The Holy Spirit inspired our blog.
Gail and I have been touring Scotland and Ireland for the past ten days. Before the tour, we decided to write five blogs in two and one-half weeks. We mention this because usually when we write a blog, we start on Monday, finish on Friday, post, and start the next blog the following Monday. What interests me is that I forget what we wrote the previous week.
Because we wrote five blogs in two and one-half weeks, I realized that they were all tied in. As we traveled, I realized that a term we have used for the past two-plus years was, for the first time, very true. The term Monsigenoiur Henchal used in one of his Sunday homilies was.
“GOD IS A GOD OF OUTRAGEOUS LOVE!”
This may sound odd to some of you, but I finally truly believed the above statement.
If you spend even a short period of time contemplating the story of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, it is Outrageous in every aspect, and never forget:
Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves. Emphasis mine Jn 14: 9-11
And,
The Holy Spirit is a person, and the Love link between Father and Son, so when we say God’s is OUTRAGEOUS, we are talking about all Three Persons.
Consider:
The Creator of the universe, Jesus, spent nine months in Mary’s womb, totally dependent on Mary. Outrageous!
Born in a stable, Outrageous!
Lived for thirty years as a nobody. Outrageous!
Picked Fishermen as his Disciples with no formal religious training. Outrageous!
He healed the poor, Jewish and gentile, and even a Roman servant while chastising the Pharisees, Scribes, and Roman Leaders. Outrageous!
Allowed Himself to be Condemned, Scurged, and Crucified on the Cross, considered at that time the worst form of death one could suffer. Outrageous!
Forgave those who Condemned, Scurged, Cursed, and Nailed Him to The Cross (You and Me). Outrageous!
Rose for the Dead. Outrageous!
Actually, as I thought about it, there was nothing in the life of Jesus that wasn’t outrageous.
So far it is safe to assume you are right in line with our thinking.
Where’s the problem?
Hell and Purgatory!
Never forget, I was born in 1940, and in the forties and fifties, we were told that God, if we were sinners, condemned us to Hell. In fact, Tim Gray, who we have quoted many times, just said those words in a recent blog.
And the problem is?
If God condemned us to Hell, where is the Outrageous Love? Outrageous Love forgives, not condemns, and yet I do believe there is a Hell. In fact, we reported on our 8/28/24 blog that Tim Gray said that Hell is for people who have Fundamentally turned away from God. THEY turned away, God has not condemned, and when we reported in the same blog that C.S. Lewis said Hell is locked on the Inside, my mind went, WOW!!!.
Outrageous love is true. God wants to forgive, but they fundamentally turned away, which means to me they prevented themselves from being forgiven.
God’s Love is Outrageous!
BUT,
What about Purgatory?
In the forties and fifties, I was told that we were SENT to Purgatory so that our sins would be washed away and we could stand in front of God clean. I would argue that sending us to Purgatory is NOT OUTRAGEOUS LOVE.
Then I read what C.S. Lewis, a Protestant, had to say. We quote once again from the 8/28/24 blog.
Our souls demand Purgatory, don’t they? Would it not break the heart if God said to us, my son, “It is true, my son, that your breath smells and your rags drip with mud and slime, but we are charitable here, and no one will upbraid you with these things, nor draw away from you. Enter into my Joy”?
OUTRAGEOUS LOVE, in case you missed it.
Should we not reply, “With your permission, Sir, if there is no objection, I’d rather be cleaned first.” “It may hurt, you know”-” Even so, Sir,” I assume that the process of purification will normally involve suffering. Partly from tradition, partially because most real good that has been done me in this life has involved it. But I don’t think the suffering is the purpose of the purgation. I can well believe that people neither much worse nor much better than I will suffer less than I or more.”No nonsense about merit.” The treatment given will be the one required, whether it hurts little or much. Emphasis mine
C.S. Lewis, with the above two Paragraphs, closed the door for me on any doubt that
GOD IS A GOD OF OUTRAGEOUS LOVE in every aspect.
God will accept us as we are; it is WE who requests to be PURGED of bad breath and filthy clothes so that WE may travel in Heaven, NOT encumbered by our bad breath and fifty clothes, but become true Brothers and Sisters of God our Father, Jesus, our Brother, Cleaned of any spot of sin, filled with the Holy Spirit. For me, this is a true act of Contrition, not something that was forced upon us by a God who needed us to be punished to make amends for our sins.
When applied to God, the term Outrageous Love has to be true all the time and in every aspect, and now, for me, it is.
And,
One last consideration: if by being Catholic, we can go to Confession and be told by the Priest that our sins are forgiven, Jn 20:23.
And
At Mass, TOUCH JESUS when we receive communion, which we do if you think about it; both of these acts are Outrageous Love.
And
As we reported in prior blogs, God invites us into a Dance with them, not as spectators in the bleachers but as Participants.
Should we not then reply to anyone who asks us how we are by saying
“I am FANTASTIC!”
Over the ten days, as we traveled Scotland and Ireland, the above thoughts became crystal clear, and I could only celebrate God bringing me to write our Blog and cramming five blogs into two weeks so I could see the connection in the blogs. God is clearly working in my, and I pray your life.
Picture:
At the same time, Gail and I were traveling Scotland and Ireland; our sons Mike, the oldest son, and Dave, the middle son, were walking a seventy-mile hike through the Swiss Alps. Each day, they sent pictures of their hike. When I saw the above picture, I knew we had to show it to you.
For me, the picture said that at age eighty-three, Gail and I have traveled a long way. We have faced many challenges along the way, just as Mike and Dave did on their hike. But we overcame those challenges because of the love we have for God, each other, and everyone who has blessed us by being a part of our life. As I look back, I don’t see the challenges, but I see the beauty of all of the people God has brought into our life.
After returning home, we talked to Dave, who said he was so sick after the second day that they almost turned around. Mike’s brief daily text gave us an inkling of the problem. We prayed for a healing, and the next day, Dave was back to his old self. We now think it was altitude sickness; they were at or near nine thousand feet in altitude.
On our trip, we met a couple with daughters in their teens and twenties. This couple faced many of the challenges that we faced when the boys were that age. It was refreshing for me to fully realize that the biggest shortcoming humans face is that we don’t know what will happen in the future. (David didn’t know when they started their hike that he would encounter this beautiful view, and the picture of him standing on that ledge would profoundly affect me.) Because of this, all we can do is pray and have Faith that God will take care of us and our families.
Gail and I are Blessed, and you are part of that Blessing.
I pray you now realize how this blog had to be different.
Please keep Snapping!
If you want a copy of the prayers we discussed, email me.
fprince101@gmail.com
Remember, if you want to submit a picture, please do not include people. We have to get permission from that person to use their photograph. (I did ask Dave, and he gave me his permission.)
