Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Love in it's purest form.

Photo by Mary Weston DeNucci

During the season of Lent this year I am leading a group that is reading; Wondrous Encounters, Scripture for Lent, by Richard Rohr.  He is a Franciscan priest and the founding director of the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  

The following are some excerpts from today's reading and my reflections to them.  Help us to all not allow our hearts to be hardened.  Help us all to remember that God is love in it's purest form.  

Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Lent

“You can’t win.” When someone’s heart is hardened already, you could be Jesus himself, and they will seriously see you as wrong, inferior, dangerous, and heretical— which is what is about to happen in Holy Week.

Most Christians would probably be slow to admit that by these criteria almost all of us would have opposed Jesus. “This is not our tradition, he is not from our group, and he has no credentials!”

Starter Prayer “God of perfect freedom, open spaces inside of our minds, our hearts, and our memories, so we can just begin to be free. Do not let me be hardened against anyone of your creatures, so that I cannot hear and respect their truth.”

Rohr, Richard (2010-12-27). Wondrous Encounters: Scripture for Lent (p. 111). St. Anthony Messenger Press. Kindle Edition. 

"When someone’s heart is hardened”.  This is a very descriptive statement.  A heart being hard, blocked, still.  I always thought it fascinating that the heart is one of the most important organs in the body, science can tell us all about how it works and why.  And yet, we talk about having a broken heart, we talk about our heart aching.  Anyone who has felt that broken heart, that feeling of disappointment or betrayal will tell you, it may not be a scientific thing, but it is very real.  

Most of us at one time or another have thought , I will never let myself care like that again.  I will never put myself in that position again.  And yet, what happens if we don’t?  We become shut down, blocked off, hardened.  We become angry, bitter and resentful.  We become over come with fear and insecurity.  We  become constantly on guard so that we will not feel heart break again.  

Life with God is one that calls us to fall in love over and over again.  We are called to love those around us, those in our inner circle, those we know only from a distance.  We are called to have an open and loving heart.  

When our hearts are hardened and closed, we not only keep love from hurting us, we also are unable to feel any love in return.  We are unable to truly be in right relationship with God, because God is love in it’s purest form.  

Gracious God of perfect freedom.  Help me to have the courage today to have a open heart.  That when my heart aches, help me to know that you are in our midst.  Help me to know that when my heart aches it is because I am longing for you in some form.  Help me not turn bitter and angry.  Help me to see the joy and the light in the new day.  Help me to remember the many blessings in my life.  Help me to know my heart is in your hands.  Amen