Whether it be those few people that have left their handprints on your heart, or that one homily that got you excited and thinking again, maybe even that captivating sunset where in your heart you knew there was an extraordinary God, or for me right now, seven words where honestly only the Lord knows when and how I stumbled upon them...that my journey with Christ would seem to unfold all at once, but definitely, suddenly.
Before I quote JP 2 (who is an ultimate homie), I must say mustering up a work-in progress blog has been a hidden desire in my heart that just recently I have face-palmed myself for not realizing before...but you know what! My heart is overwhelmed with so much gratitude to discover such an obvious passion to write and to just love with other people...and to decide for myself to place it before the Cross and just go for it.
So St. John Paul II (can finally say saint now wahooo!) in his book "Love & Responsibilty" once wrote these seven words that got me thinking, and praying about, and finally trying to apply within my own life.
JP2 said, "Freedom exists for the sake of love."
Hmmm...what does that even mean? Before I try and begin to even decipher this, this brings me back to homilies that have been given by one of the Jesuit priests on my campus here at Xavier. A priest who calls you by saint when he sees you in passing, a holy man that is a breathing example of fatherly love. Like that agape kind we hear about on retreat talks or bible studies.
So he began his homily, reflecting on the Gospel. To refresh a little bit, this past Sunday's Gospel was the story of the Poor Widow in Chapter 12 of Mark.
So imagine this, you go to bring up your gifts to the Lord, and you contribute your possessions and give Him a portion of what you own, essentially who you are. And then you see this lady stroll in, poor and widowed who only has a few cents worth of her possessions...but brings those gifts up. All that she has, all that she basically is. I try and imagine what this might look like in church. Honestly, I would probably look at that lady and think how crazy she is, because she possesses now nothing. She owns no worth. Really has no worth.
But Jesus obviously doesn't think like me, (thank the Lord for that HA), He turns to His disciples and tells them, "For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood.” (Mark 12:44)
And this priest this last Sunday during his homily told us, this is basically what ultimate freedom is. You come as you are, battered, broken, jaded, a work-in-progress, human. This reminds me of the portion of mass we know as the offering of the gifts. I like to think that as the untouched, the pre-Jesus body and blood transformed, are us. Nothings. Just bread and wine. We walk down that aisle and bring what we can...whether it be a day of gratitude we discovered in just a week, or forgiveness we came to terms with, or maybe even we come with pain and we feel like absolutely nothing. Whatever it is, the Father takes. He takes what we are, and transforms us on that altar with Him into what we yearn to become through Him. Our freedom to be made in His image, which is love. It is because of this freedom we experience, where we can finally say to ourselves mostly, "This is who I am in this moment, and maybe it's all I got, but take it all Jesus and make it beautiful."
Because He will, and you know what, it already is. Because in those moments, we say yes to dying to ourselves, we essentially also say yes in freedom in Christ. And Christ is love.
JP2 had it so right. So on point, my goodness! It gives me the butterflies, a fast-paced beating heart because I know I am falling deeper in love with God because I can choose. I can be free to decide to love Him and give Him all that I possess like the poor widow.
Every person that has interceded my life, every homily that has romanced my soul, every crashing wave or mountain-top peak, are just seamless drops in the ocean of God's graces.
This is seamless grace. Unending, unfailing, altruistic and binding. They are everywhere, and I pray I may continue to breathe it in everyday. I pray you may too :)
Feel free to join me in these seamless graces. I just happened to stumble upon a wonderful quote in a coffee bar after discipling with the most wonderful spiritual mentor, Danielle...I'll leave you with this...
"Perhaps strength doesn't reside in having been broken...but in the courage required to grow strong in the broken Places." -Ruthie Dean