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Le blog de la Bergerie                         Sharing the faith . . . in English . . . et en français!    |
Is this a direct reference to the tree in Genesis? Which was forbidden to
touch till Christ came? The cross is the fullness of time and baptism - to know
and to love Christ - allows us to "bear fruits" when we carry the cross of life…
This is remarkable.
This is truly amazing.
I understand better, now as I am older, the beauty of obeying even without understanding,
the need to obey "with love", with complete trust. It looks to me that this
type of obedience is definitively one notch above the other two kinds.
First you can obey because what is being asked of you makes sense. You agree
with it, you get it and you do it. That's the practical kind. Or, raising the bar,
you could obey even if you don't understand it but because
that is what is required of you and you agreed to it beforehand; let's say in
the military, or in any hierarchy, work or school, so your response is out of
a sense of responsibility, it is the disciplined kind of obedience.
But there is one more notch and that is when you obey out of love, when you
give yourself over completely to the one making the demand, when your love and
trust is so profound that it goes beyond your own comprehension and it seeks
only to fulfill the demand. This type of obedience entered the world with the
Passion of Christ and it is the key to the mystery of suffering. Because of
our own baptism, we now understand the fruits of obedience done in sacrificial
love. This is the highest and most matured kind of obedience.
It just happens to be very similar to the way of the "little children"…
It is all about love. And faith.
And the grace of God vibrating through the creation.
And baptism being the one spark touching our souls and calling it into the great
chorus so we can bear fruits for the world.
You made the cross the tree of life
- give its fruit to those reborn in baptism…
Intercessions of the Morning Prayers - Liturgy of the Hours (Friday after Ash
Wednesday).