in twenty minutes. I think this all began when I watched at least 10 times the latest Don Bosco movie. I really love this Saint and I truly love the youth. But I have to remind myself that I’m neither.
Our conversation was very philosophical. He is searching for the truth and yet cannot find it. He has placed all things in doubt, even his own existence. He is an extremely intelligent young man but I think his studies have led him to think a little too much and to assume a little too little. During our conversation I was reminded of the words spoken by Festus as he interrupted Paul’s defense of the faith. “You are out of your mind, Paul! Your studies are driving you insane” (Acts 26:24). Of course the major difference between Paul and Festus was that Paul had found the truth, first through a revelation and then by reflection. Whereas Festus continued to rely too much on study and not enough on the big elephant in the room: the death and resurrection of Christ and the birth of the Church. The truth is that God has every right to reveal himself to the world. And what he has revealed is the greatest revelation ever to man: God is love. My suggestion to this young man was not to follow the sheep and attend Mass, but rather to begin to love. “If you love, then you will discover God because God is love and we were made to fall in love. That is, we were made to fall in God’s arms.”
If I do not know God and what He did, then I will not know who I am and what I should do. If I do not know who I am and what I should do, then I will end up hating who I am and wishing I was never born. Eventually, I will end up hating myself and all those around me. God is love and we were created to love and be loved. We can never forget the big elephant in the tomb!
We look for signs, but signs will never be enough. They weren’t enough for the Pharisees and the Scribes and they will never be enough for me. We look for wisdom, but we will never be as wise as the wisest of men, or as wise as God. We are finite and He is infinite. We are a bug and he is a Giant. But He became finite so that we could become infinite.
Blessed be the name of the Lord forever. Blessed be His name, Father and Love. We are children of the Light – free to love and to be loved.
What an inspiring meditation. It always comes back to God and Love. I also love the clip art...it is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteGives me something to think about. If I don't know who I am and what I should do, then I do not understand God's love.
ReplyDeleteIf God is the God of love then why is this soul in so much pain? I am tired of the pain, suffering and carrying such a heavy burden. Today this soul is beaten, bruised and broken and is not very in love with God.
ReplyDeleteEven when we are in pain - beaten, bruised and broken - can we imitate the God of Love in Jesus Christ who was bruised by our sins, beaten for our sins, and broken to redeem us of our sins. Even during so much pain, can we choose to love by offering up our cries for the conversion of sinners.
ReplyDeleteDear Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteI encourage you to cry out to God. It is OK to be angry and to question what is happening in your life. God wants to know what is in the depths of your heart. He would rather that you cry out to Him then turn from Him in your pain.
He is the only one that you can be truly honest with. He won’t think you are terrible for the things you are thinking, he won’t betray you, and he won’t let you down.
I had heard the phrase “offer it up” but never really knew what it meant. But this past spring I was in terrible physical pain and Fr. Alfonse told me to offer it up for the conversion of sinners, so I did.
The next week I went back home to visit my family and my dad, who had molested me as a teenager, asked for my forgiveness. When I told my counselor she didn’t even know what to say because she said it rarely happens, maybe once every couple of years. It truly was a miracle. Things are still hard with my dad but at least there is hope for our relationship.
I don’t know what you are going through but I will be praying that you find peace.
“If I do not know God and what He did, then I will not know who I am and what I should do. If I do not know who I am and what I should do, then I will end up hating who I am and wishing I was never born.”
ReplyDeleteBeen there done that for years and years! It’s a dark and dangerous place to be.
“If you love, then you will discover God because God is love and we were made to fall in love. That is, we were made to fall in God’s arms.”
As I look back, I could swear I used to love more. I don’t even know exactly when my heart started to harden. But as I reflect, I can see that when I pushed God out of my life or just slowly walked away from Him, I became more selfish, untrusting, unforgiving, suspicious, self serving, self hating and unloving to others. I believe much of my behavior was out of what I thought was self-preservation. It’s interesting how the devil can twist things so that they are actually the opposite of what they seem to be. Being selfish, untrusting, unforgiving, suspicious, self-serving, self-hating and unloving to others is actually self-destruction.
I have brought love back into my life and I can truly say that God is the One I am most in love with. Maybe I have it backwards, but He seems so much easier to love than those around me, but loving Him makes it easier to love them. Or maybe I don’t know what I’m talking about. That has happened before!
When another has a hard day so do I. I will try very hard not to bring what I am feeling to another. I will "offer it up" bringing it straight to God. I do love Him so...GOD is my my life! He has given me a task and I will be grateful for it. God must really love me to give me such responsibility.
ReplyDelete