The Holy Spirit never stops working. Day after day, night after night, grace presses onward. Bringing everything into the light of God. The more people hide their sin, the more grace is poured out by God, for God is love and has our best interests at heart. He wants to save each and every one of us and, sometimes, to save his children he must use drastic measures. At least to us it seems drastic - humans usually prefer to look upon the sins of others rather than look into their own hearts. But this doesn't help us, we always have to understand that what we see in others is often in our own hearts too. Sin in the heart cannot be healed until it is exposed to the light of Truth himself. We do not know how deep the roots of sin run in our own hearts much less that of others.
Love uproots hidden things. Not to harm but to heal. The Mystical Body of Christ is wounded and the Holy Spirit is surfacing these wounds so that our eyes open up, we turn to God, and He heals us. If we let Him.We have free will and He respects that, but He has sounded the alarm worldwide. This is our wake up call. We look around the earth and see these wounds festering everywhere. In the eyes of our teenagers crying out for love and purpose, in our elderly who are made to feel useless and unwanted in our society when they should be cherished, in our overflowing prisons, in the "little ones" who are tossed in the trash because they don't fit in with their parents "plans".
The more we run from God the more obvious this woundedness is becoming. Will we completely destroy the earth and ourselves before we wake up and realize the answer is staring us right in the face? All creation is crying out. No one can blame God for what we ourselves have wrought. He is simply allowing us bigger and bigger glimpses of the damage we have done through our hardness of heart.
Perhaps we could call these glimpses "shock therapy". We live in a jaded, apathetic, world and many of us need to be "shocked" out of our complacency before we can get up out of our easy chairs and engage in the spiritual battle for souls that is going on all around us. It seems to take a lot to move us into action. In the meantime people are falling apart, families are falling apart, nations are falling apart. Blessed John Paul II once said, "As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live." We can see that this has happened, not only in the U.S. but throughout the world. Families are the basic unit upon which societies are built.
The truth is...people were made for love. God would loves us back to wholeness if we would allow Him to. Jesus took upon Himself our sins and by "His stripes we were healed". Can we look Jesus in the eye and say that this wasn't enough? He poured Himself out for us. Even during his painful crucifixion He thought of us.
He pled, not for himself during these dying moments...but for us.
"Father forgive them, they know not what they do."
If only more people would turn to God and acknowledge that He is the one in charge. I sometimes wonder why people refuse(at one time I was one of them) to see that when left to our own devices we more often than not destroy rather than build up. Shock therapy is unfortunately (or fortunately) what we need.
ReplyDeleteThanks Mary and God bless.
So true~ In the community of each other! I think Pope John Paul had it right...As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live.
ReplyDeleteMany blessings!
I was too (one of those who refused), but, you know what? When He called us we answered. If you were anything like me, I had "head knowledge" but very little "heart knowledge" of God. It is the "heart knowledge" that brings about sincere and steady conversion. For instance, I love reading Dr. Scott Hahn's books - here is a man who combines both heart knowledge and head knowledge perfectly. Even more than reading his books, I love to listen to him speak - you can FEEL in your spirit the passionate love he has for the Lord.
ReplyDeleteHolly,
ReplyDeleteYes, he did have it right :) He, too, was not only a great theologian, he had that "heart knowledge" that is so imperative in bringing people to the Lord and his heart is what made people flock around him. I ask for his intercession all the time :)
Mary this post has ministered to me. Especially the opening Scripture verse. So true about the hiddeness of sin being brought out into light. Appreciate you sharing, thank you.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad, JBR. I'm going to pop over to your site for a visit in a few moments! God bless you, my friend :)
ReplyDeleteIts one of the (many) things that amaze me about our Savior. How - in the midst of pain and death - did he find the strength to pray for US? His love is beyond what I am capable of understanding.
ReplyDeleteGod Bless.