True love may be the least random act of all. Love is something we choose to give and choose to receive. A mystery entered into, true love is a dialogue between persons made manifest in fidelity; each sharing his or her self in freedom while reinforcing self-determination in the other.
The character played by Ryan Reynolds in Chaos Theory concludes that love is not random.For God, the act of loving goes part and parcel with whom God is. Made of love in its purest form, the being of God like no other being, exhibits a passion and commitment to the freedom and happiness of his beloved.
In the first reading from Isaiah our Lord is depicted as a Mother. As anyone who is or has a mother understands, a Mother does not, would not, cannot forget her baby. She/God is, as St. Paul says, trustworthy. So trustworthy, or reliable, is this God that She, as Jesus’ insists, can be depended on to feed and clothe the birds of the air, the lilies of the field, and even human beings. Providing as needed, food, shelter, and good health, all these that we cannot live without are worries for God alone.
Before instructing his disciples not to worry about what they will eat, drink or wear, Jesus cautions them against serving both God and mammon. Made for one master, disciples cannot remain consumed by themselves if devoted to the kingdom. Between the other and thyself, disciples are forced to choose.
Fully aware of our limitations, our inability to serve two masters, God, demands our undivided attention. Passionately in love, God requires our exclusive devotion.
Desiring to share all of Gods very self with us, a free and intentional Christ, through a death and resurrection promises to remove all that stands between us and the love of God.
A grace to render hearts exclusively and to serve, God’s love takes away the fears, the insecurities, and the worries – the obstacle course, so to speak, between us and Him.
With God and in Love there is no room to be distracted, manipulated or controlled. Ever feeding, clothing, and liberating Her beloved, God is committed to our happiness and well-being. As a Mother to her baby, may She never forget our needs. And may Christ continue to set us free to love and serve God and one another.
God is masculine, not feminine. You have the relationship backward. We are the bride beloved, and God/Christ the groom lover. He is the initiator of the gift, the grace, and we the receivers of that gift, which instilled produces a new life within us, the Holy Spirit.
ReplyDeleteGod is properly called Father, in our Faith, for His entire being is the true masculine principle. We, and all of creation with us, are the true feminine counterpart to Him who loves us.
Pope John Paul II clearly identifies the masculine principle as the initiator of the gift, and the feminine as the receiver the gift. In this, God can only truly be Masculine, as He is the initiator of all gifts, out of whom all was created. Creation is a shadow of the feminine, in receiving all that God provides. But it is only those creatures that He made with free will, who can freely choose to accept those gifts He offers is the feminine principle fully expounded. We, along with the Angels, are able to fully participate in God's true love, and share in His Divine Life.
Calling God a she is a practical denial of His real identity as the initiator of Grace. She receives the gift. She does not initiate it. Christ gave us a mother, a reagent and dispenser of Grace, but not the source. The source of the gift is masculine. The feminine makes a gift of herself in the reception of the gift.
Please stop confusing God's gender.
Why can the initiator of a gift only be masculine? Sounds a bit archaic to me. I think this is a frivolous argument that distracts too many people from having a meaningful relationship with a God who is too personified. Lighten up and allow people to decide who their God is, be it female or male.
ReplyDeleteDani
It is so, because that is the nature of the masculine and feminine. Obviously, women can initiate gift-giving in a more everyday sense. But in the sense of the masculine/feminine relationship, whereby the gift initiated and given is the gift of the seed of life, the initiator is masculine, and the receiver is feminine. This is intuitively obvious.
ReplyDeleteOnly boys can be daddies, only girls can be mommies. Only men can be husbands, only women can be wives.
You say that this is a frivolous argument? I disagree. Spending time trying to understand God's nature, particularly in His relationship to us, is as far from frivolous as you can get. You can't have a meaningful relationship with some vague conception. You can only have a meaningful relationship with someone real, who you know and understand. You can't love someone you don't know.
I have no authority to allow or disallow A Random Franciscan to decide anything, nor was I making any attempt to force him to do anything. However, your last statement implies that God is not, in fact, real. For, if I could decided God was whatever I wanted Him to be, then He is merely a figment of my imagination. Real things cannot be whatever we want them to be. I cannot decide that my computer is a Mac, when it is actually a Sony. I cannot decide that the couch I'm sitting on is red, when it is actually blue. I can no more decide who God is than I can decide that I am a tall, handsome Romeo. God is who God is, not who we decide He is.
Unless I misunderstood what you said, and in fact you meant to let people decide "what" their God is. That is, let people decide what they want to worship. For people are certainly capable of worshiping all kinds of things. But I don't think that's what you meant.
Further to this, A Random Franciscan professes faith in the Catholic God. As such, the God of the Catholic Church is relatively well defined, and A Random Franciscan, in writing this document, has actually spoken in contradiction of himself. For, the Catholic God is masculine, not feminine. Indeed, A Random Franciscan, in professing such a contrary idea on a public blog, as a clear representative of the Faith (being an ordained Franciscan), is subjecting himself to potential excommunication, were he to be reported, and he did not obey commands to retract these claims.
Anyone who has issue with feminine imagary for God can take it up with the prophet Isaiah. Also, I would invite him to consider that there is both masculine (giving) and feminine (recieving) qualities within the trinity, and within every other being.
ReplyDeleteJesus, Himself, tells us how to address God. Our Father. Why not our Mother? Jesus does not say anything meaninglessly.
ReplyDeleteI was not aware that you have met God face to face and that is why you love him. I have not shook hands with the man myself, but do indeed have faith in him/her, love for God and an extrodinary relationship. The Bibles stories were verbally passed down, written by men you do not know personally, and translated into various texts. Also it was put together by using only 'selected' documents, while many others still exist. The validity of every single word in the Bible is not the point. The message of Jesus and how we should treat one another is. If you wish to alienate people from the Church who may wish to refer to God as She, then perhaps you should re-examine your beliefs and how Jesus would interpret your attitude. Also as for excommunication of a very well educated, very spiritual, young friar goes against the gift of having free will. If we arent allowed to question church doctrine then we might still be paying indulgences and buying up holy relics. In order to strengthen our faith, we need to ask questions. And I assure you, if you open your mind, your brain wont fall out.
ReplyDeleteDanielle Blakeman (i am happy to identify myself when i post)
Start messing with Divine Revelation and soon you will be making all sort of changes to God to suit yourself only to end up with a fale God..."God the Father of our Lord jesus Christ." AMEN!
ReplyDeleteMaybe the Holy Spirit is the feminine aspect of God...I am still discovering. Ever sat for a while with a 90 year old lady and a 90 year old man...I am still discovering. When I was young I could remember discovering my sexuality. When I was in my 40's I was starting to discover my spirituality. I can remember starting work in the health care field and starting to use the feminine side of myself. It was a awkward experience. Ever have an intimate conversation with someone and they call you Dad? Ever have an intimate conversation with someone and they call you Mom?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletei am sick of anonymous people who aren't sure of their own identity to decide God's identity.. Sir, you are repeating what hierarchy brainwashed you.. if you were taught in your childhood that God is a Quadity, you would assume Holy is God and Spirit is God thus arguing the reason why catholic make 4 angle signs of cross. Anyway, even God is a Father to you, it sounds that your faith doesn't work at all. Just look at you, coming to people's blog and imposing your personal belief unto others. Your male god would be very proud of you like your imperialist ancestors. If a Franciscan believe in a Male God that means s/he is no longer a genuine franciscan but rather dogmatic one who pretends to wear a spiritualist tunic but filled with assumptions. If you expect to believe what you already know then that is no longer a faith anymore.
ReplyDeletePax in Christe.