Safari

Christianity is not reading about a safari. Christianity is going on safari.

Christianity is not about indoctrination. Christianity is about exploration. We explore the mystery, majesty and magnificence of God at the holy places that define the escape route through the hostile desert of godlessness from slavery under the yoke of Pharaoh to freedom with God and his holy family in the promised land [The genius of the living God himself produced this living and breathing allegory!]. The Church is the tour guide.

Thus, we do not become Christians head first. We become Christians feet first. The head follows the feet. 

To rescue us, God built an escape route from godlessness to paradise, defined it with holy places, made a map of them, established a Church, entrusted the map to the Church and gave the bosses of the Church the mission of facilitating the escape - not frustrating it, not filtering it and not fouling it up. The map is the corpus of the divine trust. The bosses of the Church are the trustees of the map and we, the peasantry of the Church, are the beneficiaries of the trust. As trustees, the bosses of the Church owe the peasantry fiduciary duties. They perform them in accordance with the articles of the trust. The bosses were put in charge of the logistics of the escape. They are supposed to be the grease for the wheels of the escape and not an obstacle in its way. If the bosses of the Church gets in the way of the escape, the peasantry of the Church goes around it, over it, under it and through it. Only by passing from holy place to holy place that define the escape route can we be sure that we are heading in the right direction. The escape is the needle of the compass that always points in the direction of paradise. The escape from godlessness to paradise is primary. Nothing else matters. Everything else is secondary. Anything that interferes is suspect (Matthew 23:13)  (Matthew 23:24)  (Matthew 6:33).

Jesus is the escape route. He is the bridge between the world of godlessness and the world of paradise. He is the way, etc. He is the conductor through which runs the current of salvation that arises from the potential difference between the sourness of godlessness and the sweetness of paradise.  On the near side of his bloody wounds is the sourness of godlessness.  The sourness of godlessness is the engine that pushes us to its exit. On the far side of his bloody wounds is the sweetness of paradise. The sweetness of paradise is the engine that pulls us to its entrance. But there is a gap between the exit of godlessness and the entrance of paradise - an abyss.  At the gap, "a great leap must be made from time to eternity". We make the great leap through his bloody wounds. Through his bloody wounds goes the escape. The escape starts in godlessness, passes through his bloody wounds, and finishes in paradise. 

At a holy place that helps to define the escape route a close encounter with the living God takes place. During a close encounter with the living God, a connection is made between earth and heaven. Through the connection, the light of paradise illuminates the darkness of godlessness. No one walks away from a close encounter with the living God unchanged. No one walks away from a close encounter with the living God empty handed. 

Examples of the holy places upon the earth at which close encounters with the living God take place are the Mass, Confession, the other sacraments, works of charity, acts of kindness, prayer especially the rosary, Eucharistic adoration, feeding the hungry, visiting the sick, fasting, the gathering of two or more together in God's name, bible study, suffering, the hour of death, etc.

The Telescope

The bloody wounds that we opened in the body of Christ are the connection between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. They are so important that our most Holy Eucharist points to them. The body and the blood point to the wounds. The wounds are the connection between body and blood.

On the near side of the bloody wounds is the Crucifixion. On the near side is his ignominious defeat. We tortured and killed him. He suffered and died. The Crucifixion is the story of the evil we did to him. 

On the far side of the bloody wounds is the Resurrection. On the far side is his glorious victory. He emerged from the black hole of death still alive and still in love with us. 

The bloody wounds are a telescope through which we can look from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection and vice versa from the Resurrection to the Crucifixion. The bloody wounds pierce the veil between heaven and earth. By looking through the telescope, we catch a glimpse of heaven from here on earth. 

The Crucifixion and the Resurrection are the two chapters in the autobiography of God. The Crucifixion and the Resurrection are the diptych that the Son of God painted to reveal to the world the identity of God. Who is God? God provided the answer in the combination of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. 

That he emerged alive from the dead is the proof that Jesus is God. Nobody emerges alive from the black hole of death. He did. 

That he emerged from the dead still in love with us is the proof that there is more to God than omnipotence. Omnipotence is but one detail of divinity. There is another detail that is relevant to us. Divinity is love. Moreover, that his love for us survived the evil we did to him is the proof that his love for us is indestructible. That the evil baptism into which we immersed him did not extinguish his love for us or reduce it by even the slightest degree tells us that nothing can.

To understand the nature of God, we must look through the bloody wounds we opened in the body of Christ as though they were a telescope and behold the Crucifixion, the Resurrection and the connection between the two. Anything less distorts the nature of God.

On the near side of his bloody wounds is the sourness of godlessness. On the far side of his bloody wounds is the sweetness of paradise. The piercing and opening of the bloody wounds in the body of Christ pierced and opened the veil between heaven and earth. Through his bloody wounds goes the escape. The escape starts in godlessness, passes through his bloody wounds, and finishes in paradise

The Sign of the Cross

“A genuinely made Sign of the Cross “makes all hell tremble.””

— St. John Vianney

Let us begin our exploration of the mystery, majesty and magnificence of God with a short but powerful prayer, 'the Sign of the Cross'.

The gestures of the Sign of the Cross do not just point at the bloody wounds we opened in the body of Christ. They point through them. The bloody wounds are a telescope through which we catch a glimpse of heaven from here on earth. They pierce the veil.

If we stop short and only look at the bloody wounds, we only see the guarantee of the genuineness of the message - the verification of its veracity - its certificate of authenticity. We see that we tortured and killed him. He suffered and died. We do not see the message itself.

The revelation that the Son of God made during his visit consists of two components: 1) the message itself and 2) the guarantee of the message. 

In order to see the message itself, we must look through the bloody wounds not just at them. 

If we look through the bloody wounds, we see more - much more.  We see what God intended us to see. We see divinity in all of its glorious splendor. We see the engine that generates the sweet force that pulls us to the entrance of paradise. '

What do we see when we look through the bloody wounds?

We see that he did not stay dead and that he did not stop loving us. We see indestructibility. We see the indestructibility of the Son of God and the indestructibility of His love for us. Both the Son of God and His love for us survived the brutal baptism into which we immersed him. Life and love emerged intact and undiminished from the gauntlet of evil through which we ran the Son of God while he was human, alive, tender, vulnerable and our guest upon the earth. We put the Son of God to the test. We tortured and killed him. He suffered and died. From the fact that he did not stay dead we discovered that Jesus is God. From the fact that he did not stop loving us we discovered the divinity is love. His survival revealed His omnipotence. Death itself has no power over Him and, by virtue of Him, over us.  The survival of His love for us, however, revealed so much more - something greater and more powerful than omnipotence. The survival of His love for us revealed the very essence of divinity itself. God is love - a love that we are powerless to extinguish or reduce by even the slightest degree.

Therefore, let us re-learn this simple but powerful prayer --- that is all too often only perfunctorily said.  Make the Sign of the Cross often. Prepare places of honor for it in your daily lives.

The Bloody Wounds in His Head

Name the Father. Point to the bloody wounds we opened in the head of Jesus. Look through them as you would look through a telescope. See that the Son of God not only survived the evil into which we baptized Him but He also clung to His love for us, held tight and did not let go. He continues to love us nonetheless. God is love - a love that we are powerless to extinguish or reduce by even the slightest degree. 

Meditation:  Jesus wears the crown because He is the King of Kings. Rank in the kingdom of God is determined by love. He holds the highest rank because He has the greatest love. He loved us before He entered the gauntlet of gruesome suffering, He loved us while passing through it, and loved us no less when He emerged.

The Bloody Wounds in His Feet

Name the Son. Point to the bloody wounds we opened in the feet of Jesus. Look through them as you would look through a telescope. See that the Son of God not only survived the evil into which we baptized Him but He also clung to His love for us, held tight and did not let go. He continues to love us nonetheless. God is love - a love that we are powerless to extinguish or reduce by even the slightest degree.  

Meditation: The feet of God trod the earth, not above us as God, but on the same level as us - an equal to us in our humanity - a partner with us in our suffering. He communicated His love for us in the unambiguous language of suffering - our native tongue. Nobody signs up to dive headfirst or, for that matter, even dip his toe into the boiling cauldron of suffering unless they are insane or something important outweighs the high cost of suffering.  All creatures who suffer understand this. Suffering is a price we only willingly pay for something that is extremely dear to us. Jesus paid the price because we are extremely dear to Him. 

THE BLOODY WOUNDS IN HIS Hands

Name the Holy Spirit. Point to the bloody wounds we opened in the hands of Jesus. Look through them as you would look through a telescope. See that the Son of God not only survived the evil into which we baptized Him but He also clung to His love for us, held tight and did not let go. He continues to love us nonetheless. God is love - a love that we are powerless to extinguish or reduce by even the slightest degree.

Meditation:  Despite all of the evil we did to Him, the arms of God still remain wide open and ready to embrace us in a great bear hug of overwhelming love if we would repent, turn ourselves around and start our climb out of the inhospitable cesspool of godlessness.

THE BLOODY WOUND IN HIS Side

Say Amen. Fold your hands together to form the point of the spear that pierced the side of Jesus.  Look through the bloody wound we opened in His side as you would look through a telescope. See that the Son of God not only survived the evil into which we baptized Him but He also clung to His love for us, held tight and did not let go. He continues to love us nonetheless. God is love - a love that we are powerless to extinguish or reduce by even the slightest degree. 

Meditation:  At Calvary, buckets of blood and His very life itself spilled from the wounds we opened in His body with lash, thorns, nails and spear. However, not a drop - not a drop - of His love for us spilled. His most sacred heart continued to be filled to the brim with love for us. He and His love for us had survived. This is the good news of great joy.  At Bethlehem, the most Holy Trinity hand delivered to us a love note. At Calvary, they gave us a guarantee of its veracity.

You may be too busy to go to Mass or to Confession. You may not have enough time to say the Rosary. But what is your excuse for not making a meaningful Sign of the Cross?