An Offering for Love

There have been many ideas racing through my head lately for things I could write about in this blog.  And even though I have had less time to write than I would prefer, I would like to pass up another opportunity for something I think is more worthy of your time.

I just came across a remarkable article/dialogue of a 2010 summa cum laude graduate of Harvard University and her decision to pursue the life of a Nun. This is a profound witness of love for God in a day when intellectualism is often pitted against spirituality.

No matter where you are coming from, please read this and enjoy!

National Review Online
God and Woman at Harvard - A 2010 summa cum laude heads to a convent.

Law of Love

I was going to write on another subject today, but a very interesting list came to my attention this morning. So that other subject will have to wait for another day.

The list of which I speak is titled "Ten Facts Most Catholics Don't Know (But Should!)" by Gary Zimak, Founder of Following the Truth Ministries. When I first heard Gary's list of facts I was very intreagued. However, one of the comments following the article, which was posted by a returning Catholic, took the perspective that the list was somehow discouraging or even a list of oppressive laws. Now I must say that this way of thinking is not foreign to me, seen as I once thought this way as a Protestant.

Even if this was just a list of laws. What is so bad with that? I mean, don't we all hold the Ten Commandments in high regard?  Even so, the view that the Catholic Church is a legalistic institution that just tells its members what to do with no sensitivity is believed by many outside and inside the Church. And the truth is that no one really "likes" laws.  Well except for those who are really holy. People like King David (or Psalmist) who said, "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night." (Ps. 1:1-2)

Now hold it, that was the Old Testament. We are living in the New Testament now. Well okay, then how about the fact that Jesus himself held people to a higher standard than the law (i.e. adultery, murder, etc.) and said, "For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished." (Matt. 5:18)

But didn't Jesus want us to live by the spirit of the law rather than the letter of the law? Okay, then what is the spirit of the Law? What is God's heart's intention for the Law? What is he really getting at or what does he want? In one word, OBEDIENCE. "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." (John 14:15) And whose will was Jesus accomplishing? The Father's. So Jesus is essentially telling us that if we love him (God) we will obey the Fathers will. And who gave us the law (which Jesus came to fulfill)? The Father.

Okay, so God wants obedience to his law. Isn't that still legalistic? Yes, if you don't recognize the Father's love for you. But if you see how God's law is the manifestation of his love for us and meant to protect us, then the Law becomes liberating.

God's love wrapped up in his laws can be seen when Jesus tells us the greatest commandments. "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets." (Matt. 22:36-40) God's love can also be seen in his first command that we not eat of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, but the disobedience of our first parents damaged our love for God.

God always has our good in mind, especially with his laws. And in giving the Church the ability to bind and lose on Earth, Jesus was giving us the great gift of a Church to guide us as a loving mother. Though we may not like what our mother says, she has our best in mind. So shouldn't we love the instruction of the Church which comes from God?

True Friendship

This morning as I was reading the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults, the following paragraph jumped out at me:

"Through the use of reason, we can learn much about God from both creation and conscience, but Revelation enables us to learn about God's inner life and his loving plan to save us from sin and share in his divine life. No amount of unaided thinking could penetrate such a mystery. God freely chose to share this hidden mystery with us. God's sharing was an act of friendship for us, revealing himself as one reveals his or her heart to a friend. Love does such things." (chapter 2, p.12-13)

Is friendship a truly human experience?  When we move beyond the surface of communication to expose something about our inner lives, we start to become vulnerable, and something greater than ourselves is created.  True friendship can not always be two people just discussing their day and the weather and what they had for breakfast, but must cross an exterior boundary, to reveal something otherwise unknown about the individual offering friendship.  This is what God does in his love for us.  We can see a concrete example as Jesus refers to his disciples as friends.

"No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you." (John 15:15)

The disciples became friends of Christ because he revealed something of himself (the Father's plan of salvation) to them that they didn't know.  In the same way, are we not called to love one another and even our enemies?  If love is open to friendship, then aren't we called to open our lives and what God is doing in us to others we meet in a way that would welcome them as friends?  I think we must really ask ourselves how often we are in a rush or consciously avoid opening our lives to people we come across regardless of who they are.  How else will people see God in us?  How else can we be true disciples?

Love Wins!

On this national day of remembering our independence and those who paid the ultimate price for it, it is only appropriate that I reflect at least briefly on freedom.

I would like to start by saying "Thank You."  Thank you to those who we never get to say thank you to, except through our prayers.  Thank you all you men and women who fixed on the higher ideal of liberty for generations to come, willingly gave your lives.  How much more selfless could a person get than to die for someone that they will never know and never know whether they will be grateful for what they did?

I will be the first to admit that at times I have taken my freedom for granted.  As I go about my daily life, the fact that I can do what I want without fear of being arrested or killed doesn't usually come to mind.  But people actually died for this.  They gave up the most precious thing they had in this world, their vary lives.  They gave up their families, sons, daughters, wives, husbands, without second thought.

And I would like to end by saying thanks to God.  Thank you God that the giving of a life in love need not be given in vein.  The fact that evil exists and that people try to control other people is terrible, but how wonderful that love wins.  We are living proof of it.

Burning with Love

Yesterday, for some reason, it really hit me how severe the world's hatred for God can be and how powerful God's love is when you would least expect.

I was reading about the First Martyrs of the Church of Rome yesterday on their day of memorial.  In case you don't know the story, this month in 64 A.D. (not C.E.) a great fire broke out burning more than half of Rome.  When the citizens looked to Emperor Nero as the cause in wanting to expand his palace, Nero in return pointed to the Christians (as human haters).  This began a great persecution of the Early Church.

Nero, being absolutely mad and without restraint, did some absolutely unimaginable (you'd think at least) things to Christians all in the name of passing the blame.  To use Christians as human torches to light the way for his chariot at night says enough.  How could these martyrs do it?  How could they bear such evil with such great love?  It was because of fire alright.  The fire of the Holy Spirit consuming their hearts.  A fire that out-burned any torture that could be inflicted upon them. 

How much is the love of God burning in your life?  Because you know, a lot of things have changed in the last 2000 years, but unfortunately the world's disdain for God isn't one of them.