A Season of Miracles

Every day is a day to be thankful to God.  Each new season brings new opportunities and challenges.  All I know is right now we are in a season of miracles.  Four weeks ago, we prayed for a man with cancer spreading from his prostrate and now he is completely cancer free.  Three weeks ago, one of our ladies had a vision during communion of a man shooting people in a church.  The whole world read about it the next day in the newspaper which happened in Texas.

I believe this is also a season for the church to be called to corporate prayer.  Last week one of our families lost their only daughter in a tragic car accident.  The miracle of love and forgiveness shown that day was truly miraculous.  Today is not over but I already know there is going to be the miracle of new birth as one of our young ladies is baptized into Christ. Truly we are in a season of miracles for those who have eyes to see.

Love's Flames

God's ways are higher than our ways in Isaiah 55:6-9 is not an argument to defend an eternal punishing God, the context is God's everlasting abundant mercy. The deeper truth about hell is it's more about how we live right here and now than simply a bad place down and under some where. We often think of hell in one dimensional ways rather than the multi-leveled view of Scripture. Too often we preach hell like the Pharisees did than applying the warnings of hell to our own lives like Jesus told us to do. Hell exists because nobody can escape the purifying fire of God's holy love.

We usually think of hell as punishment or destruction rather than purification. Several of the early church fathers like Origen and Gregory of Nyssa viewed hell as medicinal because people resist the flames of God's love. It's not sinners that are destroyed but sin and evil itself that is destroyed in the end. We need to learn from the prophet who spoke of hell the most in the Bible and that was Jesus.  Jesus used very colorful and shocking language to jolt people out of their spiritual slumber. Often the prophets spoke of God's anger or judgement burning forever against Israel but even that was only for a season and not forever (see Jer.17:4 & 30:3 for an example of this). Hell is not used by Jesus as a threat to outsiders but as a challenge to insiders.

Why do Bible interpreters take the flames of hell literally but cutting off body parts as metaphorically? The inconsistencies and selective uses of the Bible are staggering to say the least. The flames of hell may hurt like hell as they burn away all our false and deceptive ways within us and the many masks we hide behind but ultimately God's fiery presence is fitting us for heaven. When it comes to a hopeful universalism, do we have more confidence in the power of human sin or the power of divine grace?

Believing as Peter did in the restoration of all things (Acts 3:21) or Paul did in the reconciliation of all things (Col.1:20) or John did in the renewal of all things (Rev.21:5) does not limit or soften our purpose or mission to evangelize the whole world but should inspire us to preach fearlessly, love limitlessly, and obey unconditionally.

(reflections and excerpts from Heath Bradley Flames of Love)

The Eclipse of God as a Fault of Contemplation

"The earth is ablaze with the fire of God, but only those who see it take their shoes off" - Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Contemplation is about waking up and seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary. God is looking for people who contemplate and are aware of His presence in the every day moments of life. Life is full of pressures, stress, busyness and so much work that pushes out the contemplative life where God is only an after thought or shadow of reality.

Are we awake to the dance of creation with God the dancer who gives and holds all life together.  When we see life correctly, we see everything in life is a gift.  Abundant living is purity of heart where everything is seen through the prism of God's love.

Can We Rescue the Dead?

The modern western church typically sees a great divide between those who are still alive on earth and those who are dead and have passed on to the after life. What is fascinating is to learn how the earliest Christians not only prayed to the dead and asked for assistance in their prayers but they even prayed for the salvation of those who died without Christ.

There is a list of early evidences from archaeology, grave sites, epitaphs, and early church writings to at least take another look at what these early Christians believed and practiced. Some of the early Christian writings that point in this direction are Luke 16:19-31 nd 2 Clement 8, The Shepherd of Hermes, the Apocalypse of Peter, and the odes of Solomon written during the second century.

Particular interest is Thelca's prayer for Falconilla and Perpetua's prayer for Dinocrates. There is the harrowing of Hell by the ancient Eastern Orthodox of Jesus descent into hell and emptying it and several early church fathers views of universal salvation from Origen and Gregory of Nyssa to later Christians in the early church.  Two teachings that have been lost in the modern church today is (1) Christians still spiritually grow and evolve in the after life; and (2) people can still choose God even after they have died.

Benedictine Monastery: Day Seven

St. Benedict said, "The light of holy contemplation enlarges and expands the mind of God until it stands above the world." My heart and mind have been expanded by Jesus sacred heart and the holy moments of this retreat. How can one not enter into the heavenly realm when one is singing with the angels in the divine liturgy and partaking of the medicine of immortality in the Eucharist.

Wonder, mystery, and total peace fills my soul today in this one eternal moment beyond time. Pure ecstasy, complete joy, and inner peace fills my soul. I have been soul sick for way too long and today I feel completely free. Today I am fully restored. Today I am totally healed by the suffering lamb of God. Maranatha!

Benedictine Monastery: Day Six

I read Psalm 139:1-12 which resonated with my soul this morning. In the translation I was using, verse 9 reads like this, "If I climb upward on the rays of the morning sun." I am reminded of six weeks earlier when I was on a retreat at St. Meinrad's Benedictine monastery of St. Benedict's vision reported by St. Gregory. In this vision, St. Benedict saw the whole word gathered up into a single ray of light.  It was asked how was it possible to see the whole world in a single ray of light? The answer" the earth grows small when the spirit is enlarged. This is the challenge of the contemplative praying. We become so small that all we see is God.

Benedictine Monastery: Day five

When I partake of the sweet Eucharist, there is a fire in my belly and a peace beyond this earthly realm. I am reminded of the words of Queen Elizabeth of the Trinity when she spoke of this Eucharist life of God:

O Jesus of the Eucharist
My spouse, my love, my life,
How I love to listen to you
to speak to you, to see you every evening.

O how sweet are these encounters
How sweet are the tears
You, my supreme love, O my King
My Jesus, when I am near you
It seems to me that I am no longer on earth.

When I hear your voice
O my spouse, O my good master
I hear and see nothing but you.
O these sublime, ecstatic moments
Intimate and sweet union
When my heart beats in unison with my Savior
would that I spend long hours in that holy abode.

My sole love, nothing keeps me here on earth
Jesus alone satisfies me
Apart from Jesus, I can do noting
Near to Him, I am happy
He is my life and my love.

Jesus my only love!
Jesus God of the Eucharist!
Jesus my sustenance, my life,
Jesus who loves and chooses me
that I may love Him and even suffer for Him.