Luke 12: 49-53 Reuniting Lines
A few days ago I was speaking to an individual who told me that family unity was much more important than truth and understanding. This person had been the victim of abuse as a child and as an adult from some family members. The family was unwilling to come to terms with it and wished to hide it all under the rug for the sake of family unity. The Lord reminds us that unity can only be achieved through truth and love. What unites all human beings is truth and love. That is, the Truth and His Love.
I have come to set the earth on fire! Christ’s fire, like the Father’s fire, is an unconsuming fire that created and renewed the face of the earth. It is a fire that freely burns and will never go out. The most interesting aspect of the Big Bang is that this is the only explosion that ever created! I cannot think of any other explosion, anywhere, that creates. Explosions destroy, annihilate. God’s fire – God’s explosive love - creates and re-creates. It obliterates only one thing: human barriers. “Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” (Ronald Reagan)
God’s love has no limits. St. Paul exhorts us, before the Father, that “You…rooted in faith…may have the strength to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth…that is the love of Christ!” (Eph 3:18-19) The North and South, East and West of Christ’s love is the CROSS! It radiates his love with his light, and reaches the four corners of the earth! It sets the world on fire! It crosses the horizon. It is rooted in heaven and planted on earth. It unites and divides. It separates and heals. When I look at the Cross, it calls out to me, by name, “Come join me.” Come join me also means “leave all these other things behind.”
Yes or No
Good or Evil
Wheat or Weed
Love or Indifference
King of King or Prince of lies
Give or Take / Cross or Comfort
Grace or Sin / Poverty or Wealth
Freedom or Slavery
Simplicity or Vanity
Humility or Pride
Time or Eternity
Life or Death
One day, we shall stand before the Lord and be judged according to how we loved Him and our neighbor. The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. (Ps 33:5b) Today, Let my heart choose God over all other gods. I shall seek the greatest Good over all other goods. Let my feet stand firm in the knowledge that when the Lord divides, he conquers. What the Lord unites, he rewards. Who the Lord loves, he raises. What the earth sets on fire, He uses to light the heavens!
Father these are all good words, but I will spend my available time today reflecting on two of you phrases.
ReplyDeleteSimplicity or Vanity
Humility or Pride
I know I needed to work on Humility, but Simplicity or vanity has given me a whole new area to think about. Thank you.
What a beautiful and inspiring reflection! "The North, South, East and West of Christ's love is the CROSS!" I just love that, and then what follows gives me much to reflect on and pray. Your cross of choices is a powerful image and one that I am going to share with many. Thank you so much! This is exactly what I needed to hear today. The Holy Spirit is alive and well in you! Praise be to God!
ReplyDeleteI loved what you said about the "Big Bang"!
ReplyDeleteThank you Father for your words to us. God bless you!
ReplyDeleteI agree unity can only be achieved through truth and love but sometimes families don't want to see the truth.
ReplyDeleteI told my sister about the abuse that I suffered at the hands of our father because I suspected that her daughter may also be subject to his abuse. I did it out of love for my niece and my sister but my sister did not want to hear it.
She told me that she wished I had never told her and that she did not want our dad to know that she knew. I was hurt by her refusal to see the truth and that she wasn't willing to support me. But I have accepted it.
I know that if my siblings knew what happened it would cause a lot of problems. I am sure most of them would respond the same way that my sister did and that would be painful for me.
I know the truth and my dad knows the truth and we are trying to repair our relationship through God's grace but the rest of my family will never know and I think that is ok.