June 28, 2009
-
Couldn’t Have Said it Better
I was reading articles at catholic.org and came across this one by an author named Jennifer Hartline. I am posting it here for all of you to read, because I think it is fantastic. I hope you enjoy it!
AGAIN- I did not write this!! Blessings to all on this beautiful Sunday! Camp is awesome; the first batch of campers will arrive in about 30 minutes!
There are days when I do battle with a deadly spiritual malady, a form of spiritual heart disease. It comes in two forms, both rather sneaky in how they creep up on me and worm their way into my heart. They are cynicism and indifference. It’s not so much that I choose them; it’s that I make no effort to refuse them.
Clearly, many of us are suffering this malady. This is the disease that zaps our energy and steals our excitement. It leaves us weary and lazy and full of handy excuses. It eats away at devotion and leaves our souls empty. Christendom in America is deeply infected with this life-sapping sickness. It is why so many Christians have been enticed and beguiled by power and popularity and persuaded to compromise. Without passion, without zeal, without fervor, we are lifeless and faith is so easily cast aside.
St. Augustine prescribes the cure: We need a new romance. “To fall in love with God is the greatest of romances, to seek Him the greatest adventure, to find Him the greatest human achievement.” What the cynical and indifferent heart needs is a healthy dose of romance.
We have every reason to be enthralled in romance! The greatest gesture of love known to the universe was made toward each of us by the Author of True Love. We are not simply liked and enjoyed; we are passionately, deeply, obsessively loved!
How does it go again?
“God so understood the world…”
“God so cared for the world…”
“God so respected the world…”
“God so accepted the world…”
“God so disdained the world…”
“God so rejected the world…”
No…God so LOVED the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life. God made a bold and unflinching proclamation of abiding, endless love to all mankind, and Jesus came to be made a fool of, all in the hope that He would win the hearts of His beloved ones. Only a passionate lover is willing to look foolish for his beloved.
People, we desperately need a new romance. We need to take a good, long look with fresh eyes at the Lover of our souls and internalize the high price He paid for the chance to be reunited with us. I hope we have not stared at our painted images of God for so long that we are no longer impressed by what we see, for it’s not the typical picture of enchantment. Unadulterated passion and pure, ambitious love are not presented to us in flowers and sunsets, but in straw, wood, nails and blood.
I wonder in our day if we can even comprehend the nature of real love. Do we spend much time anymore contemplating a love that isn’t sexual or pleasure-oriented? Are we even inclined to pursue an endeavor that demands self-sacrifice?
“There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God – having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.” 2 Tim 3:1-5
We have lost the fervor of our affection for God because we have become deadened to the meaning of real love. Love gives. Love is not self-seeking. Love cannot keep anything for itself. This kind of love is increasingly foreign to us. Like some kind of Dead Sea that only receives and never gives of itself to anyone else, we die inside because we don’t love. We must make a concerted effort to dwell on this crazy, extravagant love of God until it captures us again in the flush of romance. We need to fall in love with Jesus. It is the only cure for the cynical and indifferent heart.
We need that love to make us fearless in our devotion. We need the kind of passion that turns us into willing fools, people who couldn’t care less what the world thinks of us. I want the kind of passion and love for Christ that is oblivious to everything but Him. If He holds my heart, I need nothing else. The sound of His voice makes my heart pound, and there’s no room in my ears for any scorn or insult. I say I want this kind of passion and love because I’m not quite there yet. But I’m being wooed, and the more I attend to His affection, the more this romance grows, and the more my heart longs only for Jesus. I want the love described in the Song of Solomon: “Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away.”
This is the love that turns ordinary people into saints! This is the love that turns you and me into the hands and feet of Jesus in the world. This is the love that softens the most hardened of hearts, the love the world simply cannot ignore. It is this love that gives us courage and compels us to be faithful no matter the cost.
The heart in love with Jesus has no room for compromise or deception, since it only desires more of Jesus. The moral courage and conviction we lack, the absence of zeal and fervor in our faith is easily cured, if we will purposely incline ourselves toward Him. It is a sweet romance that beckons to us…let us fall in love again!
Post a Comment
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Comments (23)
do men and women repond to God/Jesus romantically in different ways? Was St. John romantically in love with Jesus, Mary Magdalen? I am confused by this….
that’s why I am interested in the personality/spirituality nexus.
p.s. I very often comment on articles on catholic.org under the name of MIKE….
@mortimerZilch - I would definitely say yes, being that the hearts of men and women are quite different. If you talked to me about how I loved God and how my best friend (a woman) loved God, you would get two very different answers but see the same love. I think that God calls (vocation) a man’s heart and a woman’s heart very differently, too, in recognition and honor of the differences. Men and women just love differently, but it is the same love.
As far as St. John and St. Mary Magdelene, this is an issue that Dan Brown has certainly not helped to clear up! I would say, however, that these two disciples of Christ loved him dearly, but not in a romantic, physical, marital or any other “common” way that has been attributed to them over the years by different people with different theories. I would say that the love between these two saints and Jesus Christ was more along the lines of brother/sister, or even very devoted servant (the knight who loves his king, for example). It is hard to describe.
My favorite part:
“I’m being wooed, and the more I attend to His affection, the more this romance grows, and the more my heart longs only for Jesus.”
I’ve had to explain to a couple of people that it’s not that I don’t know and love the amazing men in my life, but rather the fact that pursuing Christ increases my love for him, so that more and more I want to be a religious Sister. Another percentage of determination on my vocation added from this past week.
I read a similar parody of John 3:16 on another xanga site a few years ago, that started to change the whole way I look at the Atonement: “For God so hated sinners that He beat up Christ on the cross that whosoever believed in Him should not be beat up by God.” This was about the same time that my priest and husband started talking about the patristics’ Christus Victor view of the atonement, and it’s been a wild theological ride for me since then.
beautiful
The meaning of “love” as it is used today in our Western society is viewed as an emotion, a feeling that wanes with time; it’s based on that instant attraction. Yet the Bible tells us that “there was nothing to draw us to him” (a harsh paraphrase); there is nothing that is supposed to attract us to Christ. For us to come to know and Love Christ and God requires a re-working of our own ideas of Love, and of being “in Love.”
Great post!
St. John of the Cross said God feminizes the soul. what do you think he meant by that?
Thanks so much for your comment on my last post. There is currently a community I am interested in but they are in Mexico. I am actually going to visit a foundation they have in the US this coming week. So, say a prayer for me! I don’t know what God has planned for me. Please pray that I am open to whatever path he calls him to follow.
That was very well written and in essence was the bases of a couple of books I’ve read: Falling in Love With Jesus and The Sacred Romance.
I’ve often wondered if churches that provide scripture from the pulpit area (whether verbal or visual)thus not requiring the congregation to need a Bible, indirectly foster laziness in the pew. Not that it should be an excuse but I’m thinking that if you don’t get them in the habit of using a Bible in a pew, How are they gonna get in the habit of doing it at home?
@KateeLee1 - The bible is proclaimed from the pulpit not only because it is an ancient tradition stretching back two-thousand or more years, but also because a proclamation is not read, but heard. Ideally the bible is proclaimed to an attentive congregation that, instead of reading along, is listening. Such churches (the Catholic Church, for example) highly encourage reading the Bible at home and wherever. For those who do wish to read along during the Mass, however, there is often a booklet with the day’s readings in the pew. Some churches have them, and some do not (for the above-mentioned reasons).
The Catholic Church in particular also encourages parishoners to read and reflect upon the readings of the Mass in advance. This helps them even more the listen and take in what they hear, and they can reflect upon them with greater depth, as well as (hopefully) understand the matter of the homily better.
I hope this comment was helpful! Blessings.
oh i remember that quote about st. agustine’s very interesting blog you have here. i was just passing thru..
i usually tend to go on catholic forums myself.. nice to meet you father.. i am hien =D
@Ancient_Scribe That was very enlightening! I have been misinformed about the Catholic church (or something has changed in the last 20 some years.) Not only did I hear this from outsiders but in the one I had attended… They taught that you were not to read the Bible on your own, that you might misinterpret what was written and only the Priest was able to tell you what it said. This was a very old Roman Catholic Church that I had been in. I thought that was very odd at the time, so I didn’t stay very long.
@discover_hienie - Oh I’m not a priest yet; I have 8 or 9 more years to go! But welcome anyways.
@KateeLee1 - I’m glad I could be helpful! All Catholics are urged to read the bible, and fortunately when it comes to interpretation we have a rich treasury of two-thousand years of thought, prayer and revelation to help us understand what we read.
oh wow! heheh awhile from now huh? hehe of course
i wanted to know more about priesthood.. can you give me the details upon how much it takes to become a priest? i actually know someone who is going to become one. haha i have been to a convent before and thought about becoming a nun.. decided not the kind of life for me
@discover_hienie - It depends on if one wishes to become a diocesan priest (the most common kind of priest) or a priest within a religious order. I am studying to be a priest in the Jesuit Order, so for me it meant two years of novitiate, and so far I’ve had one of three years of philosophy, then three years of teaching, then three or four years of theology before ordination. Priestly formation in the diocesan seminary and other religious orders I think is about half as long. Feel free to ask any questions you have, and pray for your friend!
thankyou. i really need all the prayers i can get…
your comment meant alot to me.
oh wow… hehe it that is amazing.. actually my ex is thinking about becoming a jesuit.. so yea, i was wanting to know more about it..
i heard he was in the seminary.. he has been pretty much closing me out of his life b/c of it.. what is the ministry life like?
is it a very lonely life to live? cuz the way i have been in a convent it seems as though.. i have talked to priest.
they seem very happy with their life.. my ex is uncertain on what he really wants with his life.. i am very much
concern about his discernment and his true calling
what type of qualities do you have to have in order to become a priest?
i was wondering have you ever been in a relationship, before you decided to become a priest?
@discover_hienie - I think many of these questions will be answered if you start reading here:
http://ancient-scribe.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=Ancient_Scribe&nextdate=4%2f18%2f2008+23%3a59%3a59.999