The human heart is heavy and hardened. God must give man a new heart. Conversion is first of all a work of the grace of God who makes our hearts return to him: "Restore us to thyself, O LORD, that we may be restored!" God gives us the strength to begin anew. It is in discovering the greatness of God's love that our heart is shaken by the horror and weight of sin and begins to fear offending God by sin and being separated from him. The human heart is converted by looking upon him whom our sins have pierced:
Let us fix our eyes on Christ's blood and understand how precious it is to his Father, for, poured out for our salvation, it has brought to the whole world the grace of repentance.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
Near the Kingdom of God
The word "love" has taken a beating in recent times. We see and hear it everywhere: in the titles of TV series, on postage stamps, even on protest signs. The more we see and hear the word, the more trivial love seems. But when Jesus reminds us, "You shall love the Lord your God", love becomes mysterious and challanging. To fall in love with someone - or even better, to grow in love for someone - is a long process. It involves two people getting to know each other. They begin to reveal to each other what means most to them, secrets they have kept; they are eager to spend time together; they give each other gifts and come to learn what most pleases the other. Now: how do we fall in love with God? How do we grow in love for God? Can we love the Lord our God? Jesus assures us that we can, but it doesn't happen in an instant, with a few words or a few gestures. Loving God is the work of a lifetime: spending time in prayer and meditation; listening for the still small voice; learning to live as God wills, by justice and charity; contemplating the gifts we recieve, the gifts that we easily take for granted. Only then do we grow near to the kingdom of God.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
The Division
God rose up the prophet Elijah and said stop sitting on the fence. If the Lord is God then serve Him. If Baal and the false gods are god then serve them [1 Kg 18:21]. But make up your minds. Get on either one side or the other. Elijah speaking the word of the Lord insisted there be a great division. And when Jesus Christ came into the world, as the Gospel of John tells us, this was the verdict, this was the judgment, and this was the separation. That the light came into the world but the people loved darkness. So you have two sides. I have not come to bring peace, the Lord Jesus said, but division. And he said that division would run right through the family [Matthew 10:34]. The letter to the Hebrews says the division that the word of God brings runs right through the center of our own hearts. The word of God is sharper than a two edged sword dividing the human heart because either we serve the Lord or we don’t [Hebrew 4:12]. So then we come to Matthew 25:31, “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. Before Him will be gathered all the nations, and He will separate”. You can’t be lukewarm. You can’t have it both ways with God. It just doesn’t work. Have we failed to respond to the word of God?
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