I will espouse you to me forever: I will espouse you in right and in justice, in love and in mercy; I will espouse you in fidelity, and you shall know the LORD (Hos 2:21-22)
Two things i enjoyed from today's reading from the Old Testament is the bond made between God and man, a sign of each others free will. Like 'marriage' or accepting to live together, to bond, to become greater than two individuals, through sickness and health, through the passage of time and life here on Earth, we choose and make an oath on our honour. All very chivalrous, indeed, but there is more. The Jesuit's Sacred Space calls the 'in right and in justice' of the prophet to be simply 'right conduct' (Sacred Space). The Buddhist's call this sila or moral conduct: right speech, right action and right livelihood. Or how one lives in harmony with ones neighbours day by day and moment by moment. No easy task.
A legal contract of sorts? What binds men to property and wealth on Earth is not the same as that which binds men to each other in compassion and goodness. Of course, as Christians we are not bound to Mosaic Law (As St. Paul put it, “For sin will have no mastery over you, because you are not under law but under grace." Rom 6:14), but the word for 'law' or 'torah' is also defined as 'instruction'. Thus, our free will is in tact: we must voluntarily accept God's love and grace and mercy if we are to grow as human beings, to grow in compassion and wisdom, to grow in peace and happiness. We have to choose to do the right thing. We can choose to speak kindly, to offer and helping hand and to change the way we live our daily life to the benefit of all mankind.
And this is the 'love' of God's promise. The Hebrew word used is 'hesed', meaning a bond or contract:
...this divine hesed calls for corresponding hesed in man towards Yahweh, consisting of self-giving, loving trust, abandonment, deep affection, ‘piety’, a love (in short) which is a joyful submission to the will of God and an active charity to fellow men (Sacred Space).
Marriage is a 'joyful submission' in many ways. We loose an individual identity and gain something greater, namely 'we'. Mankind comes together with God as One. As He loves us, so can we love Him. And as He is in all things, so too can we love all things as God and know Him. Is this 'knowing' not enlightenment? To stand in the glory of God's light and know loving-kindness in word and deed, day by day and moment by moment?
Today i renew my vows, the promises i made, the mindful effort to keep them and the prayer to God that my faith grow in honour of all that i can be, in His name. Amen.
Deo gratias.
Two things i enjoyed from today's reading from the Old Testament is the bond made between God and man, a sign of each others free will. Like 'marriage' or accepting to live together, to bond, to become greater than two individuals, through sickness and health, through the passage of time and life here on Earth, we choose and make an oath on our honour. All very chivalrous, indeed, but there is more. The Jesuit's Sacred Space calls the 'in right and in justice' of the prophet to be simply 'right conduct' (Sacred Space). The Buddhist's call this sila or moral conduct: right speech, right action and right livelihood. Or how one lives in harmony with ones neighbours day by day and moment by moment. No easy task.
A legal contract of sorts? What binds men to property and wealth on Earth is not the same as that which binds men to each other in compassion and goodness. Of course, as Christians we are not bound to Mosaic Law (As St. Paul put it, “For sin will have no mastery over you, because you are not under law but under grace." Rom 6:14), but the word for 'law' or 'torah' is also defined as 'instruction'. Thus, our free will is in tact: we must voluntarily accept God's love and grace and mercy if we are to grow as human beings, to grow in compassion and wisdom, to grow in peace and happiness. We have to choose to do the right thing. We can choose to speak kindly, to offer and helping hand and to change the way we live our daily life to the benefit of all mankind.
And this is the 'love' of God's promise. The Hebrew word used is 'hesed', meaning a bond or contract:
...this divine hesed calls for corresponding hesed in man towards Yahweh, consisting of self-giving, loving trust, abandonment, deep affection, ‘piety’, a love (in short) which is a joyful submission to the will of God and an active charity to fellow men (Sacred Space).
Marriage is a 'joyful submission' in many ways. We loose an individual identity and gain something greater, namely 'we'. Mankind comes together with God as One. As He loves us, so can we love Him. And as He is in all things, so too can we love all things as God and know Him. Is this 'knowing' not enlightenment? To stand in the glory of God's light and know loving-kindness in word and deed, day by day and moment by moment?
Today i renew my vows, the promises i made, the mindful effort to keep them and the prayer to God that my faith grow in honour of all that i can be, in His name. Amen.
Deo gratias.
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