PREFERRING DARKNESS TO LIGHT

The Truth.  The Highest Truth.  The Truth above all other truths.  What is it?    Dante spoke of " the Love which moves the sun and the other stars." (Paradiso, 33.145)   And that we, who are grounded and living in a Universe beyond our understanding are gradually led to this Truth, this Love and it should, in a good way,  blow our minds.  As Saint Paul wrote to his infant Churches, 'For it was the same God who said, Let there be light shining in the darkness,  who has shone in our own hearts'.

So what is the Truth?  The Son of Man, was sent into the world by the Love which could not tolerate human death.  The Son of man was sent by this Love to bring us life without end.  The Divine desires our well being and His judgment is Light and Life and Love.

I suppose it's true that we are so used to being weighed, judged and written off by others that it may be difficult to accept this at first.  Just sit in the cafe in Princess Square or Waterstones for five minutes and you will hear what a pleasant pastime condemning others is for many.  Wherever it occurs it's a very bad habit and helps no one.   So too, when we follow the holy triplex of lent and give ourselves to prayer, fasting and the care of the poor, from inside, our shadows can become deeper, more exposed to us.  And our inner critic might make us wonder if Gods' Unconditional Love is meant for me.  And, like many, we walk away to what looks like an easier place. It isn't.

The Sign, the only Sign that God loves us without regret, is, of course, the Crucifix.  It deserves our awe, our respect, our gaze, our wonder and our love.  Kneeling before the Sign is therapeutic.  It's a bit like a poultice which draws the toxin out of us and frees us from condemnation and absurdity.  

I turn to Fr William Vanstones' beautiful,  'Hymn to the Creator', where he expresses it better than I can.

"Drained is Love in making Full, Bound in setting others Free, Poor in making many Rich, 
Weak in giving Power to Be.

Therefore, He who Thee reveals, hangs, O Father, on that Tree.
Helpless.  And the nails and thorns, tell of what Thy Love must be.

Thou art God, no monarch Thou, enthroned in easy state to reign.
Thou art God, whose arms of Love, aching, spent, the world sustain."