God the Father, who is love (any and all and complete), gives all that he is to the Son. The son, free to receive all that the Father is giving him is able to give it right back and the love between them is the Holy Spirit. Visual learners, take note :
"God, infinitely perfect and blessed in Himself, in a plan of sheer goodness, freely created man to share in His own blessed life." Line 1, Paragraph 1 Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC)
Through our baptism, we take on the role of the Son. We were freely created to share in this blessed life of the trinity. Ya, read it again. We were made by love, for love! We are able to freely receive all that the Father is and has for us and we are supposed to give it right back and that is how we live in Divine Life.
What keeps us from this?
-distrust of the Father
-we don't believe He wants to give us good things
-we give Him our hearts, He doesn't give us His
-afraid of deep intimacy/being transformed (if we surrender, something might happen and that is scary because we lose control)
just to name a few...
These are all because of WOUNDS.
What is a wound?
An instance of unlove. Since we were made by love, for love, anytime we are treated with less, it causes a wound. Father Scott Traynor describes the anatomy of a wound as such:
Wound (unlove) →Pain→Fear→Desolation→Temptation→Sin→Death
When someone hurts us it's an instance of unlove and it actually affects us, so yes, that one time, a couple of weeks ago, when not-using-her-real-name-Jennifer fleetingly said "OMG I hate when people use 'lol' in every text, I know they're not actually laughing out loud - just don't write it, am I right?" And you're the Monarch of 'lol''; that could very well have created a wound without either of you wanting it to happen. Of course, much more seriously, could be the instance of not being included in the cool, Nike wearing kids on the swings in elementary school, someone actually being mean to your face in middle school, missing the last shot in the homecoming game and being made fun of in high school, or of course, the ole' "yeah ... TOTALLY would love for you to come with us Friday night" but when asked for location details they've suddenly forgotten how to text- situation in college. SAD. I know, I've been there.
NOT SAD: the fact that JESUS WANTS TO HEAL YOU MORE THAN YOU WANT TO BE HEALED AND SINCE THE VERY INSTANCE IT HAPPENED. IN FACT, buckle up,
HE WAS EVEN THERE WHEN IT HAPPENED.
"Then why did he let it happen?"
Good question.
Answer:
Free. Will.
(Classic)
Just as we are free to do good, we are free to do evil. When we forget who we are - sons and daughters of God, we go crazy. We make bad choices, we choose ourselves. When we remember who we are, we can think outside ourselves. We can put others before ourselves and see the good.
Enter: participation in the giving and receiving of God's love. When a painful memory resurfaces, it very well could be an invitation to mercy. In prayer, when the memory surfaces, walk through it and acknowledge your thoughts, feelings, and desires with the memory. Ask Jesus to reveal himself there, because He was there, and tell Him what you're thinking. Ask Him where he was AND GIVE HIM TIME TO RESPOND. This is raw, exposed, vulnerable, hurting y-o-u and He will not leave you there. He will heal you. But, it doesn't end there - PRAISE BE, THERES MORE!
You have the power to forgive. With Jesus standing beside you, and dwelling within you, you can forgive the person/people who hurt you. This of course takes time, and as a wise priest once told me, when it comes to forgiveness a little 'fake it 'till you make it' attitude might be all you can do, but it will do.
"Jesus, with the help of Your mercy, I forgive not-her-real-name-Jennifer"
Then, one day, when you're before the Blessed Sacrament, in an arena of 10,000+ World Youth Day pilgrims and you're interceding for the people you're with, you'll be pulled to think of this person you've been saying you forgive for years now, and it will happen. You'll think of how much you are loved, how much you are wanted, and how much you long for heaven; then you'll think of that person and how you desire that person to know the same love and be in the same eternity with you. Tears will flow, your heart will be tender and exposed again, but, this time so, so, full - as if it's exploded with compassion.
Praise be.
Total transformation unto glory starts with tearing down that wall around our little tickers - one brick at a time because it was a wall that was never meant to be built in the first place. A wall we thought was for good, to protect us, to foster what hope we had left, but ultimately in building the wall we unknowingly kept out they very thing we needed most: someone else.
We were made for relationship! With God, each other, and creation. The evil one wants to divide each of those, to isolate us and make us depend only on ourselves. Don't let this happen one second longer!
God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan of sheer goodness, freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life. For this reason, at every time and in every place, God draws close to man. He calls man to seek him, to know him, to love him with all hi strength. He calls together all men, scattered and divided by sin, into the unity of his family, the Church. To accomplish this, when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son as Redeemer and Savior. In his Son and through him, he invites men to become, in the Holy Spirit, his adopted children and thus
heirs of his blessed life.
-Paragraph 1 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church
Freedom is living as a son or daughter, knowing God and letting Him know you.
xoxo
