Fear can be transformed into love
In the garden of Gethsemane, on the night before He died, Jesus struggled with death, with pain, with feeling abandoned, with being betrayed and let down.
His prayer was “Father take this away from Me, however, Your will be done”.
Jesus loved enough to give up His life for love.
The pursuit of justice is important. There can be no peace in this world without justice.
However, there can be no true justice without love.
I remember hearing Tony De Mello SJ say many years ago, “I was asked by a nun during my visit to America, what about women’s rights?”
He said to her, “by all means fight for justice, but leave your heart at the lotus feet of God”.
Staying connected with prayer, with the heart of God, helps to keep us grounded in love.
Jesus emptied Himself because of love.
There is no room for the ego in Him, His loving heart was too big.
It is so easy for the ego to justify itself under the guise of justice.
They do not appreciate what I do, so I will stop doing things for them, it is not fair.
I am only pursuing this way of doing things to teach them a lesson. It is not revenge.
I am only following my culture; I do not see why I need to forgive.
I have my rights; I cannot let them get away with it.
We can go on with so many possible ways of why I should ‘stand on my high horse’ and make demands about me.
Sure, a young person needs to establish themselves and self-worth. We never stop growing in this!
However, a time comes when we can embrace maturity and true freedom.
We do not need to keep proving ourselves all the time.
Do I rest secure in the love of God?
Do I keep on ‘sweating the small stuff’?
Do I need to keep on proving myself right all the time?
What do I need to die from, so as to be truly free, so that I can truly fully live?
Fear can be transformed into love.
