Thursday, October 25, 2018

25 October 2018 - no fire escape



Jesus said to his disciples:
"I have come to set the earth on fire,
and how I wish it were already blazing!

The source of this fire is the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge. It is the strength of the Spirit in the inner self. Why, then, can it be so divisive?

Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth?
No, I tell you, but rather division.
From now on a household of five will be divided,
three against two and two against three;

The fire of Christ's love only consumes us if we let it. And if we don't let it the fire just looks like a destructive threat. Human abilities and institutions are consumed and brought to nothing before it. Indeed our inner man sometimes seems like it might not survive. If we abandon our sinful desires what will be left? Will we still really be ourselves? It is divisive because the fire of Christ's love cuts to the core or our egotism. It forces us to abandon our illusions of control and stability that stem from pride.

Once we experience the fire we don't want it any other way. We are filled with the fullness of God. We are burned but not consumed, made into God's presence in the world, like the burning bush in the desert. The negative way to approach this gift is to be fearful since we cannot predict how it will change us and since it forces us to relinquish control. The positive way to view it is hope. It will change us in even better ways than we could ask. It brings about more wondrous things in our hearts than we could even imagine.

Now to him who is able to accomplish far more than all we ask or imagine,
by the power at work within us,
to him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus
to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

In the end, what we want for ourselves is actually too narrow and limited. God wants to fill us with the fire of his own love. It's hot. It will consume workmanship of poor quality (see First Corinthians 3:15). It is a purgation when purging is needed. But the result is God's own life within us, blazing and untamed.

But the plan of the LORD stands forever;
the design of his heart, through all generations.
Blessed the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people he has chosen for his own inheritance.






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