Pastor's Spiritual Reflections |
|
|
|
By Fr. Leo Schneider (6/15/2008)Dear People of Holy Name, “God proves his love for us in that while we were still
sinners Christ died for us.” We are called to live in awe of God, not in fear of God. There is no room for fear in our spiritual journey, as Jesus died for us while we were sinners to save us from God’s wrath. God is always for us, not against! Thus, fear of going to hell should not be a motivation for coming to know the goodness of God. God loves us and wants us to know and trust in his love. To live in awe of God is to live in reverence of the infinite goodness of God, who is in all things, sustains all things and is present in all things. We live in wonder with grateful hearts when we live in awe. We can’t be greedy and live in awe. We can’t be selfish and live in awe. But it is precisely living-in-awe that keeps us from being greedy and selfish. So how do we live in awe of God? First, I think it is an interior place we need to be. Tuesday, I woke up feeling the presence of God and felt an interior peace. As I went through the day I looked at things differently. The architecture of some homes I’d pass were beautiful. These are homes I always drive past, but that morning they were uplifting. The buildings hadn’t changed. The way I looked at them changed. To live-in-awe we need to have an interior peace that comes from deep within, born out of our prayer or inner communion with God. Knowing that God loves us can remove the cognitive thoughts that keep us from living in peace. Living in wonder opens our eyes to see the beauty of all things and makes our hearts grateful for being alive. Little things become gifts and giving a profound joy. It is ‘awesome’ to look at a human face and see all that is there. The feelings, the history, the hope etched into every aspect of a look, a mystery of deep and profound life before us, like unexplored lands to be discovered and shared. “Awesome” it is, to see a father and son walking down the street and notice how they look alike, one a younger version of the other, and how life and it’s journey is shared in love from one generation to the next. When we live in the “sacred space” we are living in awe of God. How full life becomes, cognitively and emotionally, when we do. To get there, we start with the inner journey of going to that place deep inside, where we are at peace because we know without doubt how much God loves us. It is there, where we live in peace of mind, body and soul, and it is from there, that life becomes gift and all things a work of art It is living in awe of God that allows his peace to remain in us in, what would be for many, the most anxious of times. Death itself, though deeply painful, becomes an experience of God. And like St. Frances, death is transformed into our friend. For with faith in Jesus’ resurrection, we have faith in our own life, shared in fullness around God’s table in heaven, for the Lord has indeed gone ahead to prepare a place for us, that where he is we may also be. Let us pray for the gift of being able to live in “awe” of God. Summer is a great time to make that effort to live in communion with God and his wonderful creation. Let us take time to make space in our hearts to know beyond a doubt that God loves us, that he his for us, that he died for us to bring us to life, not to condemn us! May we come to live in his deep and profound peace. In Christ’s peace, Fr. Leo |