...they disobeyed the royal command and yielded their bodies rather than serve or worship any god except their own God." --Daniel 3:95
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego yielded their bodies to a furnace rather than commit idolatry and worship a false god. But how many of us today are willing to do so?
In our culture today, that false god is sex. It is worshipped through lust, the desecration of the marriage bed, pornography, prostitution, promiscuity... it is everywhere! We must be willing to yield our bodies to the fire of the Holy Spirit that we might be cleansed. We must yield our bodies--and by our bodies our very selves!--to purity, chastity, and therefore worship Him who created us. We must trust that He will send His angels to bring us through the trials, and that it is possible to acheive this purity through His grace and power! Through chastity, the sexual union of marriage becomes a means by which we glorify Him, and celebrate His plan for union with us in Heaven. We celebrate His gift of His Son, our bridegroom, who has suffered, died, and risen that we might become His spotless bride.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
"Do you want to be free? Lift your chains, I hold the key, All power on Heav'n and Earth belong to me. You are free." --Casting Crowns
God sent His only Son so that we could be freed from our sins. Freed from the chains of the devil who binds us to this earth and the flesh, and keeps us from an integrated body and soul. We live in the age of historical man, the fallen world. But we live in redeemed historical man. We can choose to be set free. All we must do is offer our chains to Christ, and say "Jesus rescue me... Set me free of the chains holding me." For He holds the key, and all the power on Heaven and Earth!!
Monday, March 10, 2008
"Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you? ...
... She replied, 'No one, sir.' Then Jesus said, 'Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.'" -John 8:10-11
A friend wrote me excitedly that when meditating on this passage he "was struck by how Jesus addresses her as 'Woman.' He's not just speaking to her here, but to Woman, to all women throughout history!" How powerful this is! Not one person was able to throw the first stone to condemn the woman caught in adultery because they too were all in sin. The world cannot pass judgment on those it has misled into sin. Judgment is passed so quickly on a woman who has committed a sexual sin--she is mocked by both the "righteous" men and those men who are guilty with her. But is her confusion in seeking for fulfillment in the wrong places not caused by the lies of the men and the world? Jesus tells Woman, "Neither do I condemn you." Jesus knows what it is that she is seeking. Sexual sins are most revealing of the person's deep longing for God and the need to find Him, for sexual union is meant to be the sign on earth pointing us to union with God in Heaven. He tells her, "Go, and from now do not sin any more," to take from Him a living water to quench her thirst. He untwists and affirms her desire, revealing to her that her longing and ache is for Him, her true Bridegroom.
This is what we must do for the women in the world today. Their desires for protection and love too often drive them to date the "bad boys," ignoring their bad in the hopes that their attention and physical strengths will provide what the woman's heart seeks. But they use her and then throw her away. That ache for "shelter and affection" can only be fulfilled by God, and can only be protected by a man of God. And to bring them to that love! To bring them to the forgiveness and protection of Our Lord, that they may be washed clean and have the infinite hole their heart filled! For as in Hosea, Our Lord desires to unite Himself to us, and as in Ephesians, to present us to Himself as His spotless bride!
"She is running
A hundred miles an hour in the wrong direction
She is trying
But the canyon's ever widening
In the depths of her cold heart
So she sets out on another misadventure just to find
She's another two years older
And she's three more steps behind.
Does anybody hear her? Can anybody see?
Or does anybody even know she's going down today
Under the shadow of our steeple
With all the lost and lonely people
Searching for the hope that's tucked away in you and me
Does anybody hear her? Can anybody see?
She is yearning
For shelter and affection
That she never found at home
She is searching
For a hero to ride in
To ride in and save the day
And in walks her prince charming
And he knows just what to say
Momentary lapse of reason
And she gives herself away.
Does anybody hear her? Can anybody see?
Or does anybody even know she's going down today
Under the shadow of our steeple
With all the lost and lonely people
Searching for the hope that's tucked away in you and me
Does anybody hear her? Can anybody see?
If judgment looms under every steeple
If lofty glances from lofty people
Can't see past her scarlet letter
And we've never even met her.
Does anybody hear her? Can anybody see?
Or does anybody even know she's going down today
Under the shadow of our steeple
With all the lost and lonely people
Searching for the hope that's tucked away in you and me
Does anybody hear her? Can anybody see?"
--Casting Crowns
A friend wrote me excitedly that when meditating on this passage he "was struck by how Jesus addresses her as 'Woman.' He's not just speaking to her here, but to Woman, to all women throughout history!" How powerful this is! Not one person was able to throw the first stone to condemn the woman caught in adultery because they too were all in sin. The world cannot pass judgment on those it has misled into sin. Judgment is passed so quickly on a woman who has committed a sexual sin--she is mocked by both the "righteous" men and those men who are guilty with her. But is her confusion in seeking for fulfillment in the wrong places not caused by the lies of the men and the world? Jesus tells Woman, "Neither do I condemn you." Jesus knows what it is that she is seeking. Sexual sins are most revealing of the person's deep longing for God and the need to find Him, for sexual union is meant to be the sign on earth pointing us to union with God in Heaven. He tells her, "Go, and from now do not sin any more," to take from Him a living water to quench her thirst. He untwists and affirms her desire, revealing to her that her longing and ache is for Him, her true Bridegroom.
This is what we must do for the women in the world today. Their desires for protection and love too often drive them to date the "bad boys," ignoring their bad in the hopes that their attention and physical strengths will provide what the woman's heart seeks. But they use her and then throw her away. That ache for "shelter and affection" can only be fulfilled by God, and can only be protected by a man of God. And to bring them to that love! To bring them to the forgiveness and protection of Our Lord, that they may be washed clean and have the infinite hole their heart filled! For as in Hosea, Our Lord desires to unite Himself to us, and as in Ephesians, to present us to Himself as His spotless bride!
"She is running
A hundred miles an hour in the wrong direction
She is trying
But the canyon's ever widening
In the depths of her cold heart
So she sets out on another misadventure just to find
She's another two years older
And she's three more steps behind.
Does anybody hear her? Can anybody see?
Or does anybody even know she's going down today
Under the shadow of our steeple
With all the lost and lonely people
Searching for the hope that's tucked away in you and me
Does anybody hear her? Can anybody see?
She is yearning
For shelter and affection
That she never found at home
She is searching
For a hero to ride in
To ride in and save the day
And in walks her prince charming
And he knows just what to say
Momentary lapse of reason
And she gives herself away.
Does anybody hear her? Can anybody see?
Or does anybody even know she's going down today
Under the shadow of our steeple
With all the lost and lonely people
Searching for the hope that's tucked away in you and me
Does anybody hear her? Can anybody see?
If judgment looms under every steeple
If lofty glances from lofty people
Can't see past her scarlet letter
And we've never even met her.
Does anybody hear her? Can anybody see?
Or does anybody even know she's going down today
Under the shadow of our steeple
With all the lost and lonely people
Searching for the hope that's tucked away in you and me
Does anybody hear her? Can anybody see?"
--Casting Crowns
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Sloth
"Sloth is not, as many think, simple laziness (although that is usually a side-effect). Instead, it is a sadness about the good set before us, a boredom with the things of God, a failure to respond with the proper repentance, joy, zeal or love to God's works and goodness. Sloth is a spiritual "ho-hum" or "whatever" in the face of Christ crucified. Once this spiritual languor sets in, we can easily become lazy louts — because we see no reason to make an effort." --Fr. Scalia
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Vast love
God's love for us is so vast!! In comparison to us, our sins are a suffocating burden that we cannot carry. This leads many in sin to refuse to admit they are doing wrong--if they were to face the truth of the sins they have committed, it would crush them. But in comparison to God's love, our sins are infinitesimal!! All we must do is give them over to Him and accept His transforming love, and His vastness will engulf our sins. All that remains is His love.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
"provide yourselves with purses that do not grow old" --Luke 12:33
In all things, we must love the incarnate soul that is the other. A body can grow old. A habit can grow old. Expressions can grow old. But the soul of a person, so intimately expressed through the body--this can NEVER grow old. The mystery of each person is so deep, one can never claim to truly know and understand the other. A person can never get old, may never be discarded but only loved ever more as their mystery unfolds. When a man or woman enters a relationship based on his/her physical attraction to the other, the other will get used, used up, and discarded. The physical is finite, and cannot sustain a relationship. But when a relationship is entered because the man and woman have entered the mystery of the soul of the other, then there is infinity to discover! This is the purse that never grows old and sustains a lifelong relationship.
God as Mystery
Understanding God as mystery does not mean that God is incomprehensible. Rather, it means that God is infinitely comprehensible. Because He is an infinite being, it is impossible for us as finite beings to fully understand God--but we can understand each finite piece that He gives to us. This is why all of the metaphors He has put in creation for us to discover are so powerful; they express pieces of infinity! What better analogy to express His infinite nature than the never ending mystery of a person? What better analogy to express His never ending delight in us and desire for union with us than the marriage of a true man and true woman? Or the love a father and mother have for their children? He is constantly drawing us closer and deeper into His infinite nature, deeper into His eternal love.
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