The Cross can heal any Crisis

The world is in a state of crisis.  You cannot turn on the news or connect to the internet without hearing about the affliction of poverty, greed, hate, murder, chaos and crime.  I find myself in a constant state of panic - demanding God - help us with your Divine Mercy through Christ.  I know that every wound inflicted by sin is human error and deserves the consequences of natural justice and the woe of desecration that comes from the darkness of sin - God's justice calls for wrath and rage as we ravage the earth and all of creation in the machinations of men's hungry hearts.

Humanity has an incessant hunger now for things, for 'me-me-me' quick turn around greed.  Humanity is in a state of worshiping technology more than God and respecting gas-guzzling cars more than the earth.  Every day I read about another oil spill or crazy law helping the rich get richer, while the land and water we desperately need to protect is contaminated and left in ruin, people are impoverished - both physically and spiritually.  The truth is no amount of things can replace the mind-body-soul satisfying power of Christ's love - the Holy Spirit is fire that sustains and quenches our thirst in the Life Blood of Our Father through His Son, Jesus Christ. 

Water is a precious resource.  We take it for granted in the US, but right now in California - drought is ravaging crops and harming industry - and at the heart of industry you find people - who are broken, starving and thirsty for water.  While water comes from God in the natural order He created - H20 can only quench humanity's thirst for an interval of a few hours.  We constantly are in need of water - yet water is drying up throughout the world - leading to extreme drought and famine.  While other areas, particularly in Africa have plenty of water access - but no clean water - leading to pandemics and childhood mortality rates that are sickening in a post-industrial world. 

While many climate forecasters and sociologists and geographers would rather focus on the negative to the point of no return - we have to have hope that together humanity can find peace and healing out of the brokenness - in the power of the healing waters of Christ the world can be lit anew with love for neighbor and a kindred spirit of people over profits, work ethic over greed and utilization of natural resources for future generations - not just the drain and gain mentality we see so much throughout the world...produce, manufacture at the lowest standards to net extreme greed.  None of these practices makes economical, environmental, moral, ethical or any other sense.

It is easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of evil is winning this war and feeling as though one person's voice for justice is not enough.  One voice that screams loud enough reverberates farther than 10,000 canons bursting to light.  God hears our prayers, our cries from the deserts of our souls and the desperate places.  God hates injustice and longs to work for peace in even the most broken and corrupt of spaces - if people turn to HIM and ask for help.  God raises nations and makes them fall.  It is easy to think God is just letting evil run rampant or that these are the 'end times' but God calls us to pray always without ceasing - praying for peace, praying for hope, praying for healing, praying in love.  God moves even when it feels like he is a galaxy away The Holy Trinity is at work.

I truly believe there is no crisis in the world right now that is so desperate and mortally wounded that Christ cannot heal the situation.  Does that mean Christ can force hardened hearts to listen to His Spirit - no, but Christ can work peace and wondrous miracles even in the most fractured of places.  God raises leaders and causes them to fall.  If we pray for our government officials and world leadership in addition to voting our conscience then we can trust God is at work in the process - even though I admit at times I'd wish he'd be a little more visible - especially when I see so many people suffering in poverty and our land desecrated by lobbyists and big corporations.  God is at work though.  The power of prayer is astonishing and in praying we must trust and actively work through prayer to do God's will in kingdom building.

We are servants of the Divine Throne of Christ - we are kingdom builders on earth - laying cornerstones of love and mercy and spreading the light of Christ - in doing that we too must be vigilant stewards of the land, God's people and all of creation.  As kingdom builders we must not all our own short-sighted political bias to intervene in Christ's message.  A lot of ideology is propped up with religious rhetoric, but Christ kingdom runs deeper than politics, lobbyists and opinion polls - His Kingdom is about Mercy, Peace, Hope, Faith, Charity and Love.  Sometimes being kingdom builders means we have to disagree with ourselves - denying our personal desires and ideologies for Christ.  We have to step outside of our insulated box and really carry crosses in the world.  No one likes to think about climate change in a SUV with leather seats and AC but we as Christians are called to tough challenges.  We are called to help others in crisis and protect all of God's creation.  Sin is rampant, sin is in the world, but we can shine brighter than sin and accomplish far more in the tiny flicker of a light of hope than even the abyss of sin.  It just takes the faith and resolve of a mustard seed.

There are a lot of problems we need to face head on with Christ: The environment and management of our resources is a top priority because whether we like it or not we rely on the food of the earth and water from the ground.  When we contaminate water and create toxic food - this harms humanity and all of God's creation.  We can fix this problem if we work against lobbyists and greed based ideology - it is not even that difficult if we all just give up a little, but it is hard for the human heart to let go of the tangible - even when the tangible fuel creates a ravaging fire that destroys.  There are options for renewable energy and healthy habits - that are simple yet profound.  Sometimes all we have to do is each give up a little and God will give up everything in Mercy.

I think in these times of crisis, in the midst of war, famine, greed, poverty, hate and doubt - prayer - particularly the Rosary is an ever confident friend and ally - God hears prayers and uses our prayers.  We have to trust in HIS mercy.

However we are called to do more than pray - while prayer is powerful, God also incites us to be active in kingdom building - through love, healing and activism for protecting HIS creation and working to protect the innocent and the weak.  This may be as simple as volunteering at a food bank, or donating to help install a water well in an at-risk water area or perhaps merely taking time to use a reusable bag at the grocery store instead of plastic.  See your life is a constant act of mercy, grace and healing - small acts of healing are powerful flashes of light that drown out the darkness.

Remember the war has already been won on the cross.  Christ won the war on the cross! Our enemy on earth - the evil one has already been defeated.  While sin is part of human nature - we play a role in how this battle plays out - we can take ownership of Christ victory by following his commandments and being active, compassionate stewards of creation - fishers of humanity and advocates for peace - or we can just give up and let darkness consume us.  I may be in a losing battle - but I would rather trust in God's grace and abounding love - HIS victory on the cross - than surrender in defeat to darkness.

There is no battle we cannot win with the armor of Christ and there is no fear greater than the fear of the Lord - who is mercy and justice.  We have an advocate of Mercy and Justice on our side and He rules the world with truth and grace and makes the nations move.  Who shall I fear?  I fear the Lord.

No crisis in this world is so destitute it cannot be healed by the power of the Cross of Jesus Christ.  The question is will we build HIS kingdom or play with the fire of the world and build a city of ruins?

When we feel helpless - turn it over to God in prayer and he will be the light for the pain int he world.  Trust in Jesus and His Mercy - remember His Holy Cross - Christ died for the world so that we may have new life in Him and have it abundantly.  An abundant life is one of the spirit - not abundance of material possessions but the spiritual peace only Christ can provide.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, have mercy on us.  By your passion heal us - so that we do not see suffering as a burden as much as an opportunity to lay the foundation of your kingdom in the desert places of life.  Heal us, change us, and purify our hearts to live by your Holy Will.  Hear the petitions of our hearts; heal this our temporary home from greed, pollution and apathy - ignite the fire of the Holy Spirit to spread throughout the world, healing those in crisis and bringing light, love and healing grace to dark places

 

The Fire of Letting Go

The heart grows cold in the bitterness of regret
The pain of doubt wants to shout out
The love it withers in the anger of despair
How I thirst for the living waters
On my knees I stumble to the ground
dust to dust
The death is stealing the sound
of the heartbeat inside, of life denied 
as the ticking time clock races
The paces of steps are glued to the ground
I am paralyzed in the rearview
cracked glass - shatters the perspective
All these years in darkness, the light is reflected
No I see on bended knee, that life is still alive inside
My soul is thirsty and will be fulfilled in the SPIRIT's water
Still my soul is bound to the anger tied up 
Do I unleash the ghost or deny the pain
Do I live in the rage of the scarlet letter
Or do let the tears fall out
I shout and thunder, clap and cry out to the heaven's 
Into the sky, I commend my spirit - I let the pain rush forth
It falls like rain - It hails and floods
Now I am set free to go in peace
As the dove on the Forty-First day
I forgive - and release
I praise God for healing my grief
Loneliness of the dark, has left my heart
God's spark lightening the fire to restart
There is a release in all the unspoken words talking their string
Cutting down the lies and finding time is once again on your side
 

This is a poem I wrote about my journey of letting go from childhood trauma with my father, who I am consciously forgiving.  I've been on a forgiveness journey the past few years as I faced the reality that even though I thought I had 'forgiven' my father - his abuse still haunted me and left me in a state of want, agony, fear and deprivation - I felt unworthiness in the spirit of his hate and did not realize it was hiding fear and paralyzing oppressive energy in my heart and blocking my way forward.

While I have every reason to be justified in my grief, the act of forgiveness allows me to cut the cords of the chains of grief and move forward into a new life.

It is critical that people understand that the choice to forgive a person is a conscious choice - the flesh cannot will it - the SPIRIT compels us because anger-even if it is just paralyzes and blocks us from having a perspective to rise above the abuse and come into our own and take ownership of the wonderful plans God has for us.  We are blinded when anger from injustice wells up in our soul - it is a cancer - allowing the person who abused us to continue to do so.  It is like a residual haunting - you revisit and rehash the pain over and over again, all the while burying it so deep you act as though it doesn't exist - healing in either circumstance cannot occur.

Forgiveness is a journey of healing.  It is not about instant gratification - sometimes you can turn it over to God in one fell swoop, but often times we pick at the anger layer by layer and work out the issues and analyze the pain and allow it to rupture and resurface and in that agony choose, as Christ did in the Garden of Gethsemane as he prayed with blood and sweat. 

Jesus compelled by the flesh was paralyzed by that moment by dread of death and the fear of the pain and torment - yet his love for humanity and creation and God's will compelled HIS Spirit to make a conscious choice to turn over that anger and fear to God.  Don't think Jesus had it easier that us in suffering because He is God, Jesus felt our every wound and every pain and could perceive the fear and anguish and rage that is natural when persecution and betrayal take root - sin causes a division of the heart - Jesus realized that anger and rage only further divide our hearts against God and that is why we must turn it over to HIS infinite mercy and grace because otherwise we will die in our Spirit - blocked by suffering - instead of refined by it.

I am in the final stages of forgiveness and I'll admit it is not always an easy journey - but I look to Jesus and the Stations of the Cross...like his road to the Cross - sometimes healing out of tragedy is excruciating, painful and we ask 'Where is God' - God is with us - God is in the tears, the questions, the torture of a soul in mourning - God mourns the tragedy - but he also allows our healing to crucify the anger so we can rise above temporal vengeance (a form of 'justice' that appears to be a source of retribution but really further divides a soul and leaves one in a state of wandering and resentment) - and in the power of forgiving we take ownership of God's divine and perfect justice.  

Does the act of turning over a wrong to God mean the person who harmed us is not accountable or we should not seek justice on earth?  No, but it allows us to have perspective that if earthly justice does not occur that God always executes justice - we might not see it - but he is at work.  Letting God through Christ take on the yoke of our just anger - allows us to be empowered by HIS healing and HIS justice and HIS love so we can live and do something AMAZING in our own lives - lives not marred by the cruel acts of angry men, but lives lived with hope and active faith and a persevering spirit to be content to climb the mountain, let go of the fear and enjoy God's grace in even the darkest of circumstances.

Sometimes things are so dark and harmful - how can we forgive - we cannot unless we have God's help to remove the burden - the burden is the wages of sin committed by another and inflicted on a pure soul - and our struggle with the effects of that sin.  Since only Christ can free us from sin - then we need him in our journey of forgiving to live.

Jesus's advice to the man who had to bury his father speaks volumes of the journey of forgiveness and past regret: Let the dead bury the dead.