Freedom and Dependence

The 4th of July is the time that fortunate Americans reflect, celebrate, and if they are honest, thank God for the peace and prosperity that they enjoy.  It is pollyanna to think that that everyone is living free from grief, disease, tragedy, but relatively easy to think that we are the beneficiaries of God's Providence and the fruit of the sacrifice of men and women from revolutionary times forward, and left with one of the best foundations for beginning and governing a country.  I haven't seen America the movie yet, so I imagine there is more I might say.

As I was riding in on the train to work on Friday I thought about how little I've been thanking and intimately talking to God lately.  I prayed, visualizing the Presence of God, and realized my ingratitude and negligence.  I made the trek over to St. Peter's in the Loop (a.k.a. Chicago's downtown) for Confession and Mass.  St. Peter's has two Confessionals staffed most of the time.  I picked the one staffed by a Franciscan with an Italian last name.  I don't know why, I just did.

While I was waiting, the door shut on my side, I prayed for the priest, that he would truly be in persona Christi, "in the person of Christ" and that he would truly speak the words Christ, through the Holy Spirit, would give him for me.

How wonderful the Sacrament of Confession is.  Here we are receiving an individual audience with our Savior to receive His Forgiveness, to receive the healing and teaching from the Holy Spirit audible to our ears, as some of us, including me, lack the gift of hearing God speak audibly.

This isn't the first time I wrote the advice I heard in a confessional in a blog post, but when you are touched by love, healing, and light that helps with re-establishing an intimate relationship with our Lord and God, who is the great lover of our souls, it seems that advice should be shared.

"Spend some time dwelling on God's presence.  Think about the fact that any goodness or holiness in you comes from God's presence.  Any goodness, or holiness that you sense in others comes from God's presence."

Earlier on the train ride in I had read, "Since our Lord dwells in our soul, His prayer is ours." by St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)

John--chapter 8, have you read that recently?  Several verses have been coming up for me lately, usually from KLOVE's Encouraging Word email that I receive everyday. As I peacefully alternated between reading John chapter 8 and napping at the pool yesterday (yes a lovely way to spend the 4th, and the first summer in many years that I could do this, as even the youngest child is a good swimmer now) these verses stood out.

"I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." (John 8:12)

"I have told you that you would die in your sins, for you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he (the Son of God)." (John 8:24)

"If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." (John 8:31b-32)

"Jesus answered them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, every one who commits sin is a slave to sin.  The slave does not continue in the house for ever; the son continues for ever.  So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.'" (John 8:34-36)

"Why do you not understand what I say?  It is because you cannot bear to hear my word.  You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires.  He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him.  When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and father of lies."  (John 8:44)

That last one seemed to help me make sense of the incredible, orchestrated deceptions of those who did not view the Hobby Lobby decision as a victory for religious freedom . . .  and defeating the rising tyranny of a government imposing its beliefs on others.  If someone in good conscience believes that destroying a fertilized egg before or after implantation in the womb is immoral, they should not be forced to contribute to it.  Those vociferous and deceitful talking heads claiming otherwise are really angry that they have been given a hurdle to imposing their views.  Ironically this is their main argument  . . . that Hobby Lobby and other corporations can now impose their views on their workers.

Their second argument is that the "Science" as confirmed by the FDA says these are not abortion causing drugs.  They up the anecdotal claim that fertilized eggs fall through without implanting not 60%, not 75% but 80% of the time.  That is really hard to believe without a cross-reference to a medical study (and I have looked for them), but they keep increasing it so anyone that disagrees is cast as an uneducated, uninformed, religious bigot.  It's also hard to believe from my own experience.  Armed with the science behind Natural Family Planning's sympto-thermal method, my husband and I were pregnant with our first the second month of trying, and I had one period between my 1st and 2nd pregnancy, and no period between my 2nd and 3rd pregnancy.  My sincere apologies to those who suffer from infertility and do not know this ease of conception.

Their third argument is the classic, if you don't believe in an abortion causing drug, don't take one.  In similar reasoning, in WWII Germany the SS commanders of the concentration camps and even Hitler himself had no responsibility for the millions that were gased, because only those that turned the knobs or the switch (whatever the mechanism) were the ones that were guilty of those terminated by the toxic gas.  What a feeble argument.  Our country permitted slavery, legalizing all of African origin as less than a human being.  All that approved of that line in the constitution and fought on the side to maintain that practice have some moral responsibility for the injustice done to those who were enslaved.

If you read the book of Jeremiah, you find that God didn't just punish the parents that sacrificed their children to Moloch, the entire nation was punished by famine, disease, sword, and exile.

Further, If we don't stand up against injustice and evil we do bear some responsibility when it is perpetrated.

"Every one to whom much is given, of him will much be required; and of him to whom men commit much they will demand the more." Luke 12:48b

If we have the gift of faith, and conscience we are required to speak and stand against the lies and murder that comes from the devil, "a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him." (John 8:44)

"He who is of God hears the words of God; the reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God." (John 8:47)

Therefore we should not be surprised when we hear lies, and we have an explanation for how some are able to justify killing of infants within the womb, and declare those opposed to this as "religious bigots who love the 'non-sentient' fetus more than the mother." That too is a lie.  Those of us that do go out to the clinics are not just there because we grieve the killing of the babies, but because we are viscerally aware of the long-lasting heartbreak, guilt, and regret that follow the woman as she exits the facility.  We also know that 75% - maybe 80%, who knows really (similar to the claims of fertilized eggs falling through without implantation) are coerced or otherwise arrive at the facility thinking that it is the only option for them.  The prayer and presence of the prolife people outside of the clinics is that the woman would talk to them and learn there are other options, not only to save the life of the unborn child, but to spare the woman of the deep and lasting pain that is germinated from the termination.

"Jesus said to them,  'Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM." (John 8:58)

Finally these words of Fr. John Bartunek from The Better Part on John 8:12-20:

Jesus himself, his person and his teachings, is the pillar of saving fire that shines throughout the entire world, leading whoever believes in him to the fullness of life itself. . . . Thoreau (wrote) . . . most men lead lives of quiet desperation, knowing that there is more to life, but unable to find it.  We walk in darkness, groping tentatively and anxiously - unless we have Jesus.  His example, his teaching, and his presence are a "lamp to our feet and a light to our path" (Psalm 119:105).  With Jesus, we know where we are going and how to get there.  Who are the people in history who have lived the most fulfilling, fulfilled, and fruitful lives if not the saints . . . ?  Only the saints (by walking the path of Christ's light) learn the secret of rejoicing in the midst of suffering; only they conquer the conundrum of how to be happy in a fallen world.

I am reading The Quiet Light, a novel about St. Thomas Aquinas.  I would like to add what St. Thomas wrote about that last highlighted part--the conundrum of how to be happy, believe and love God, seeking after him, in a fallen world, but this post is already longer than planned and longer than any but 1 or 2 will read!

Outermost Limits of Kindness

 Luke tells us that when Jesus was carrying his cross:

Large numbers of people followed him, and of women too, who mourned and lamented for him. But Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, weep rather for yourselves and for your children.” Luke 23:27-28

This scripture is also captured for us in the Eighth Station of the Cross:

Leader: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you.

All: Because by your holy cross You have redeemed the world.

Jesus, as you carry your cross you see a group of women along the road. As you pass by you see they are sad. You stop to spend a moment with them, to offer them some encouragement. Although you have been abandoned by your friends and are in pain, you stop and try to help them.

Father John Bartunek in The Better Part wrote, “Amazingly, even in a furious hurricane of personal suffering, his mind is not on himself, but on those whom he loves. . . . This conversation teaches us how to carry our crosses – and Jesus promised that his followers will have crosses to carry, every day."

“Then he said to them all, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” Luke 9:23

Fr. Bartunek wrote further, “. . . Our acceptance of God's will when it's costly is the only way to exercise the virtues of faith, hope, and love that will restore our souls to health and holiness. . . . When God sends us crosses they too can be redemptive—just as Christ won grace by carrying and dying on his cross. We can win graces” for those in our lives, those who need them the most “through carrying and dying on our crosses with Christ, uniting our imperfect fidelity and trust to his perfect surrender.” Jesus taught us “salvation comes not in spite of or instead of suffering, but through suffering”

Fr. Bartunek wrote to the reader that Jesus knows we love him and that he knows we want to show him our love. Jesus knows that the more we show him our love, the happier we will be.

That rings true for you doesn't it?

Then he has these words for us in meditation, from Jesus,

“Here is a vast arena where you can love. Every time I permit a small suffering to come your way, if you accept it the way I accepted mine, you can offer it to the Father in reparation to the Father in reparation for the sin of someone who is still imprisoned in sin, and if you do this in my name, you will help set that person free.”

Meditating on this and building upon the prayer in the book, I offer this prayer:

Jesus, I see you carrying your cross, thinking about the mission the Father has given you. You remain sensitive to the needs of others. O Jesus, give me a heart like that! Make me love as you love! I tend to turn in on myself when I am given crosses of sadness or suffering. Help me, Lord. I want to accept what God wills for my cross, to unite it with your suffering, your perfect surrender as the Lamb of God to redeem us, to win graces for those who need them most, including those among my own family and friends. I want so much to show you my love.

Mary, Mother of Jesus, and due to his generosity and love, Our Spiritual Mother too, gave her whole self including her heart to her God, as the handmaid of the Lord. Mary's Immaculate Heart never left Jesus.

God has everything he wants but he only has our hearts if we care to offer them to Him.

In the book He and I, he tells us he is our “incomparable Friend . . . . So don't be upset by anything. Once and for all place your heart in Mine, in joy as in distress. . . . Begin right from this very moment. . . . Ask the Immaculate one for this grace. Her heart never left Me.”

“Step outside of your self-center. This will be a new way of coming to Me. Try to see Me more clearly in those around you and your entire association with others will be transformed.” Instead of feeling sorry that you were not alive when I was on earth so that you could be with me, be fully aware of Me in those around you. Serve Me in them."

To me this is Jesus's pep talk to help us, ok me, follow his teaching in the Gospels:

“You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” Matthew 22:39b

“And the king will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these my brethern, you did it to me.'” Matthew 25:40

Jesus knows it is our joy to please God, that the more we show God our love, the happier we will be.

Jesus used He and I, to tell me the Father has given me (us) many opportunities of pleasing Him. Jesus says, “Go to everyone without partiality. And since it's Me, give them your whole self. Go to the very outermost limit of your kindness. . . . Scatter kindness on everyone alike. . . . Don't I scatter My sunshine and rain on the just and the unjust? Widen your smile as you did yesterday. It glorified Me. My very dear little child, I'm counting on you.”

“If I have fulfilled you, it is for the sake of others too. Be ready to pass on to them with love all that you have received. You owe Me this; you also owe it to them. Believe with all your heart that in sharing this overflow of graces you will help many others. A river gives everything to the sea, yet it always swells anew. My little girl, don't you see, one can never give too much.”

“I'm waiting for you – already giving you all the grace you need, the grace I want you to make use of so that those who meet you will meet Me.”

Jesus said, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” John 15:13

Thank you to the Holy Spirit for orchestrating these meditations and scriptures together with the advice I received from the priest today, “Ask Mary to help you to give your whole heart to others, as she gave her whole heart to Jesus.” It was miraculous and true working of the Holy Spirit that what came out of his mouth was in perfect alignment with the Holy Spirit's teaching of me through my daily meditation books.

A couple parting quotes from Abba Pimen (sometimes spelled Poemen), a desert Father:

“If one overhears hurtful words and instead of replying with similar spite, restrains himself and remains silent, or, having been deceived bears it and doesn’t retaliate — through this he has laid down his soul for his friend.”

“There is no greater love than that a man lays down his life for his neighbor. When you hear someone complaining and you struggle with yourself and do not answer him back with complaints; when you are hurt and bear it patiently, not looking for revenge; then you are laying down your life for your neighbor.”

Those are hard, right. I found this that tells the secret – the secret is Humility:

“Humility has no problem believing that God loves us and will not reject us, damaged by sin and weakness though we are. In light of this love we can give up the need to be above reproach. We do not have to be perfect to perform the small acts of loving service that are right in front of us. Since the person with true humility has no self-image to maintain they can be free to do whatever God asks of them, nothing is beneath them.” from Cal Wiebe.