Mark Dohle
Well-Known Member
The first step
O will of the Omnipotent God, You are my delight,
You are my joy. Whatever the hand of my Lord holds out to me
I will accept with gladness, submissionand love. (Sr. Faustina’s diary 1004)
For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11:30
We can be blinded by immediate satisfaction. We look for release, an escape from pain, but only find more when we act in ways that are against what we are called to do. Addictions are a way to deal with pain. Yet all that is accomplished is another problem that must be addressed and our burden becomes heavier. Sin is an attempt to find a way to escape from life as it is. But in the end, we get double from what we are trying to escape.
Love of self that the Lord commands us to do is the first step, but an often difficult one to take. For to love ourselves means that we have acquired some degree of self-knowledge that alerts us to our need for God’s grace, mercy, and love, which points us to the path that leads to hope and joy. The Will-Of-God seeks our good and our healing.
Sin only imprisons us deeper into cycles of pain and despair. Hate leads to hate, violence leads to more violence, war to more war. Pleasure, in the end, disappoints when used to medicate ourselves against the unrelenting struggle that we all face in this world. Grace is the living water that gives us the strength to not sink but to slowly make our way home.
In Advent we are invited to ponder our longing for freedom, our hope, and as well, to deepen our faith in Jesus Christ who became one with us and carries our burdens with us--Br.MD.