And standing in stark opposition to all of the laziness, apathy, and disinterest of the world is the cross of Jesus Christ.
The cross is the epitome of wholehearted devotion. The cross tells us and shows us beyond the shadow of a doubt just how serious and committed the Lord is to the redemption of the world. The cross demonstrates just how far He is willing to go and just how much He is willing to give to so we can experience life in Him. And the cross challenges, empowers and invites us to participate in and manifest that passion and devotion in our own lives.
Matthew 22:37 - "Love the Lord your God with ALL of your heart and with ALL your soul and with ALL your mind."
We are called to live lives where we give it all. Lives of passionate pursuit, reckless abandonment, complete devotion. Lives like the Apostle Paul. Lives like Mary of Bethany. Lives like the great saint of our day, Mother Teresa. Listen to an excerpt from some of her private writings:
"St. John of the Cross termed the maturation process of Christians as 'the dark night'. The night consisted of two phases. In the first night, 'the night of the senses', one is freed from attachment to sensory satisfactions and drawn into the prayer of contemplation. While God communicates His light and love, the soul is imperfect and incapable of receiving them, and actually experiences them as darkness, pain, dryness, and emptiness. Although the emptiness and absence of God are only apparent, they are a great source of suffering. If one continues to perform one's duties faithfully, the longing for God will increase as well as an increase of love, humility, patience, and other virtues. Having passed through the first night, one now enters into the 'night of the spirit'. During this night one is purged from the deepest roots of one's imperfections. A state of extreme aridity accompanies this purification, and one feels rejected and abandoned by God. The experience can become so intense that one feels as if heading towards eternal perdition. It is even more excruciating because one wants only God and loves Him greatly but is unable to recognize one's love for him. The virtues of faith, hope and charity are tried. Prayer is difficult, almost impossible, spiritual counsel practically of no avail. By means of this painful process, the disciple is led to total detachment from created things... becoming a fit instrument in the hands of Christ."
Are we so zealous for Christ and that wholeheartedly devoted to Him, that we would be willing to go through such a process? Are we passionately pursuing Him to the point where we actually desire for such a process to occur in our life if it means a greater experience of and manifestation of God's glory?
