Are we really ready for Jesus’ commandments to love God and love our neighbor? Or, do we really need instead to refocus on the Ten Commandments, having God ‘spell-it-out’ for us? All of the justifications of love and good indentations do not make something right if it is intrinsically morally wrong. Everyone agrees that murder is wrong, but war, abortion, capital punishment and suicide bombings are justified. Thou shall not steal is one of the Ten Commandments, but we justify not declaring income for income taxes or accepting a discount that we are not qualified for. Living together and gay marriage is justified by love, “we love each other so it can’t be wrong.”
But what is God asking of us? The Ten Commandments are God’s “basic instructions” to make possible a stable society. Following Jesus’ two Great Commandments would enable us to make possible a better society. There are times in reading the Bible that I have thought we have grown in our understanding of how God wants us to treat others. Then I look again at society and it seems as if we are back-peddling in our morality.
All religions call us to a higher morality. However one views Jesus, as Savior, prophet, or good man, his message remains the same. His call to love God and to love our neighbor enhances rather than diminishes the strictures of the Ten Commandments. What God has declared as wrong by prohibition does not become right by love or kindness or circumstance. We are called as Christians to love as God expects not as society accepts. Those who do are saintly; those who do not are sinners. It is God’s will that we redirect each aspect of our lives from sinner to saint.
"What matters in life is that we are loved by Christ and that we love Him in return. In comparison to the love of Jesus, everything else is secondary. And without the love of Jesus, everything else is useless." St. John Paul II
+++++++++++++++++++++God's timing is not our timing, but He is never late.+++++++++++++++
"If we're open to it, God can use even the smallest thing to change our lives." Donna Van Liere, The Christmas Shoes
"If we're open to it, God can use even the smallest thing to change our lives." Donna Van Liere, The Christmas Shoes
Layers - in the knowledge of God and the path to holiness
Learning about God is like unwrapping a head of lettuce, pealing back one leaf at a time. Always there is another leaf below. We will eventually reach the center of the head of lettuce; but we will never unwrap everthing there is to know about God.
The path to holiness is like pealing an onion. God shows us what is sinful and convicts us that we have sinned. No matter how sweet the onion, there are always tears in the peeling. No matter how sweet the grace of repentence, there are always the pain of letting go of the sin. As the peeling of the onion reveals another layer, so God shows us what we lack in holiness, drawing us ever closer to "be(ing) perfect even just as your heavenly Father is perfect." Matthew 5:48
The path to holiness is like pealing an onion. God shows us what is sinful and convicts us that we have sinned. No matter how sweet the onion, there are always tears in the peeling. No matter how sweet the grace of repentence, there are always the pain of letting go of the sin. As the peeling of the onion reveals another layer, so God shows us what we lack in holiness, drawing us ever closer to "be(ing) perfect even just as your heavenly Father is perfect." Matthew 5:48
What I Believe
Why I am and always will be a Catholic. "So Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. Tthe living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever." John 6:53-58 The words and actions of man cannot sanctify. Only the priest, empowered by his ordination, can invoke the Holy Spirit to transform the bread and wine into Jesus so we can receive Him - Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity into our bodies and souls. This is the core of the Catholic Church; without this there is no purpose or meaning to the Catholic Church. There are other ways to holiness, to grow in grace; there is no better way than union with Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist.
Visitation Catholic Church
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
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