In praying, the Christian always stands with Christ in the middle of history. Our history, for Christ has been always present in the lives of men, walking with us, dwelling within our hearts, for he is the Word after all. In the beginning was the Word, by that we are all held in existence, for with out the Word, time and space could not have come into being. God speaks only one Word and that word is “be”, and it is all good.
So when lifting up your heart, remember, Christ prays in you, with you, and you being in the Body of Christ, you become Christ by grace. Why do you think he is to be found in the least? Because the lover of mankind s one with his beloved, which is all of mankind. It is often hard to see, but when we pray the Our Father, we pray for everyone, past, present, and future, for truly we are all called to pray for those all the way back, and those who will live in the distant future. For in prayer, we enter “God’s time”, which is “no time”, for all is present ‘now’ before the loving and compassionate eyes of God.
Because of our human nature, we place limits on God’s love, and we use the scripture to prove that, often pointing fingers at those we believe outside. Placing themselves there by there lives, at least the way we judge their lives. Well none are outside, for the Word became flesh, so all of humanity is holy in his sight. We are told not to judge the spiritual lives of others because it is not our business; it is God’s work. We are called upon to allow his love to inflame our often rock hard hearts, to become (slowly for some, faster for others), hearts of flesh. Filled only with His love for others; seeing with the eyes of the Spirit, into the soul of our neighbors, not limiting them to superficial observation, unable to see below the surface, into the heart of the matter. Our hearts should become living flames of love. We forget that on the cross Christ forgave all by saying “Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing’. Something new came with Christ, are we showing that newness, or are we just ‘disking’ others.
Hell is a place where the self creation of sin rules, chosen freely by those who live there. Each an inner isolated kingdom to themselves. It is an act of freedom, and only God knows who has made it. Dealing with numbers has no meaning. For God who is infinite love, any number is too many.
So pray for all, see Christ in all, love all, and well when of course we fail, admit it and get back up. For it is grace, the grace of Christ which calls us, get up, get up! Christ knows our hearts, sees all, more than we do, yet he calls us all out of love. None our outside, unless they freely do so with their will, it is truly a choice, and not some kind of nightmare for mankind, which is what we often make Christ message. Christ came to save us from our own self destruction, sin its fruit, not from God.
The infinite
The infinite is simply that.
It is not something bigger or more than human,
it is infinite,
it is not like the ocean,
for the ocean has a bottom,
the infinite can be scary,
yet it is manifested as love,
so trust,
fear and trust cannot co-exist go together.
Br. Mark Dohle, OCSO
