March 2017
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
The Gospel means marks a shift in the perception of who God is. He is like Jesus. See this small excerpt from Kazantzakis' shimmering fictional biography of St. Francis as an example of what this means.
"Each dawn, when the birds began to sing again, or at midday when he plunged into the cooling shade of the forest, or at night, sitting in the moonlight or beneath the stars, he would shudder from inexpressible joy and gaze at me. His eyes filled with tears.
'What miracles there are, Brother Leo!' he would say . 'And who created such beauty -- what then must he be? What can we call him?'
'God, Brother Francis,' I answered. I 'No, not God, not God,' he cried. 'That name is heavy, it crushes bones...Not God -- Father!'"
Meditate on the Parable of the Prodigal Son. It will change your mind as it did for Francis.
The doctrine of the Trinity that the Gospel of Jesus reveals is the heart of authentic Christian life, the cosmic and revelatory Mystery. It shows us that God is Relationship, ever giving, ever receiving, ever welcoming. Not removed, not isolated, but always the Life of all that exists. God is love.
Let's keep this in mind as we traverse the pathways of repentance. Repent of believing the foundational delusion of all dis-ease, that God is absent, that God is not Love, that we are alone. That is the key to the kingdom. There is no other.
With great affection,
+Fr. Antony