Ahhhh… the gentleness of Christ that greets us when we only say yes to him. Unlike our Jewish forefathers, we Christians are welcomed by a most loving and forgiving God. In today’s Letter to the Hebrews (12:18-19, 21-24) we witness the trembling experienced by Moses as he approached God. And while this too is our God, God came to us as Jesus Christ with a welcoming message of gentle love. Yes, we are also invited to experience the “fear of God” that Moses caught a glimpse of; however, we are introduced to the loving side of our heavenly father by his grace. It appears that the fear of God, which caused even Moses to tremble, is beyond what God’s beloved children can handle. God’s love is just too big for us to receive in its “pure” form. I have personally been blessed to experience, albeit in extremely small portion, the fear of God while in prayerful meditation. Yes, it was frightening to even catch a glimpse of this magnanimous love; however, it was comforting beyond measure to know I am loved so immensely. It is here I will cling and allow my heart to find eternal respite.
We are now invited to approach the festival of angels in Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem where our living God dwells – the city where his gentle love abounds. This is the city where countless angels gather in a most glorious festival! Mount Zion has as its foundation Jesus Christ and it has been sealed in his blood, therefore, it is an eternal, ever-lasting covenant which we will always be invited into. How amazing! Let us all join that festival! Can we even begin to imagine the captivating beauty of celebrating with countless angels? Be still our human hearts.
So how can we enter the festival? After all, today’s scripture does not tell us we have to wait for entry into Mount Zion, rather, it tells us we have now approached it – present tense. Yet, we are currently experiencing life as a human being on planet earth and the last time I took a good hard look around I didn’t see an angel filled festival. While I do see a lot of goodness and love, I also see a world filled with human suffering. Perhaps we are called, not unlike the Twelve in today’s Gospel, to go out and preach repentance, drive out demons, and cure the sick. Today’s demons hide themselves behind words like; “depression”, “anger”, “rage”, anxiety”, “hate”, “fear”, “and “isolation” and they bring about human suffering.
It is only through the love of the living God that human beings will find freedom from today’s demons and the suffering they cause. After all, we are given the gift of being human, created in God’s very image – humanness is something the demons can never participate in. While individually we may not be called to participate in a “Hollywood” style exorcism, we are called to bring forth love into the world and therefore, enter into the angel filled festival. When we share Jesus Christ and his love we are going forth in similar fashion of the Twelve, this my friends is evangelization. To love and to expect nothing in return is to love simply for the sake of love. Basically, we are called to love another because they are also beloved by God. I invite you to join me in my request to God: “God – please help me to love more.”
Jesus – I Love You!
