Blog # 363 Connected

Blog # 363 Connected

                WE BELIEVE IN ONE GOD, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and  unseen...
                  For anyone who holds those words as true, everything, people things time and places are all connected in some way.  Though none of us always and some of us hardly ever are consciously aware of these connections in the experience of a normal day, we are nevertheless ALWAYS involved in them all. For example the moon is always connected with the sun in that  the moon receives  the light we see 'coming from it' from the sun. The moon has no light of its own. Its light comes to it from the sun whether we are aware of it  or not, ever or at any one particular time.  The one God is creating it this way, always.
                     A simple example like this may seem to make little difference  in our everyday lives and in our quest for a core meaning for our lives and the wisdom and strength we need in order to live intelligently, happy and at peace.  Yet if we apply the example on a broader scale, inch by inch and hour by hour to all of creation it begins to appear as very useful and capable of helping us achieve a better knowledge and love of God and an appreciation of ourselves and the world around us as
it offers us in God's presence and love the wisdom and strength we need.
                      I remain fascinated by those words I have just written and find delight in applying them in my life.  I hope they can serve  you in the same way.  Here is part of the way it works out for me.  The one God who desired  that I should exist is the same God Who desired Jesus to be born of Mary!  I share in the same knowledge, power,  and love of our common Creator that the humanity of Jesus experienced. The Eternal Word of God, incarnate in the humanity of Jesus was connected to the will of God so that He could cry, walk, sleep, be  hungry, thirsty, lonely, talk, laugh, and die. 
                      Every moment of Jesus' life was connected with each other and then all at once in His death on the Cross which in turn was connected with His glorious resurrection and ascension into Heaven. All people on earth  are connected with this story of  God in Jesus. Not all are aware of  their connection, though for each and all of us Jesus lived died, rose from the dead, and ascended into Heaven.
                     Sent to be one of us, and so connected with all of us and with all of history, the Word of God in Jesus brought God's power and love to earth in a new and unique way.  Jesus would not merely pray as we do that sins be forgiven but would actually forgive sins.(Mat, 9:6; Mark 2:10;Luke 5: 24).  Jesus would not only teach us the truth about God; He would say "I AM THE TRUTH' (Jn. 14:6).  He would not only instruct us about the way  to eternal happiness by giving us a good example and living out the Commandments and the Beatitudes, but He would day "I AM THE WAY". and then "I am with you always until the end of the world".
                       He went further to say: " Anyone who loves me will be true to my word, and my Father will  love him  and we will make our dwelling place with him.(Jn. 14: 23").  Other familiar quotations of Jesus come immediately to mind.  "I am the vine. You are the branches. He who is in me and I in him will produce abundantly..." ( Jn. 15:5).  "...I pray also for those who believe in me through their word, that all may be one as  You, Father are in me, and I am in  You; I pray  that they may be one in us, that the world may believe that You sent me.  (Jn. 17; 20-23. "As the Father has sent me, so I send you.  (Jn. 20-21. "...make disciples of all the nations.  Baptize them...teach them to carry out everything I have commanded you. And know that I am with you always..." (Mat. 28: 18-20"),
                       These texts and others similar to them taken together and read prayerfully and reflectively surely indicate connections we are invited to identify for ourselves in God's eternal love for us through Jesus.  They throw light upon the relationship God desires us to have with Jesus and through Jesus with the Father and with all people throughout the world.   All are connected and called to share God's love, be united in that love, and to reflect it upon the world and the people around us.