Ezra 9:8-9
"And now, but a short time ago, mercy came to us from the LORD, our God,
who left us a remnant and gave us a stake in his holy place;
thus our God has brightened our eyes
and given us relief in our servitude.
For slaves we are, but in our servitude our God has not abandoned us;
rather, he has turned the good will
of the kings of Persia toward us.
Thus he has given us new life
to raise again the house of our God and restore its ruins.”
Keeping things super light and fluffy, we are all born into a world of great darkness, corruption and evil (how’s that for light and fluffy). Bear with me... Some of us are fortunate and, for whatever reason, our stories begin less tragically. Others of us, through no fault of our own, are exposed to darkness that gives evil an advantage over our lives. Whether we face tragedy, addiction, sickness or abuse early in life or later in life, it eventually finds us. And changes our stories. It changes us. It affects our reasoning, our decisions, and our openness to people and to God and religion. Human beings are such wildly complex creatures. Keep this in mind with my next point.
Christianity can oftentimes be presented as a “fire and brimstone” religion. “Be perfect or you’re bound for hell!!” While God does call us to OVERCOME the evil within us through choosing what’s good and just and right, when the faith is portrayed in such a black and white fashion we forego the other aspect of our God. While he is a perfect judge, He is also perfectly merciful. Far be it from humans to ever think that they know the heart of God so well that they can condemn another human to hell. It’s in God’s hands. And from the places I’ve seen some people come from, it’s a miracle that they have any faith at all.
God is bigger than all of this. So much bigger. He gives us the Church to guide us. He gave us His commandments, natural law, the sacraments, his grace through Christ, and the helping hands of the body of Christ to enable us to overcome the slavery of this life. He has not abandoned us to a dark world. In fact, should we allow Him, He yearns to RESTORE us. He Gives us light so that we can shine, even if it’s a trembling flame in the throes of abuse or addiction or despair. And He sees that fragile soul’s faith and that, imperfect though it may be, He sees that they are choosing to NOT give into the darkness.
Brothers and sisters, as we minister to the world and show them the face of Christianity, I’m constantly convicted by this quote from St. Edith Stein: “Do not accept anything as truth that lacks love and do not accept anything as love that lacks truth. One without the other is a destructive lie.”