The Kingdom of God is Within You!

The Kingdom of God is within you! What does that mean? The season is Advent, time of reflecting on our sins and unworthiness as we wait for Him that is Perfect to come for us...a second and final time! We consider how holy and majestic He is...and thoughts of His Mercy and His Love for us! He became one of us to deliver us, to save us, to transform us, and to restore all that has been lost! But my Croatian friend kept telling me in every salutation..."God is with you". It became his signature. One day it dawned on me...duh--while I am waiting to see the visible manifestation of the fullness of times...He IS already here! He is in me, and you, and the Church, and ever-present, everywhere, all the time!!! We just tend not to keep that in a present-tense existence in our minds. Why? Mainly because we cannot see Him as we see our spouses, kids, friends, and family. We believe by faith--- but we can see, touch, laugh, cry and hold our loved ones. They are real to us!

Luke 17:21 says "the Kingdom of God is within you". He is Light, and we are sealed with that Light. The Word refers to the natural world as being "in darkness"...they cannot know Him; because they don't have Him inside of them. That verse alone is what has kept me persevering for souls I would just as soon give up on a long time ago! I was chosen to carry His Light in the Darkness. I was chosen. You were chosen...by the King, the Creator, the Invisible holy and mighty and immortal God...The Ancient of Days looked down from Heaven and chose us! That Spirit of Truth, the Light of the World, the Righteous One...has taken up residence in our souls!

So when the world is fighting about whether its Christmas or Holiday Season--it doesn't matter. If they take Christ out of everything...they cannot stop Him. If none of them believe it...doesn't change the Truth. When a baby is baptized, I have joy...welcoming my new sibling. When new people come into the Church at the Easter Vigil, I know these are new soldiers in His Army and more lights! When someone passes in death to this life--I know they are experiencing indescribable awesomeness! They are free from the devil and demonic harrassment, pain, anger, confusion, depression, fear and worry...nothing can harm them now! Nothing can hurt them from here in this present darkness! I have two friends I love so much fighting bone cancer from an earlier breast cancer...and I admire their faith...and I cry alot for their suffering and impending death..but I am also happy for their salvation is about to become complete...in absolute beauty and power!

So this Christmas Season, when I look at all the Christmas lights...all different colors and sizes...I will think of all the different types of people God has come to inhabit! When I see candles...I will think of the Light of the World is in me and you. The Christmas tree and wreaths and pine cones....oh the brilliance of nature in His Creation! The bold red and white poinsettias...flowers blooming in the dead of winter...remind me that the Rose of Sharon has bloomed in desertland of souls on earth! The presents under the trees...the Magi bringing gifts to baby Jesus! Worldly kings...paying homage to the real King of Kings whose mighty kingdom remains behind a veil...for now. No matter how much the world tries to make Christmas a retail holiday, a time of argument over beliefs, where daily woes tries to squeeze out every bit of joy, where sorrow hits in ways unjust and unfair...nothing can change the ultimate reality! The Truth of God's Mercy in Christmas and Easter...for those who love Him! They cannot take Christ out of Christmas because they cannot take Christ out of me!

I will watch movies that keep me focused on that. The Nativity, Mary, Its A Wonderful Life (how much we impact others) Rudolph (being different in the world) Frosty the Snowman (the childlike faith) and all the songs of praise and worship in the Christmas Carols! The Kingdom of God is here. God is with us. Emmanuel. The Wedding Day approaches...and what a celebration that will be!!! Keep your joy!

Between the Darkness and the Light

I spent the past two weeks meditating on purgatory, which is not exactly a place, but a state of being or condition of our souls in the cleansing process.  The more I think on this the more convinced I am of its need to be in the Christian faith!  My protestant friends believe one goes straight to Heaven, that Jesus paid all and therefore we are instantly changed and in His Presence! Nuff said.

I was raised to believe it was intense suffering of fire but a tad bit less than hellfire...sorry but that did not fit with my perception of God and His Mercy...nor did it exactly draw me closer to Him.  I know the saints all say this and that...but those saints were not apostles and they lived in a time that could not know about the world we understand thru science today.  I mean, wouldn't it blow their minds to know about radio waves, microwaves, uv waves, gravity, magnets,  remote controls, cellphones (the powers of cellular) the internet, computers, and all the technology we now have???  Private revelations are not doctrine either; if approved they can be believed but are not expected and mandatory.  Perhaps the "fires" they speak of are  not literal but are symbolic?  Everything in this "natural" world reveals something about the spiritual.  The fact we have invisible forces at work in our daily lives...all those "waves" are not magic or evil in themselves...they exist. 

When I think of the soul, I think in terms of a type of energy.  Everything is comprised of energy; solids, vapor, and liquids are all products of molecules that are moving.  When my mother passed, my niece's watch stopped at that very moment.  I think of the movie "Ghost" and how they portrayed the soul.  Star Trek and the dematerializing and rematerializing in the transport room...is another effect that comes to mind.  We have all these "natural" scenes to help in our imagining an invisible possibility that the saints never had.  I have had "impressions and visions" that I cannot describe to others but know what they meant by interpretation of the Holy Spirit.  I wonder if Augustine and Saints John Bosco and Anne Catherine Emmerich and others truly understood what they "learned".

Salvation is a cooperative act between us and the Holy Spirit to lead us to Jesus who is the Mediator between man and God.  God does not force Himself on us.  He never has.  He became one of us to deliver us from the Sin Curse.  His Holy Spirit is offered to those who seek Him. (Luke 11:9-10) All of this is done by the will of man...man must seek, choose and believe.  Why wouldn't our cleansing process be more of the same?

I'd like to believe I will be transformed and changed instantly into a perfect version before the Father; but it doesn't fit the rest of the story so to speak.  I knew many a good Christian who died in faith, living an obedient and good life...but had some imperfect characteristics.  None of us are perfect here in this natural life or we would not be "just natural".  Our Divine life would have been intact...truth is...we lost the Divine part of it...and that is what death in Christ...gives back to us; via His Holy Spirit.  Yet the Lord impressed upon me that cleansing is confession(1John 1:9)...and then He said, "can two walk together unless they be agreed?" (Amos 3:3).  He kept saying the Light versus the Darkness...nothing hidden that won't be revealed.  We know nothing impure can enter into Heaven, into the Holy of Holies, therefore all defects must be removed or changed.  He is "the Truth, the Way and the Life , and no man comes to the Father but by Me "(John 14:6)--this is our Mediator!  He is Truth, therefore is going to reveal us ourselves as we are...the truth about ourselves.  How we respond to that may determine how long this process takes.  Some people insist on their own way regardless...again as the Light does its excision of our sins off our souls...I am sure will be painful.  Yet, this pain gives way to joy...much like childbirth.  Is it any wonder the epistles speak of the spiritual in terms of childbirth and birth pangs?

We don't truly have a concept as to how sinful we really are.  We base things on what we know is right and wrong, then we justify according to our own rationale...the Lord does not change as society and her trends do though.  When I look at another man, it is a five-fold sin to lust in my heart.  I sin against my mate, my own soul, the other man, perhaps his wife...and God Himself. Now take all our sins and magnify them as to how many ways we actually sin...we could be in purging awhile.  Centuries though?  I highly doubt it but then time is irrelevant in that realm. 

I was also made aware of the fact that martyrs go straight to Heaven for the faith having paid the full price with their lives.  Also that some suffer here on earth and experience purging here.  So I find the  notion that souls in purgatory cannot help themselves is perhaps a man-made misconception.  They are already "saved" so that is not an issue!  They are in the waiting chamber...dressed but not quite ready.  We here on earth have received our invitations, and are preparing, but not yet arrived at the hall.  The Bridegroom will come for us along with many bridesmaids and groomsmen on the Day of the Marriage Feast!  I fully believe they can aid the process by cooperating with the Lord.  I believe we can send more Grace by our prayers, holy masses, and such just as we pray for others here on earth.  Not that we can save someone after death--they are already separated as Sheep from the goats...but for more Light to shine their way!  After all, we are Light also are we not?

The soul stands between the Light and the Darkness...freed from hell and its wrath, freed from earthly pains and fears and miseries...yet not fully consumed with His Light.  Like dark spots on the sun are called sunspots...there are places on our souls that flare up and wreak havoc sometimes...and those places need proper attention.  The Lord is merciful.  The Lord is good.  Purging is not something to be feared.  As Peter objected to the Lord washing his feet, but once he understood, asked Him not only his feet, but his hands and head also!!  (John 13:9)  Not only my thoughts, but my heart, and every place..."Search me O God, and know my heart: try me and know my thoughts; And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the Way Everlasting." (Psalm 139:23-24)

Parable of the 10 Virgins and their Oil Lamps

Last week, the Gospel was Matthew 25, the parable of the ten virgins and their oil lamps.  I stumbled over the part where the others asked for some oil and the response was "no! then we may not have enough for our own."  That always bothered me for some reason--so I asked the Lord about it. " We are called to share whatever we have, and to trust You for whatever we need...so why does this verse seems selfish?  You would not have us to be selfish and self-centered...so Lord what is it that I am not getting here? "

Ask and you shall receive, as always, He is gracious to help me understand.  He brought to mind in Ezekiel 18, where the LORD explains that "when a soul sins it shall die..but if the wicked turns from all his sins ...keep the law...and do what is lawful and right...he shall surely live and not die".  I understood it to mean--each soul is responsible for itself.  There are many Graces given to us to aid us, teach us, and keep us in God's Favor...but in the end...each soul bears the responsibillity for its outcome at Judgment time.  God gives us many instances in our lives, many people (some may be angels) the Holy Scriptures, The Sacraments, the Church, Sacramentals, prayers, all to lead us to Him and His Mercy--yet if we fail to follow, to heed His Word, to seek Him..we risk being set apart as having never known Him.

I explained this on the way home to my teen sons.  I can do my best to teach them, to live the example, to take them to Mass, to pray and read the Bible...but in the end...they are responsible for the condition of their own souls.  I cannot save them.  I can only do so much.  I cannot take the "Oil of Gladness" out of my own soul and give it to them.  Only the Holy Spirit can fill them.