Jesus said: "I tell you, something greater than the temple is here."
Then He continues to explain that He desires not sacrifice, but mercy.
For a couple days or so I've been mulling this Scripture. Then yesterday came a forwarded email of one bishop responding to a "famous" priest; their views differ greatly on morals and church law, both. One is what some would call conservative or orthodox (sticks with Scripture and also canon law), and the other would be considered liberal or progressive (is heavy on love of all types and bending--I guess we could call it--canon law.
I found myself not that interested in the situation or debate, back and forth.
By now, most Christians who have read Scripture and strive in the Christian life, know right from wrong, know pretty much what Jesus says in the Gospels and also what God has set forth in the Pentateuch (first five books of Bible, Old Testament), as well as the preaching and lives of the prophets, the Psalmists, and the books and letters written by the apostles.
The temporal aspects of how increasingly laws have been created in attempts to further clarify right from wrong, do weary me. So many canon laws, and truly very difficult to enforce them; and more laws created to try to help enforce, only compound the ridiculous aspect of the temporal intrusion and the sadness that we simply cannot live out what God wants and decrees as best.
I return to John of the Cross and others who floated above the temporal, for the most part, although they existed on earth and rode the daily life through to the end. As for the spiritual life--that is where they floated and kept with God in love and mercy.
The scripture mentioned at the beginning of this blog post, has to do with Jesus' reaction to the flack His disciples received for crushing heads of grain to eat on the sabbath. They were hungry; they used energy to take action to make the grain edible; and they ate. Jesus lumped the legalism in with the Temple, for that is where many priests and others had developed increasing amounts of laws prescribing various actions to be taken, of the right and wrong ways of living and thinking. It became very detailed, and some were so caught up in trying to live the details and also keep track of how others lived or did not live the details of the proscribed laws--well, much judging and such a mess, and far from the loving union with God Himself.
We have Jesus. We have His teachings and life example. What is it that we each and all cannot grasp of it, and live it out in daily life? It does rather come down to each of us as individual souls, for we cannot do much about famous priests and renowned bishops who disagree on what is right and what is wrong, and how to administer sacraments and such, and not even with the oodles of canon laws we have "in the books."
Well, there is something greater that we have, and He is Jesus. And Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit, and He said to love God above all things and others as ourselves, and that He desires mercy more than sacrifice.
This past week the Lord allowed the devil to hit at me hard and repeatedly. Aspects of the temporal were utilized to try to discourage: additional pain, incompetence of workers resulting in attempts to overcharge as well as a mortgage company that neglected to pay a large property tax bill, putting the gears of foreclosure into motion. Then there was fatigue and further financial set backs, and facing the reality that I will not be able to finish and sell anytime soon.
Heat so affects this body of pain and damaged nerves along the spine, so progress is slow; yet there is progress. And I had also offered as prayer, whatever sufferings for another person who is in a severe setback of the worst rheumatoid arthritis flare of the person's life. When we offer our sufferings or daily encounters as prayer, we must also be prepared to suffer whatever may come. And then, of course, we must not resent that we made the offer as prayer for the other!
What ended up being the best antidote was to begin praising God for all the good things that occur. Consider all the times a mortgage company has functioned properly. Consider all the times that pain was not increased, or how many days of lovely temperatures, or how many people have not taken advantage nor tried to cheat. Consider that the Lord has a reason for a slower conclusion to this phase of housing and financial insecurity.
One reason is to increase faith and trust in His Providence. Another is that perhaps He does not will me to move to where I have been considering might be a practical choice--or that He does not want me to think ahead beyond the present moment, to not make plans or imagine what next. Or, that He desires me to keep on working slowly, and perhaps not be able to finish, and to experience what it is to totally run out of funds, to have to bail out rapidly. Or perhaps not, but to continue on slowly and slowly get to a point of patience and trust in Him, and somehow He will keep providing in little ways, along the way of losses.
None of it matters--the reasons. What matters is to keep going with love and prayerfulness, offering all to God, for God, for His glory.
Ultimately, it is a time of greater detachment as well as greater faith in He Who Is greater than all else-greater than the "temple", greater than any theologian or priest or bishop or canon laws or civil laws or any one of us or any of our items or careers or illnesses or properties or whatever.
God in Three Persons Is greater than great. He Is Greatest.
So it is humbling, all this, and to consider that mercy is what He desires--love and mercy, not sacrifice. Being with Jesus--I love Him. So tired, but He matters. As long as I am with Him, knowing He is in me, filling with love and peace and His forgiveness--what can lengthy articles of debate fulfill that steering us to Jesus and Scripture and the ways of the spiritual life could not do so much better and effectively?
I cast my cares upon the Lord. He instructs my heart. He fills my soul with His love and mercy. I go and follow Him--yes, as best I humanly can. But with God, all things are possible, right? And in God a thousand days can seem as one day or a day can seem as a thousand. Those going against canon laws and those going with canon laws cannot fulfill a whiff of what Jesus fulfills in our very human and spiritual lives.
God bless His Real Presence in us! Today when the couple brought me Holy Communion, we talked. They brought mercy, in love, with Jesus.
Then He continues to explain that He desires not sacrifice, but mercy.
For a couple days or so I've been mulling this Scripture. Then yesterday came a forwarded email of one bishop responding to a "famous" priest; their views differ greatly on morals and church law, both. One is what some would call conservative or orthodox (sticks with Scripture and also canon law), and the other would be considered liberal or progressive (is heavy on love of all types and bending--I guess we could call it--canon law.
I found myself not that interested in the situation or debate, back and forth.
By now, most Christians who have read Scripture and strive in the Christian life, know right from wrong, know pretty much what Jesus says in the Gospels and also what God has set forth in the Pentateuch (first five books of Bible, Old Testament), as well as the preaching and lives of the prophets, the Psalmists, and the books and letters written by the apostles.
The temporal aspects of how increasingly laws have been created in attempts to further clarify right from wrong, do weary me. So many canon laws, and truly very difficult to enforce them; and more laws created to try to help enforce, only compound the ridiculous aspect of the temporal intrusion and the sadness that we simply cannot live out what God wants and decrees as best.
I return to John of the Cross and others who floated above the temporal, for the most part, although they existed on earth and rode the daily life through to the end. As for the spiritual life--that is where they floated and kept with God in love and mercy.
The scripture mentioned at the beginning of this blog post, has to do with Jesus' reaction to the flack His disciples received for crushing heads of grain to eat on the sabbath. They were hungry; they used energy to take action to make the grain edible; and they ate. Jesus lumped the legalism in with the Temple, for that is where many priests and others had developed increasing amounts of laws prescribing various actions to be taken, of the right and wrong ways of living and thinking. It became very detailed, and some were so caught up in trying to live the details and also keep track of how others lived or did not live the details of the proscribed laws--well, much judging and such a mess, and far from the loving union with God Himself.
We have Jesus. We have His teachings and life example. What is it that we each and all cannot grasp of it, and live it out in daily life? It does rather come down to each of us as individual souls, for we cannot do much about famous priests and renowned bishops who disagree on what is right and what is wrong, and how to administer sacraments and such, and not even with the oodles of canon laws we have "in the books."
Well, there is something greater that we have, and He is Jesus. And Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit, and He said to love God above all things and others as ourselves, and that He desires mercy more than sacrifice.
This past week the Lord allowed the devil to hit at me hard and repeatedly. Aspects of the temporal were utilized to try to discourage: additional pain, incompetence of workers resulting in attempts to overcharge as well as a mortgage company that neglected to pay a large property tax bill, putting the gears of foreclosure into motion. Then there was fatigue and further financial set backs, and facing the reality that I will not be able to finish and sell anytime soon.
Heat so affects this body of pain and damaged nerves along the spine, so progress is slow; yet there is progress. And I had also offered as prayer, whatever sufferings for another person who is in a severe setback of the worst rheumatoid arthritis flare of the person's life. When we offer our sufferings or daily encounters as prayer, we must also be prepared to suffer whatever may come. And then, of course, we must not resent that we made the offer as prayer for the other!
What ended up being the best antidote was to begin praising God for all the good things that occur. Consider all the times a mortgage company has functioned properly. Consider all the times that pain was not increased, or how many days of lovely temperatures, or how many people have not taken advantage nor tried to cheat. Consider that the Lord has a reason for a slower conclusion to this phase of housing and financial insecurity.
One reason is to increase faith and trust in His Providence. Another is that perhaps He does not will me to move to where I have been considering might be a practical choice--or that He does not want me to think ahead beyond the present moment, to not make plans or imagine what next. Or, that He desires me to keep on working slowly, and perhaps not be able to finish, and to experience what it is to totally run out of funds, to have to bail out rapidly. Or perhaps not, but to continue on slowly and slowly get to a point of patience and trust in Him, and somehow He will keep providing in little ways, along the way of losses.
None of it matters--the reasons. What matters is to keep going with love and prayerfulness, offering all to God, for God, for His glory.
Ultimately, it is a time of greater detachment as well as greater faith in He Who Is greater than all else-greater than the "temple", greater than any theologian or priest or bishop or canon laws or civil laws or any one of us or any of our items or careers or illnesses or properties or whatever.
God in Three Persons Is greater than great. He Is Greatest.
So it is humbling, all this, and to consider that mercy is what He desires--love and mercy, not sacrifice. Being with Jesus--I love Him. So tired, but He matters. As long as I am with Him, knowing He is in me, filling with love and peace and His forgiveness--what can lengthy articles of debate fulfill that steering us to Jesus and Scripture and the ways of the spiritual life could not do so much better and effectively?
I cast my cares upon the Lord. He instructs my heart. He fills my soul with His love and mercy. I go and follow Him--yes, as best I humanly can. But with God, all things are possible, right? And in God a thousand days can seem as one day or a day can seem as a thousand. Those going against canon laws and those going with canon laws cannot fulfill a whiff of what Jesus fulfills in our very human and spiritual lives.
God bless His Real Presence in us! Today when the couple brought me Holy Communion, we talked. They brought mercy, in love, with Jesus.
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