The world teaches and indoctrinates us all that truth consists only in those matters that can be felt, heard, mathematically symbolized and measured, perceived, seen, smelled, tasted … that truth cannot extend beyond material measure, reasoned projection and vetted perception…
The world discourages, disdains and deprecates the realm of faith and spirit, and would, if it could, violently prevent us from seeing the greater truth: that within each one of us runs the abundant, cannot be duplicated original, empowering, enabling, endless, ever-merciful, grace endowing, limitless, overflowing, timeless, unfathomable River of Life-Giving Waters of the Holy Spirit coursing through every vessel and suffusing every cell and organ of our bodies, letting us live, move, walk and have our being in the charmed circle of God’s Light and Love…
How organic life springs from and/or energizes inorganic elements remains a scientific mystery, yet the Spirit of Life, as the Alpha/Omega beginning/end of All – the Uncaused Cause, the Origin of Origins – is not acknowledged nor recognized by materialist big bangers and cause-and-effect paladins who would rather keep our focus and attention limited within the blinders of their so-called replicable measures that exclude what they cannot explain, and would want us all living without the Spirit, or merely existing in dealcoholized, decaffeinated, denatured, incomplete and insufficient lives…
It is within the ambit of our God-given Free Will to choose to live our lives in truth or in lies; hopefully, we avoid lies for these only bring endless and complicated concatenations of many more mendacities; and if we opt for life in truth, then we have the choice of living within or without the Spirit.
It is in disciplined and focused thoughts-emotions-actions within the Spirit and truth that we are abundant, blessed, calm, dynamized, empowered, fulfilled, graced, honored, inspired, juiced up, kingdomed… We have seen the results of the option of disciplined and focused thoughts-emotions-actions without the Spirit and truth: throughout human history, it has given us innumerable evils and disasters spawned by concupiscence, covetousness, ego and pride that inevitably generate conflicts, deceptions, falsehoods, injustice, intrigues, machinations, oppression, strife, struggles and wars…
The choice of licentious and unrestrained thoughts-emotions-actions within the Spirit and truth is not really possible, for the Light of Spirit would immediately make us aware of spiritual boundaries when we begin to consider unrighteous thoughts, emotions or actions; and if our decision [which the Lord allows us to make without undue or improper pressure or influence to honor His gift of free will] is to cross those boundaries, then we choose in effect to shift to the preference of licentious and unrestrained thoughts-emotions-actions without the Spirit and truth.
Thence, we are abandoned, bent, corrupted, dehumanized, enervated, fuzzled, grieved, humiliated, impoverished, jeopardized, kraaled... totally handed over into the devil’s fiery darts of deception, and slammed hither and thither like deadwood down his dangerous river of raging waves, hissing haze and mist, unseen and unpredictable boulders on both sides, and a sudden drop into the abyss…
Yet, as David declared a long time ago, every time we slip, the Lord’s mercy holds us up. Ezekiel explained: the Lord God rejoices when man turns from his evil ways, keeps His statutes and does what is right and just; none of the crimes he committed shall be remembered against him and he shall live. And Jesus Christ sealed that divine covenant of forgiveness upon repentance with His Blood.
We always have the choice of accepting and holding on to the Lord’s mercy and forgiveness - through Jesus - each time we fall, then dwelling in His secret citadel and abiding in the shadow of His mighty wings, or simply letting go, in self-condemnation and in the wrong belief that hope is gone (when it never is), then yielding completely to the dark force of this realm that like a rampant lion seeks every one he can devour…
That choice is true.
But we cannot see it through the dark clouds of doubt and despair we prefer to entertain, or amidst the churning waves of worry and anxiety we love to wallow in. Yet, no matter the negativity of circumstantial stimuli we might be misled to perceive, there is always the light of freedom shining serenely within: the power to choose our response.
Even if we think we are at the brink of death, we can still choose to ask Jesus Christ to come into our hearts and be our Lord and Savior. Hope is never gone, for in every eternal moment of the here and now, Jesus patiently knocks and stands outside the door of our hearts, waiting for us to open it and welcome Him.
If we open our hearts and say, in effect: “My Lord and My God, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof; say but the word and I shall be healed. But please come into my heart, Lord, and fill me with your Love. Forgive me of all my sins as I sincerely repent of them. I surrender my wayward will to Your Will and please do with me what you will. Gratefully, I accept the cleansing power of Your Blood and receive the Redeeming Grace of Your Sacrifice. You are My Savior and My King!” Then, as He said to the contrite thief hanging on another cross beside Him, we can hear Him tell us: "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise."
For He has lifted the ban against entry into paradise; more than that, He manifested and brought to Calvary the Tree of Life in the form of the Cross on which He hung as its fruit; and when we take and receive Him as such fruit – The Way, The Truth, The Life – then we partake of the same nature as Adam and Eve had before the fall: able to clearly hear the Father Almighty, lovingly to talk and to walk with Him without fear or guilt, unashamed of anything in our nakedness… and empowered by the Holy Spirit.
What wonderful Truth this is!
It is Love (Charity) manifest in Truth. "Charity in truth, to which Jesus Christ bore witness by his earthly life and especially by his death and resurrection, is the principal driving force behind the authentic development of every person and of all humanity." (Pope Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate, 29th June 2009)
