Earlier today, I wrote about grieving over America and Europe, as both collection of states have lost the root of their greatness, religion.
Now, I grieve over all those people who are living like made pleasure-seeking adolescents, who never, ever stop and reflect on their lives in order to repent and change.
Yesterday and last week, I noted that the time for trials is coming upon us quickly. We have been warned and common sense should dictate that we do not have much time to organize our private worlds to withstand the times to come.
Grief is a reaction of deep sorrow, pain, distress at a loss. Grief can only be healed by love, God's love.
Last October, Pope Francis visited the tomb of Blessed John Paul II. On that day, the Pope said Mass near the tomb, but I was in shock in a hotel in the east of England, having a change in my life which sent me back to Iowa. The grief of having all of my plans interrupted and not being able to be with my son at Christmas, of cancelling plans to see two dear friends caused me to be temporarily in an state of shock. I got over it and had to plan my life and go on to different experiences not intended by me or my friends.
That grief is still with me in some ways, but God is using it to tell you, dear readers, that times of grief are coming. Like the prophet Jeremiah, I had to understand the Hand of God even in evil circumstances.
Jeremiah 16:1-4
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)
16 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
2 Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have thee sons and daughters in this place.
3 For thus saith the Lord concerning the sons and daughters, that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bore them: and concerning their fathers, of whom they were born in this land:
4 They shall die by the death of grievous illnesses: they shall not be lamented, and they shall not be buried, they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth: and they shall be consumed with the sword, and with famine: and their carcasses shall be meat for the fowls of the air, and for the beasts of the earth.
People cause evil, not God, but God allows it, either in His Perfect Will or in His Permissive Will.
Either way, the mystery of evil and the mystery of suffering bring one to one's knees, again and again.
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| Jeremiah by Marc Chagall |
Purification of heart is the end goal of grief. One becomes detached so that the love of God can enter and take over the heart and mind and soul.
The Pope gave this sermon at this Mass, on October 31st which should resonate today. Like Jeremiah, I am experiencing something symbolic as well as something real for the rest of you readers.
The wrenching away from the normal into the subnormal, created by sin and the culture of selfishness and death will be a common experience for many Catholics.
Please heed this warning and be spiritually prepared.
The Pope said this among other things:
The second thing that strikes me is Jesus’ sadness when he looks at Jerusalem. “But you, O Jerusalem, who have not understood love”. She did not understand God’s tenderness, illustrated with the beautiful image [of a hen gathering her brood under her wings] of which Jesus speaks. Not to understand God’s love: it is the opposite of what Paul felt. Ah yes, God loves me, God loves us, but it remains abstract, it isn’t something that touches my heart, and I make do in life as best I can. There is no fidelity there. And this was the cry of Jesus’ heart as he wept over Jerusalem: “Jerusalem, you are not faithful; you did not allow yourself to love; and you entrusted yourself to so many idols that promised you everything, that told you they would give you everything, and then they abandoned you”. Jesus’ heart, Jesus’ suffering love: a love that is neither accepted nor received. These are the two icons set before us today: Paul, who remains faithful to Jesus’ love to the very end, finding in that love the strength to proceed, to endure everything. He feels his own weakness, he knows that he is a sinner but he finds strength in God’s love, in the encounter he had had with Jesus Christ. Set against this, there is the faithless, unfaithful city and people who do not accept Jesus’ love, or worse yet, eh? Who live this love half heartedly: sometimes “yes”, sometimes “no” based on their self-interests.
Like the prophet Jeremiah, I am warning all of you to turn to God totally without compromise. God has allowed me to suffer loss and displacement in order for me to share with you that millions of people will experience this.
By clinging to God, one will endure.
To be continued..........................
Like the prophet Jeremiah, I am warning all of you to turn to God totally without compromise. God has allowed me to suffer loss and displacement in order for me to share with you that millions of people will experience this.
By clinging to God, one will endure.
To be continued..........................