God's Kindness?
Entry posted by markdohle
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God’s kindness?
February 12—Nantes. 5:35 AM The Way of the Cross.
“As you meditate on the Stations of the Cross, look at My eyes and see in them nothing
but the utmost kindness and love in the midst of the torture.”
Bossis, Gabrielle. He and I (Kindle Locations 679-681).
Pauline Books and Media. Kindle Edition.
There is very little that I understand. The older I get the more I am aware of this reality. So if I live to be 99 and in good mental health, I will finally come to the conclusion that I really know nothing at all. Yet, my faith still grows.
I have yet to meet anyone who is not weighed down by problems, sufferings, chaos, and fear. That is of course not the whole picture. For in most lives, there is also joy, happiness, peace, and contentment. Though suffering can drain all life out of us. When confronted with extreme suffering in others, I understand that I will not be able to give insight, but I can be with them, for I suffer as well. I have my share of wounds, fear, anger, and yes, self-hatred that flares up from time to time. Yet, I, we, are commanded to love ourselves, so as to be able to love others.
I have given up arguing about religion and politics. Opinions become dogma when two people start to argue over their different takes on life. A waste of time. I am like them of course, I have strong beliefs, but as I age, I have come to a certain peace that I could be wrong, as wrong as the people I have listened to, and not agreed with. Perhaps we are all wrong in most important conclusions. Or one’s take on things, on life, may work for a while, and then need to be changed, when outgrown.
I am not a man, or that type of Christian, who thinks that all religions not of my tradition are ‘wrong’, or ‘demonic’. I have read too many scriptures from other faithpaths, and their mystics, and just relating with ordinary people, who follow a different path, to see in a powerful way, the working of the Holy Spirit in their lives. The most unloving thing we can do is to judge another person because of their faith path, and then play God and condemn them. It is amazing how unkind we Christian often are, sadistic as well, when judging, something we are told not to do.
If we do not show the kindness of JesusChrist, and his compassion, then all else is a waste of time. The human heart, each heart, is seen only by God. Why, I can’t see my own heart. Or the little I do see, what is revealed, is a deep need for inner healing, of self, so that I can show the compassion and love of Christ Jesus to others.
“God with us”, is not just some abstract, theological theory, but is shown in Jesus Christ, how true that is. Christians are called to incarnate Jesus in the world. When we fail, then our faith becomes a cruel caricature. It is hard to understand the love ofJesus, when He forgave all on the cross. It is only when we give over to the Father our resentments and leave our enemies in his loving hands, that we can find freedom. To pray for an enemy, becomes an enemy no more.
Our call
To show compassion when there is none,
mercy to all even in the midst of injustice,
to heal in places where there are only wounds,
to fight bitterness and despair with the shield of faith,
to seek to become vessels of God’s freely given grace,
to let it flow from our hearts into those who hate and revile us.
To see Christ Jesus in the rich and powerful and the weak and outcast,
to allow the Heart of the Father to become one with ours.
Absurd too many, true. Yet is how we relate to each other now,
with our wars, division, and, ism’s, any less so?—Br.MD
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