The Ways of God
September 14th
The Triumph of the Cross
To celebrate The Triumph of the Cross we will share with our faithful
readers how easy it is to understand God, His Motives and Methods -
something that has escaped Rome or that simply has never been revealed
to them (like the Secret
Concept of the Trinity (1)).
The starting point is that...
God
created man to his own image: to the image of God he created him: male
and female he created them. [Gen. 1:27]
That is - whatever is good in man, whether it is a feeling like love, charity, compassion or an
instinct like how to raise a child
is a direct reflection from God.
Now - take an offspring of yours whom you deeply love and for whom you
want the best. Logically, you will nurture his/her every step as he/she
grows into adulthood. You will teach him/her what is good by example
and what to avoid, because it has bad consequences, first by saying
"No!" without further explanations. Then, "No, because I say so!" (the
child has developed enough to comprehend now that "Mom and Dad know
best"). Then, as the child becomes older and can understand more, the
explanations become more elaborate "No, because of this or that".
Of course - for some humans there will be some instances where the
reason will be No, because God tells
us so, but, if the child has been
brought up to respect the parent's practical (not whimsical) wisdom,
the child will accept the parent's endorsement of God's instructions.
All Divine Laws are the ultimate parent's guidelines to raise His beloved children
through their human parents.
Some Laws are Eternal - for example, the Ten Commandments. Others laws
were given at a time when humans did not know any better but, as they
"grew up" over the millennia, they no longer were necessary. Here is
where you can see that, in some cases Jesus would say:
Do
not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have
not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you,
until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the
least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until
everything is accomplished. [Matthew 5:17-18]
While in other cases He would say:
Because
Moses, by reason of the hardness of your heart, permitted you to put
away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so. [Matt. 19:8]
or...
The
sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath. [Mark 2:27]
Now, about sin.... When an offspring rejects its parents’ guidelines
and, without a doubt, will get into trouble - he/she will have a price
to pay for the consequences of his/her obstinacy. When an offspring's
way of life is such that there is a separation (lack of frequent
interaction, or a complete stoppage of contact) between him/her and the
nurturing parents - the offspring's problems and sufferings will
multiply. The adult child will simply go from bad to worse, possibly
until he dies.
The parents suffer but, what can they do? Their child is an adult with
a free will and the means to live it.
The situation is exactly the same with each one of us and for God. The
more dissonant our way of life becomes from what our most loving Parent
has shown us, the further away we drift from Him; the further away we
drift, the chances for everything going from bad to worse increase
exponentially. If we get far enough, the consequence may also be death
- in this case - Eternal death.
That is what "sin" is all about. Do notice the parallel exhibited in
the words of the prodigal son:
I
will arise, and will go to my father, and say to him: Father, I have
sinned against heaven,
and before thee: [Luke 15:18]
That is - the prodigal son rejected (sinned) the loving guidance of his
earthly father ("thee") and
the loving guidance of his Heavenly Father.
Brethren - that's it. Those are the great mysteries of God and His
interaction with man.
+ He gave us religious texts - the Instruction Book.
+ He sent prophets to explain what we just could not understand.
+ He sent His Son to give one more going over of the Divine Laws and to
clarify any parts of the Instruction
Book that were misunderstood or we had outgrown, to give us the
opportunity to return to a Paradisiacal state, and to heal the contrite
heart [Luke 4:18].
+ He also shared with us a Mother, to Whom God will grant
whatever She asks (2)
on behalf of Her children [John
2:1-5], to remind us
that we have recourse to Her prayers [Mary,
conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee].
The whole Mystery of human-Divine interaction is indeed that simple!
Don't we have more than enough reasons to celebrate today - and - for
that matter, every day?
Have a truly Blessed Day!
NOTES
Originally Published as part of
a post on September 14th, 2010
Issued as a single document on September 14, 2014
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