Continuing with the three Theological Virtues, this month's theme is Love.
How appropriate that within the time frame of the spring liturgy we celebrate every year the two greatest
heights of Love that have ever been manifested - Jesus Christ dying on the Cross for us ("Greater
Love than this no one has...") and the King of Kings rising from the dead.
("By His Cross and Resurrection He has set us free!").
Consider in prayer those words; ponder them in your heart as the Blessed
Mother Mary did. These words do not merely apply to the liturgical time of
year we'll soon be heading into. In reality, they are applicable to every moment of our earthly
exile, for indeed, we have been freed from sin and death. Free from
ourselves, who with the weakness inherent from Original Sin, we are often
pawns for satan. We are weak, and today's society is fully geared to make
our wills even weaker in all spiritual matters. True, when it comes to
pleasing ourselves, finding relaxation, amusement, whatever new
technological improvement will make life "easier", we're more than willing
to work to achieve it. But eternal life? How many even believe in Heaven?
How many of those who believe there is a Heaven accept that there is a
hell, that sin exists, and that we, as children of God, must fight to
overcome the weakness of our flesh, and keep satan far from the door of our
will?
Jesus Christ, the Only-Begotten Son of Almighty God, born of the
Ever-Virgin Mary, came to earth to show us the way. And the way is the WAY
OF THE CROSS, the way of perfect obedience united to the DIVINE WILL.
Jesus Christ, as True Man, overcame all temptations because He united His
will to His Father's Will, and never wavered in all that He did while on
earth. Jesus was guided and led by the Holy Spirit. That is what we too
must do, and what is vitally important for all of us who wish with all our
hearts to remain faithful in these end times.
But we get tired. We're worn out. The battle rages on. The battle
between the sexes, against materialism, against abortion, against the ever
increasing amount of violence in our society. Nowhere can we turn without
smacking up against this evil barrier, which seems to surround us.
And so we surrender, we give in, and then we are prey to satan.
Therefore, in these end times, more than ever before, we must turn our eyes
to the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and cling to it - literally!
Our souls want us to do this. We begin - and then stop, because we're
afraid. Of what are we afraid? Of being crucified with Him? That's part
of it. Of surrendering our will totally to God, and letting His Spirit
guide our every breath, our every heart-beat, our every action. Surrender
our will? Give up our freedom?
Today's society rebels against such a concept. We are an intelligent
people. Look what we've accomplished. We have the highest technology, the
most sophisticated weapons. We can travel in outer space, and probe into
regions of the universe that heretofore have remained unknown and
uncharted. We have medical knowledge that prolongs life, and we are now so
sophisticated as to think we can genetically engineer a human being before
conception, so that we "get what we want", even in the matter of a child.
These are accomplishments? Does Almighty God think so? Are we using our
knowledge, the beauty of our intelligence to enhance and bring closer to us
the beauty of the Supreme Being, the Author of all Life? Or are we being
prideful, and considering that we, mere creatures, know best what is good
for us, and therefore we must be in full control of everything.
Letting go of our will means surrendering our self completely to God, Who
is Infinite. Who we cannot see with our finite eyes, nor know with our
finite minds. We are going to turn over our lives to a "belief", a
"Faith?" The world laughs, scoffs, and ridicules those who choose to e
humble, obedient servants of God. In addition, it becomes more convenient,
more acceptable, to go with the tide, with the vast majority who would
rather be "socially acceptable" rather than acceptable and pleasing in the
eyes of Almighty God.
In this very day, at this very moment, God is allowing mankind to go the
way it has chosen…the way to perdition. He has sent us His Own Mother to
recall us to the Word Made Flesh, and to the full reality of the
Crucifixion, and the continuing Sacrifice of the Holy Mass, which recalls
the Crucifixion, and the wondrous miracle Jesus gave of Himself in the
Eucharist.
And the Eucharist is His Gift for Jesus is Present in the Blessed
Sacrament, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. And Mary is pleading with all
of us to make the Cross the anchor of our faith, which will not allow us to
falter, or be swept away in the tide of evil which swamps the world, and
which, in a tidal wave, will sweep countless souls into hell at the time of
the Great Justice.
The Cross! To look upon it is to behold Divine Love.
And we do not understand, because our hearts are like stones that even the
heat of a volcano could not melt. We are hardened, and that's exactly what
satan wants us to be. God will never over-ride our free will. That is why
Our Lady constantly pleads, invites, begs and asks us to open our hearts,
to pray with our hearts, to unite our hearts to the Immaculate Heart of
Mary and through her Heart to the Sacred Heart of her Son.
The Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ, font of Mercy, was opened for all the
world at the moment on Calvary when the side of Our Lord and Savior was
pierced by a lance. This is Love poured out without holding back anything.
Jesus willed to do it, and so great was His Love, that He shed His Sacred
Blood even to the last drop realizing the passage in John 15: 13, "Greater Love than this no one has
than one lay down His life for His friends."
Are we willing to give something in return for so great a Love? This is
our calling! This is what the Blessed Mother is beseeching us to do, and
it is possible for all…very possible. It begins with an act of the will,
and grows from there into a Fiat, which echoes the Fiat Mary gave to the
Archangel Gabriel at the Annunciation.
"Yes" we say to God. "Yes, whatever You want. Your will be done; not
mine. I'm poor and weak, and can do nothing. So you, God you do it, and
I, your child, will be little, humble and obedient. I will listen, hear,
and promptly obey whatever you ask of me."
And what does He ask? To pick up our cross and follow Him! Where did His
path take Him? To Calvary; to a death of agony and humiliation in the
highest degrees. The same must be true for each of us. No, not that we
shall be physically nailed to a cross, scourged with whips, and crowned
with thorns. But to pick up our Cross is to be completely obedient to all
that God gives to us in our lives. And now, in this time, these end times,
as we journey through these waning years of the second millennium, it is
vital that we do not merely drag the Cross along, complaining at every step
about the pain of our heart, our emotions, our mind, our soul. Rather, we
must embrace the Cross with love ignited by LOVE itself, and then, and only
then, do we live as one in the Divine Will. Then we truly have nothing to
fear, for God will see to all of our needs, be they spiritual or material.
Next Installment: Part Two of the Theological Virtue of Love