A tremendous disproportion thus arises between the ideal we conceived and the reality before us. That proportion between the infinite and the finite is the cause of disappointment. There is no escaping this fact. We have eternity in our heart but time on our hands. The soul demands a heaven and we get only an earth. Our eyes look up to the mountains but they rest only on the plains. It is easier to strangle our ideals than it is to satisfy them. He who attains his earth ideal, smashes it. To touch an ideal in this world is to destroy the ideal. "No man is a hero in his valet". We are no longer thirsty at the border of a well. The satisfaction of earthly ideals turns against us, like a cruel retort from one to whom we have paid an underhand compliment.
But there is no reason for being pessimists or cynics. Disappointment is no proof there is no ideal but only that it is not here. Just as we would have no eyes were there no beauties to see and as we would have no ears were there no harmonies to hear, so we would have no appetite for the infinite were there no God to love. In Him alone is the reconciliation of the chase and the capture. Here on this earth we are buffeted between the two. The chase has its thrill for it is the pursuit of an ideal, the quest for satisfaction and the march to victory. The capture too has its thrill for it is possession, enjoyment and peace. But while we live in time we can never enjoy both together. The capture ends the excitement of the chase; and the chase without a capture is maddening, like having a refreshing spring withdrawn from our parched lips as we draw near to it.
How combine the chase without the ennui of capture and the capture without losing the joy of the chase? It is impossible here below but not in heaven, for when we attain God, we capture the infinite and because He is Infinite, it will take an eternity of chase to discover the indiscoverable joys of Life, Truth, Love and Beauty.
Such is the meaning behind the last and farewell word from the Cross. Centuries ago the sun shone upon plants and trees and imprisoned within them its light and heat. Today we dig up that light and heat in coal and as its flames mount upward we pay back our debt to the sun. So now the Divine Light, that for thirty-three years has been imprisoning itself in a human heart, goes back again to the Father, ever to remind us that only by completing a similar circuit and commending our souls to the Father, do we find the answer to the riddle of life, the end of disappointment and the beginning of eternal peace for our eternal hearts.
Everything is disappointing except the Redemptive Love of Our Lord. You can go on acquiring things but you will be poor until your soul is fill with the love of Him Who died on the Cross for you. As the eye was made for seeing and the ear for hearing, so your spirit was made to be recommended back again to God. If it had any other destiny the dying words of the Saviour would have betrayed that destiny. The spirit has a capacity for the infinite; the knowledge of one flower, the life of a single hour, the love of a minute, do not exhaust its protencies; it wants the fullness of these things - in a word, it wants God.
The tragedy of our modern life is that so many put their pleasures in desire than in discovery. Having lost the one purpose of human living, namely God, they seek substitutes in the petty things of earth. After repeated disappointments, they begin to put their happiness not in a pleasure but in the hunt for it, in butterfly existences that never rest long enough at any one moment to know their inner desires; running races hoping they will never end; turning pages but never discovering the plot; knocking at doors of truth and then dashing away lest its portals be opened and they be invited in. Existence becomes a flight from peace, rather than an advance; a momentary escape from frustration instead of its sublimation in victory.
Every now and then there comes to some a light through the clouds of Calvary and the echo of the world commending a spirit to God but instead of making a supreme effort to satisfy the goal of life, they crucify it. "But the farmers saw the son they said to themselves, 'This is the heir; come, let kill him and have his inheritance!' And they took hold of him, dragged him out of the vineyard and killed him". Thus do some men believe that if they could drive God from the earth the inheritance of sin would be theirs without remorse; and if they could but silence conscience, they could inherit peace without justice. It was just this other mentality which sent Our Lord to the Cross. If the voice of God could be stifled, they believed they could enjoy the voice of Satan in peace.
Now, take a different outlook on the world. How many, even of those who have killed conscience, can say: "I am happy; they is nothing more I want"? But if you are not brave enough to say that, then why not seek? And why not seek in the one direction in which you know happiness lies? At death you will leave everything; but there is one thing you will not leave - your desire for life. You want the one thing the Cross brings you: Life through death.
In its effulgence the mystery of existence becomes clear. The Cross refers to me, personally and individually, as if no one else in the world ever existed. On the Cross He has traced for me in sacrifice which is the sublimest of gestures, a programme of life: Submission to the Divine Will. He went down the dark road of Getsemane to Calvary's death out of devotedness to God's glory and my salvation. For my culpable self-indulgence, He atones by surrender of Himself. "He was pierced for our offences, crushed for our sins; upon Him was the chastisement that makes us whole..."
If this Master of the world's symphony would miss my single note of virtue in the harmony of the universe; if this Captain of wars would miss my spear in His battle for goodness; if this Artist would miss my little daub of colour in the masterpiece of redemption; if this Cosmic Architect would note the absence of my little stone in the building of His temple; if the Tree of Life would feel the fall of but my little leaf to the sinfulness of earth; if the Heavenly Father would miss me in the empty chair at the banquet spread for the millions of the children of God; if the Orator from the pulpit of the Cross would note my inattention as I turned to glance at an executioner; if God cares that much for me, then I must be worth something since He loves me so!
BY ARCHBISHOP FULTON J. SHEEN ( 1895 to 1979 )
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Sunday, May 24, 2009
I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!
I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.
HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -
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