Through A Birdcage, Darkly *PING*.
Posted on 10/03/2013 2:55:03 AM PDT by grey_whiskers
Thoughts while praying the rosary's 3rd decade this morning. "Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand"
When Jesus was teaching, He knew, but the Jewish people didn't, that their world was shortly to change, with the fall and sack of Jerusalem.
God was warning about His timetable: that is, He knew what was going to happen, and the consequences of death while unrepentant.
He was trying to warn: and yet it seemed to many (with Jesus then, even as it was with Paul later -- recall Jesus saying "if they reject my words, they will reject yours too, a servant is not greater than his master") "what is this babbler talking about"...yet the common people heard Him gladly.
His goal was to save from judgement day: and from condemnation. To those steeped in this world and its concerns, this seems ephemeral if not downright hallucinatory.
BUT -- consider it from another perspective. If there were no Fall, there would be NO DEATH. And with no Death, no judgement!
God is after RESTORING -- not just a connection to a human soul on an individual basis: but much more. Reflect upon what "would" (so to speak) humanity's life have been like without the Fall.
Ponder on these words, in that light:
Thy Kingdom Come Thy Will be Done
On Earth As It Is In Heaven
As a possible visual aid, think of that picture of the Stone Table, broken, within C.S. Lewis's The Lion The Witch, And The Wardrobe.
Think of *that* as what has happened to the relations of God and Man: The solid relationship has been *broken* in the middle, a chasm where there used to be solidity. And all of the glory of the world is dust (not just blown around, but ground up rubble, the mere flecks resulting from something MUCH greater): think of this world as the dust resulting from the fracturing of the true union between God and Man before the fall -- compare it to the dust blowing around on 9/11 which was the remnants of the World Trade Center (buildings, offices, hustle, bustle...and the incinerated, crushed fragments of human bodies).
"Except you repent, you shall all likewise perish."
How can this dust even *hope* to compare, to the original before the collapse?
And so all our world, all our vanity, pride, hopes, concerns, aspirations,what we call "glory" (worldly fanfare and pomp) don't even reach to the level of cheap Chinese knock-offs, of the power and beauty and dignity (*) of an unfallen world!
(He wants to restore the Glory.)
Imagine the "whole world," the whole "the way *THINGS ARE*" at the level of society, nature, everything...restored to what it should have been. EVERYTHING in harmony: joyfully working together, each rejoicing at knowingly fulfilling its OWN proper place and role, without jealousy or striving.
It is this world that is the interruption: and THAT is why we should forget the things of the world. A whore going back to be punched in the face with brass knuckles by her pimp, cannot compare to a *real* Prince Charming -- and not just a fairy tale. ("Fairy tales?" What a propaganda coup for the enemy! ("...too good to be true." WHO says so?))
(*)even forgetting the sin and ugliness (lead-paint and toxins, too!)
Through A Birdcage, Darkly *PING*.
“Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.”
“My kingdom is not of this world.”
“Unless a man be born again of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.”
“Whoever does not accept the kingdom of God as a little child will not enter into it.”
“I have come to call sinners, not the just.”
“Love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you.”
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
“Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall be satisfied.”
“Blessed are they who suffer persecution for justice’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
“You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church... I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.”
Spiritual Fruit: Desire for Holiness
Thanks grey whiskers - This is a wonderful meditation that you shared. The modern world does not spend enough time reflecting properly on the Four Last Things (Death Judgment Hell and Heaven).
St. Robert Bellarmine in his Meditation on Hell also touches on these point that you have reflected on.
Thank you so much for sharing your testimony, dear brother in Christ!
Beautifully said, dear brother in Christ! Thank you so very much for sharing your reflections.
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