Closer to the Heart |
| Posted by Mike (mike) on Dec 31 2007 at 1:08 PM |
To satisfy Divine Justice, perfect victims were required. But the law of fear was succeeded by the law of Love, and love chose me to be a sacrifice, weak and imperfect creature that I am... Is that choice not worthy of Love?... Yes for Love to be fully satisfied, it is necessary for it to be abased, to be abased to nothingness and for it to transform that nothingness into fire... - Therese of Lisieux
It is often said that fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. If indeed this is the case, I would suggest that Love is the fulfillment of such wisdom. The love by which we are loved is so pure and perfect that by it's very heart and nature it pillages the deepest of the deepest prisons, brings liberty to every captive and energizes not only our future with eternal hope but our now in His ever present, presence.
As I reflect on the perfect love of God, I encounter a love that burns for the objects of it's passion, singular in purpose. No thought given to it's own well being, our ability to reciprocate the divine affection but rather a selfless abandonment to extravagant love devoid of the tainting of self interest. To love like the Father is to love with no expectation that the love will be returned. To love like the Father is to expect that regardless of the love without measured lavished upon your beloved, you will be hurt, taken advantage, ripped off, misunderstood, slandered and disregarded. And yet not to shrink back, not to keep record of wrongs, nor to keep score but to Love with unwavering passion. A love that would rather die than be without it's object of affection.
Some are called not as an apostle, prophet, a teacher or a pastor but to be ravished and drunk with the experience of a kiss from the mouth of our God. A deep yearning desire to respond in such a way to this crazy, indiscriminate love of the Father. To discover it is a journey of continued longing, never to be satiated this side of eternity. This takes us to the heights of ecstasy and to the depths of loneliness and even breaking as we allow the emptying of ourselves – our desires and ambition, our needs and our wants – our selfishness. In laying there upon the altar of His presence, abandoned to His divine love. Simply there, surrendered to His good pleasure alone. The offering - weak and helpless. The fire falls. And we are consumed if the torrent fire of heavenly affection.
I reflect on Paul's teaching of the Church as the body. Each make up a different part, have a different function but none the less one body. It is in this that I have often wondered where I fit and as I reflect on St. Therese, I resonate with her as she states every living body has a heart and the heart is the source of love. From the heart flows the issues of life. It is from the heart of this body, this bride, this Church that the extravagant manifestation of love is reflected from it's Divine source and in turn permeates the entire body. The hands build, the legs walk, the eyes see, the mouth sings the wonders of God and prophesies wonders of the universe and love makes it all pleasing, fragrant and a loving response to God. Indeed a good worship.
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. 1 Cor 13:1-3 NIV
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