When I Choose....Healthy....Love....

There was a great deal of love in last weekend's Liturgical celebrations. It was Mother's Day. The sacred scriptures chosen for the celebrations were an excellent choice. In the Gospel we heard the command of Jesus,"to love one another". In the second reading we were reminded by The Beloved Disciple," that God is love". We must always keep in mind it is not love, that is God, but it is God who is love. There is a whale of a difference between the two. We are further reminded by St. John of the fact it is not that we have loved God, but that He has loved us. William Johnston adds, "it is not that I give love, but that I receive love". This will result in we being able to love in the way we have been loved by God. God IS the source of all healthy love. When we are not connected with the source of real love, then we will end up being the source of another's unbelief/disbelief. Tough words to swallow. To my way of thinking that is true. We are told today we have with God what we have in our human experience. (For better or for worse.) When I am told I am loved by someone am I not entitled to think and expect the following. "Love is patient, love is kind, love takes no offense, and is not resentful." Now that person who says that they “love me" does not reflect that in the reality of their actions, then confusion sets in. They become the targets of "the loving person's" impatience, prejudice, rash judgments, resentment, and they find out that this “loving person" is easily offended. They is no connection between the "inward belief and the outward actions". I have found this not only does this lead to confusion, but to the rejection of God, and in some cases to the possibility of the existence of a God. We are ever and always working on integrity. That is matching our outward action with our inward beliefs. That is the ideal, and we are always coming up a little short. So it gets back to us doing what we can do, and surrendering what we cannot do into the mercy-full hands of our gracious, and so understanding Father God. This allows us to be driven and shepherded, to the, oh so mysterious land of grace. We will each travel our own unique trail to that place of mystery. It is not an easy journey. We do not need the journey to be made more difficult, than it already is, by the “false prophets”. These "false, self righteous, prophets" place imaginary obstacles in the way. I say, imaginary, because they are the result of their uninformed minds. What they are saying and projecting has nothing to do with the reality of the God of Jesus Christ. I have met with literally thousands of people who have been in inner conflict because they take as “gospel” the uniformed "garbage" of these so called, “good catholics”. I have also encountered so called Christians who "cherry pick" the gospels to satisfy their prejudiced position. The spiritual garbage that is loaded onto the victims of this baloney; if, guilt, anger, resentment, boredom, anxiety, greed and envy. Pretty serious stuff. How can any person have a healthy relationship with ones’ self, or anyone else with all of that “stuff". This negates a healthy relationship with God. A codependent one ? Oh YES!! A healthy one no!!! Conversion must happen, and it will not be easy. The god of the false prophets, once given a footing, is not easily exorcised. This false god ,or gods have our egos as an ally. This is the war that is ever and always being waged in the depths of our souls. Are we doomed? Of course not. What is the antidote to all that poisonous, death-dealing, garbage? The presence of a healthy person, who themselves are seeking, and searching for that which will lead them to wholeness, to holiness. We are the need of one with an open heart, and an open mind. A person who instead of telling what to do, shares with us their story. In the telling of their story there comes to us the great gift of hope. so we come to believe, as it was with them, we begin to trust in the fact, so it can be with us. There is the foundation of trust leading to belief. We experience a love that is unconditioned, unlimited and unrestricted. A love that can only have the life giving God as it's source. The miracle of grace happens. We are in the beginning stage of being birthed into a new way of acting, thinking and living. It is in that order , and not in any other, that this great miracle of grace happens. "When love awakens in you life, in the night of your heart, it is like he dawn breaking within you. Where before there was anonymity, now there is intimacy; where before there was fear, now there is courage; where before in your life there was awkwardness, now there is a rhythm of grace and gracefulness; where before you used to be jagged, now you are elegant and in rhythm with yourself. When love awakens in your life, it is like a rebirth, a new beginning...The human heart in never completely born. Though the human body is born complete in one moment, the birth of the human heart is an ongoing process. It is being birthed in every experience of your life." John O'Donoghue in his spiritual classic, "Anam Cara" the Gaelic for Soul Friend.