Lovers and Lawyersn 2nd part

The result of all this has been ore of the great tragedies of the Church in our times: the signifi­cant number of Catholics who have left her be­cause they couldn't accept or cope with such a fearful concept of God. There is often a sadness or even bitterness against the Church among many of those who have left her — the result of a tragic mis­understanding of the very heart of our faith: who God is for us.

One of the most popular saints of this century is Therese of Lisieux, the Carmelite nun who died in 1897 and was canonized a saint by the Church only 28 years later in 1925. Her statue is found in very many Churches all over the world attesting to her popularity.

Yet Therese was only 24 years old when she died and had spent her entire life in the small French town of Lisieux and its environs except for one trip to Rome. When she died of tuberculosis, one of the other Carmelites asked what they could possibly put in her obituary after such an unevent­ful life.

Why then is Therese so popular a saint today? One reason might be her autobiography, "The Story Of A Soul," in which she sketches out her "little way" to holiness. Therese believed that we need not accomplish great things for Christ in order to attain deep holiness but rather that if we do the 'little things' in life with a great deal of love —a kind word, putting up with the faults of others cheerfully, doing a small kindness without seeking recognition — we can come to great sanctity, for it is not so much what we do for Christ that ulti­mately matters but the love with which we do it. Her life itself was living proof of her 'little way,' and the ordinary people of the world — the house­wives, workmen, students, priests — can easily identify with Therese and her spirituality.

But perhaps an even more profound reason for Therese's popularity and relevance is the very basic insight she had into our times and the needs of the Church today. She grew up and lived in the French Catholicism of the end of the last century and in Carmelite monastery, both of which were influenced by the semi-Jansenism and strictness of the times. Therese suffered through a period of intense scrupulosity while still very young. Yet despite these influences in her life, she was able to grow beyond them and with God's grace come to a profound appreciation and experience of the very basic reality of the gospel as revealed to us in John's first letter: "God is love, and he who lives in love, lives in God and God in him" (1 Jn 4:16).

Therese in a real sense foreshadowed the Sec­ond Vatican Council in pointing to our Lord as a God of infinite love — the very opposite of the image of a strict judge that somehow over many years had insinuated itself into our faith. The over­whelming, infinite and tender love of God for each of us — not fear — should be the pervading reality of our faith and our lives, coloring all else. God in his infinite love has revealed himself to us as "Abba," — Tatay, in Filipino— our dearly beloved Father whom we are to love and trust in return.

Whenever the temptation to revert to the image of a fearful or angry God surfaces, one need only read, reflect and pray over Jesus' parable of the prodigal son. The father, like God with us, allows the son to go off and squander his inheritance. He doesn't force him to come home, for freedom is necessary for love, and the father longs for his son's love. And so, the father waits; we can imagine him going out every day and looking off into the distance for his son. Then one day he recognizes him far off, returning to him. And Jesus then reveals the incredible image of who God is, and his personal love for each of us sinners: 'While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity. He ran to the boy, embraced him in his arms and kissed him tenderly"(Lk 15:20-21).

The 'father' of course is God and the whole story is filled with his love, and tender compassion and mercy for each of us, his sons and daughters. This is God's revelation of who he really is for us.

As Jesus has warned us, there will be the cross in our lives (Lk 9:23); there will be suffering at times, particularly as his disciples (Jn 15:20-21). Moreover, the human condition itself postulates that there is a need for at least a minimum of laws or structures in the Church and in society for their proper functioning.

But the ultimate meaning and pervading real­ity of our lives is not to fulfill laws or to live in fear of God if we don't. The deepest meaning of our lives is to learn how to love, to truly share as children in the life of God who is love. In other words, the primary witness and deepest motivation of our lives is to be lovers, not lawyers...

I!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!I!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!iI

Thanks so much for reading it, and if possible please feedback insights so that I may persevere in this echoing of the Word of God.

I!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!I!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!iI