Where do we find the best answer to the question, ‘Who is God?’?
The Fruits of Love
What is lacking in the afflictions of Christ?
Jesus poured the sweet syrup of forgiveness from the reservoir of love that he held in his most Sacred Heart, through his bloody wounds, and into the Valley of Tears to diute its toxicity in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee. Dilution is God's solution to the toxicity of the Valley of Tears.
A Tree is known by its fruit
A tree is known by its fruit . Forgiveness is the fruit . Love is the tree . He is the first tree to bear fruit in the garden of the new Eden . On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, he forgave us for the evil that we did to him. Ground zero of a proper understanding of God is the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. He planted the seeds of forgiveness into the hearts of the children of Adam and Eve . The seeds of forgiveness turn into trees of love so that, in the garden of the new Eden, many can enjoy the fruits of love . From him, the garden is encroaching into the Valley of Tears. And the Church is cultivating it.
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Why is the Sacrament of Reconciliation Failing?
Enter with your sins; exit with his forgiveness.
The balance between sin and forgiveness has tilted - or seems to have tilted - to sin instead of to forgiveness. The overemphasis on sin and the underemphasis on forgiveness is the cause of the decline in the sacrament of reconciliation.
A story is told of a priest waiting to her confessions and no-one showing up. He exclaimed, “Doesn’t anyone believe in sin anymore?” This attitude encapsulates all that is wrong with the administration of the sacrament of reconciliation. If he would have exclaimed, “Doesn’t anyone want God’s forgiveness anymore?”, we could safely conclude that he understood the sacrament.
The sacrament of reconciliation is supposed to be all about forgiveness. It is supposed to remind us that Jesus forgave us for the evil that we did to him on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. That is the whole purpose of the sacrament of reconciliation. Now, however, the sacrament of reconciliation is all about sin. Instead of looking up at God, the confessional has become the place where we look down at us. We need to look in an upward not a downward direction.
The dial that controls his love for us is in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and is locked in place. Not even the evil that we did to him could budge it.
The evil that we did to him did not extinguish the bonfire of love that burns for us in his most Sacred Heart or reduce its intensity by even the slightest degree.
More focus on the forgiveness; less focus on the sin. The only job of the priest in the confessional is to plant the seed of forgiveness in the soil of our hearts. Nothing else. Forgiveness is the agent of our transformation - the catalyst of our conversion. The seed of forgiveness remediates the toxicity of the soil.
He gave to us that which we did not deserve, the blessing of forgiveness, even though we robbed from him that which did not belong to us, his life. The greater was the robbery, the more amazing is the forgiveness.
Hell is calculating our sins in kind and number, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, forever.
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Which of the following items does not belong to the group?
The Transmission of Information from Heaven to Earth
Information does not ordinarily pass across the abyss that seperates heaven and earth especially the knowledge of God. It hides behind an event horizon . To transmit it, it needs to be downloaded. The data needs to be dropped. Jesus was a data drop . The Word of God was the download of the data from the far side of the event horizon to the near side.
What information passed from the far side of the event horizon to the near side? What knowledge passed from up there to down here? What knowledge did Jesus download?
We tortured and killed the God who loves us . What a mistake! What were we thinking? How big of an idiot were we? Where in this gruesome, bad news story is the good news of great joy? Wait! Have patience! The story is not over. The good news of great joy comes next . Our God forgave us . No way ! Yes way! Wow! Our almighty lover forgave us for the evil that we did to him. The story is now complete. Behold the epicenter of Christianity! Behold the foundation of our understanding of God! Catch a glimpse of our God from here on earth! Take a peek at divinity! The greater is the offense, the more amazing is the forgiveness ! The offense does not get any greater than torturing and killing our God.
The forgiveness that Jesus released into the Valley of Tears on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection illuminated the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany.
Jesus showed God to us as the God who forgives . He forgave his companion on the Cross . He forgave us . He asks us to forgive our neighbors seventy times seven times .
"... as we forgive those who trespass against us, he forgives us." .
To know forgiveness is to know God. Jesus leveraged our understanding of forgiveness into an understanding of God.
In fact, when Jesus downloaded the knowledge of God and deposited it into the revelation that erupted from the violent collision that took place between himself and the evil that we did to him, he started the revolution that is Christianity. The knowledge of God is changing the world. It is resetting the world on a new foundation - a foundation of love.
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Forgiveness is the Yeast of Divinity
What is the detail of consequence?
Christianity is a treasure map for treasure hunters engaged in a treasure hunt
The Mass is An Echo of the Original
The Mass is an echo of the revelation that Jesus released into the Valley of Tears on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. We took from him that which did not belong to us, his life. He gave to us that which we did not deserve, forgiveness. Upon this unjust transaction between creatures and creator, the entire edifice of Christianity rests. The Mass propagates across time and space this paradigm shifting revelation about the nature of God.
Don't be fooled by the Lipstick on a Pig
What distinguishes our genuine God from the many counterfeit gods - the frauds - who try to deceive us? His reaction to the evil that we applied to him distinguishes our genuine God from the many counterfeit gods. We tortured and killed him. He suffered and died. Yet, he forgave us. His love for us survived the evil that we did to him. His love for us did not fade as we tortured him and did not die when we killed him. By his bloody wounds, we recognize our God . Jesus wears His bloody wounds as the outward signs of forgiveness - the badges of forgiveness. His bloody wounds are the rainbow of the new covenant between our God and us . His bloody wounds are the credentials of divinity. A person who claims to be God or to stand in persona Christi is an impostor unless he can show you his credentials. Demand a demonstration from any claimant to divinity of his credentials . Expose the frauds. Good cleric, the trappings of the priesthood are not valid credentials. Do not point to your clerical collar or to your ordination. They are not valid credentials. They are just lipstick on a pig . The only valid credential is sacrificial love. The only way to distinguish the shepherd and the hireling is by sacrificial love . Nothing else. The shepherd lays down his life for his sheep . Remember that the serpent had no credentials. Jesus, on the other hand, flashed his credentials to us on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. He clung to his love for us, held tight and refused to let go even though we tortured and killed him . Show the serpents without credentials to the door. Welcome only those who can show you their credentials.
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The payload of the thirty-three year Visit that the Son of God paid us at and about the city of Jerusalem in a region of our planet that we call the Middle East more than two thousand years ago was apocalypse. The Visit revealed to us the nature of God.