Go“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16).
I have been praying very much for people who are near to my heart – those related to me and those loved as dear friends, those who I have heard of and been asked to pray for, and those who I have never heard of and will never meet.
Through the Communion of Saints, we have the power to connect each of us to the other in an eternal community that mirrors the loving relationship between the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
I was speaking to a dear one the other day and she told me something that she believed, which seemed so tragic and terrible to me that it has troubled me ever since. She said that most of us will never get straight into Heaven because most of us will be damned or spend time in Purgatory first.
Though I am no expert in theology, that idea did not reconcile with the God who came to me as the Holy Spirit in a blinding flash of light last year through the grace afforded through prayers for my baby niece.
Would God, who is glorious wonderful and magnificent, who allowed me – through Grace and no merit of my own – the honour of falling in love with Him, want me to be separated from Him in Purgatory or Hell instead of Heaven?
Would God, who is pure perfect and infinite love, who loves me – through Grace and no merit of my own – want to cast me into Purgatory or Hell instead of Heaven?
Would God, who is my Father and my DADDY, and who made my heart so light because He loves me even unto DEATH – through Grace and no merit of my own – wish to cast me into Hell or Purgatory instead of Heaven?
God does everything for the GOOD. Now perhaps I will not be ready to be with Him in Paradise and will need time in Purgatory to finalise my preparations for Salvation, and if that is the case, it will be for the GOOD that I spend time there.
But I do not think that God uses that threat of Purgatory or Hell as the stick, when we have the carrot of eternal salvation just a breath away.
Now, I am in no way advocating a life of sin or a life where we spend our time ignoring the eternal in favour of the temporal. But, I do know for sure that God does not HATE us first and LOVE us second!
God LOVES us.
He will do ANYTHING to save us. ANYTHING!
God sent His only Son – CONSUBSTANTIAL WITH THE FATHER – meaning THE IDENTICAL AND THE SAME as the Father – as in GOD HIMSELF – to SUFFER AND DIE for us to save us.
Would a God who VOLUNTARILY placed Himself into Time and Space for us because He was willing to SUFFER AND DIE for us, be the same God who is trying to cast most of us into Hell?
Of course not!
If we LOVE God, we are SAVED.
That is how simple it really is!
The problem comes of our limited Human understanding of Love.
The Love I speak of is not human love. It is Divine. We as the Communion of Saints, as Temples of the Holy Spirit, have God’s love in our souls. It is our job to pass it around through our thoughts and words and deeds to merit eternal salvation.
Human love is like a fairy tale. The handsome prince sees the princess, kisses her once and solves the problem by being HAPPY forever after.
Divine love is so different.
Divine love is an eternal dance along the road to Calvary, where we are forever trying to look closer into the bruised and battered face of Our Beloved.
Divine love is an eternal dance along the road to Calvary, where we are forever trying to wipe the sweat and blood and tears from the face of Our Beloved.
Divine love is an eternal dance along the road to Calvary, where we are forever jostling to touch even the mere dust that flies up from the torn and battered soles of the sacred feet of Our Beloved.
Divine love is an eternal dance along the road to Calvary, where we are forever trying to place our hand with that of Our Beloved, to help to ease the burden His sacred Cross.
For in this GIVING love there is great JOY.
And Joy beats happiness… Every. Single. Time.
For with joyful giving sacrifice for Our Beloved, everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.