Mark Dohle
Well-Known Member
Healing comes when a choice is made to ‘trust’
The redemption is the work of love. I loved in the face of hatred. I loved in the face of death. I loved even in the netherworld, where the just of the ages awaited My coming among them. It is by love that I vanquished hell, by love that I triumphed over death, by love that I
undid what Satan, in his envy, had plotted against the creatures whom I so love and whom My Father destined for the praise of His glory.
A Benedictine Monk. In Sinu Jesu: When Heart Speaks to Heart
--The Journal of a Priest at Prayer (p. 135). Angelico Press. Kindle Edition.
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I am not sure it is possible to understand the love that God has for us. It is for that reason that God has revealed that love in the person of Jesus Christ. It is the tendency to reduce God’s love to something that we can understand that causes trouble, judgment, and endless arguing that only causes harm. We all have limits, we cannot love in the way that God does as shown in Jesus Christ unless we allow God’s grace to heal us. This healing can be long and arduous because of the many wounds we carry in the depth of our souls.
Healing comes when a choice is made to ‘trust’. It is harder than it sounds. For the deeper we grow in Christ Jesus, the deeper we are made aware of our need, of our failings, laziness, and perhaps mediocrity.
When we sin against ourselves, or others or when another sin against us, it is like a knife has been thrust into our heart and soul. Healing is part of mercy, and healing is painful. Sins are forgiven, yet he wound remains when the knife is removed.
it is common for our many wounds, and sins, to lead to self-hatred, this is dangerous. There is no hatred in God, only love, hence our need to trust, to turn away from this tendency towards self-degradation, which leads to further sin because of the pain that flows from our unhealed wounds.
When our emotions are raw, when we are filled with hatred towards others, as well as ourselves, when we feel isolated from God, it is then that we find healing by simply making an act of trust in God’s love for us and in His mercy. This is hard, but it opens up avenues of healing since we have to face this inner turmoil and not believe it, but to believe in the unconditional love of God as shown us in Jesus Christ. It is the beginning of death to self.
It is then that we can become healers of others, because of the healing that comes from our abandoning ourselves to God’s mercy, which leads to a transformation in our lives.
This has to be faced by everyone sooner or later. This inner healing by the fire of God loves is what St. Paul talked about when he wrote:
According to the grace of God given to me, like a wise master builder, I laid a foundation, and another is building upon it. But each one must be careful how he builds upon it, for no one can lay a foundation other than the one that is there, namely, Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, the work of each will come to light, for the Day will disclose it. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each one’s work. If the work stands that someone built upon the foundation, that person will receive a wage. But if someone’s work is burned up, that one will suffer loss; the person will be saved, but only as through fire.--1 Corinthians 3:10-15.
It is always God’s grace that refines us, yet we have to say yes, no matter what we feel, or how many or our failures…..we must say yes at ever-deeper levels.
So it is when we are at our lowest that Christ Jesus is closest to us seeking our response of trust, and the desire to go deeper in and higher up—Br.MD