Mk 4:21-25 Coming To The Light
“There is nothing hidden that will not come to light.” I don’t know about you, but this passage from Scripture has always terrified me! “O Lord, God of Israel, you are righteous! We are left this day as a remnant. Here we are before you in our guilt, though because of it not one of us can stand in your presence” (Ezra 9:15).
We are all sinners and we are all in need of the Lord’s forgiveness and compassion.
Whom should we fear? It should not be the light, not at all. We should never fear the light, but unfortunately we have a pre-disposed condition to do so. It runs in our veins, it’s in our blood! It is the most obvious consequence of original sin, that as a child of the Light we run and hide from the Light when we have sinned. We should never forget the first words that God said to our ancestors after their fall. They ran and hide from the Lord and God called out, “Where are you?” Is it not similar to a mother and father calling out to their lost child? And yet, we continue to run and take cover. Some do it better than others. The Lord is true to his word: You can run, but you cannot hide. This world belongs to me. It may be run by the evil one, but I know every secret hiding place, every nook and cranny, every mountain top and valley, every single dark secret, every fingerprint. I know it all because I created it all!
The Saints are saints because they stripped themselves of all human fallacies, of human wisdom and follies. They tore themselves free from all inhibitions - their very human limitations, and revealed to all their inner struggles through their prayers, written with humility and many, many tears. The Saints are simple in appearance; simple in relationships – they simply love. They hide no weakness and cover no wounds. They have taken the advice of St. Paul: “When I am weak, then I am strong” (2Cor 12:10). They learned the hard lessons of truth, and practice makes perfect. They practice it with love. By doing all of this, they radiate in His glory. The truth is simple: Whoever wishes to come after me must deny themselves, pick up their cross and follow me (Mk 8:34). For whoever wishes to be the first will be last (Mk 10:44) and unless the grain of wheat fall to the ground and dies, it cannot bear any fruit (Jn 12:24). Spiritual progress, perfection is made when this simple truth is simply learned and simply practiced out of love.
These are the very conditions of discipleship. There is no way to hiding from them. What has helped me in my life is to never look at another’s sin but only my own. So the question is the same as our God’s: Where are you today? What is going through your veins? What’s on your mind and in your heart? What are you so focused on?
Reject all that is sinful and come to the Light!
I absolutely loved this meditation today. Thank you!
ReplyDelete"The Lord is true to his word: You can run, but you cannot hide. This world belongs to me. It may be run by the evil one, but I know every secret hiding place, every nook and cranny, every mountain top and valley, every single dark secret, every fingerprint. I know it all because I created it all!"
-This is my favorite part.
Have the best day!
I find myself hiding not necessarily because of my sinfulness, although I do that at times, but because God’s love for me scares me.
ReplyDeleteI struggle with the notion that I am lovable. I know it is the demons in me that are causing me to doubt God’s love for me.
I know God loves me and that I was made in His image and likeness but what I know in my head isn’t what I always believe in my heart. I want to feel this truth deep in my marrow!
I know I have trouble trusting because of my childhood. I have never had someone love me unconditionally. I can at times feel His loving arms around me but then I find myself resisting his hug.
If I let him into my heart he will see why I am unlovable. I have been alone for so long, this is what I am comfortable with, and that is why His love scares me.
Heavenly Father,
Help me to not be afraid of your love for me. Hold me tight even when I struggle to get away from you. Infuse me with your love and give me the courage to walk in your Light, to be free of these demons that continue to haunt me.
Anonymous #1,
ReplyDeleteI could have written exactly what you did a few months ago. Maybe I did.
Go to the St. Ann website: stannparish.org, go to their bulletin and on the second to the last page is the list of ministries. Go to the Prayer Ministry Spiritual Direction and call the person there. She is also in charge of the healing ministry and they will help you if you sincerely want help.
May God Bless you and heal you,
a former self-hater
“There is nothing hidden that will not come to light.” I don’t know about you, but this passage from Scripture has always terrified me!”
ReplyDelete“Whom should we fear? It should not be the light, not at all…And yet, we continue to run and take cover. Some do it better than others.
The Saints are saints because they stripped themselves of all human fallacies, of human wisdom and follies. They tore themselves free from all inhibitions - their very human limitations, and revealed to all their inner struggles through their prayers, written with humility and many, many tears. The Saints are simple in appearance; simple in relationships – they simply love. They hide no weakness and cover no wounds. They have taken the advice of St. Paul: “When I am weak, then I am strong” (2Cor 12:10). They learned the hard lessons of truth, and practice makes perfect.”
I couldn’t believe your words when I read your blog this evening. I did not intend to read it today, but something or someone told me to read it before I went to bed.
The first sentence slapped me in the face.
I have been hiding something deep inside my heart my whole adult life. I have been hiding it from myself. And I believe others saw it before I did, the effects of my childhood abuse. Yes, it seems like everyone has it, and many do. I thought I had dealt with mine by pushing it down and pretending it wasn’t there, thinking that if I don’t acknowledge it, I don’t give it power and it’s over, I’m over it. In fact I have spent years trying to help others heal their childhood abuse issues. I get frustrated when they can’t just get over it like I did, when they continue to use it as an excuse for their bad or unhealthy behaviors.
I have recently become aware of this, not by choice, however. It has been forced into my face by someone who loves me, THE LORD. He wants me to heal but I can’t until I am willing to pull out all the old crap that I’ve stuffed for over 40 years. I am still resisting and I am resentful that I have to deal with this when my life was so perfectly peaceful and orderly until about the last six months.
I had stuffed all the pain and memories into a deep dark hole in my heart, away from the light, the light of Jesus. I tried not only to hide it from myself and others, but from the Lord. What was I thinking? He was there when it happened. He was there when I was crushed, when I felt worthless, unloved and unlovable. Now He’s here telling me it’s time to bring it out into the light and release it forever. I know it will be painful but I am MUCH older now, much stronger now and much more capable of handling it. I trust the Lord, I love the Lord and want Him to heal me emotionally as well as physically.
By hiding this and stuffing it for so long, it has manifested itself into physical pain and suffering. It is really getting bad and I have a hard time keeping all my commitments. In fact I have made so many commitments to avoid dealing with it, how ironic. I didn’t realize it, but that’s what I did and what I’ve been doing for years.
I cannot do it alone, I need the Lord and I need a professional to help me pull it out, sort it out and throw it out so I can let the light into that dark place that I’ve been hiding all these years.
I know it will happen because God loves me and so do many others who are praying for me and loving me even when I’ve thrown them out of my life.
Please pray for me that the Lord heals me so I can be the man and instrument and one day, Saint that He made me to be.