Tag: christianity

Something struck me at Mass on Sunday. It was the Transfiguration gospel. It was when at that when at the top of the mountain Elijah and Moses appeared in front of Jesus, they began to speak to each other. We are not told of the conversation.

Here’s the thing. There were no mortal souls in heaven. Every human being ever born from the beginning of time was waiting for the Resurrection of Jesus to enter to heaven. There is only one way to heaven and that is through Jesus Christ. So all the souls of those who had departed the earth were waiting, anticipating, hoping and I have to believe, praying. So what could’ve been this conversation between Moses and Elijah and Jesus? Neither Moses or Elijah were in heaven. They must’ve known that Jesus’s mission was unfolding. That heavens gate would soon be opened.

There was a famous visionary named Anne Catherine Emmerick in the 17th century who is had visions of the Passion of Christ. Much of Mel Gibson’s movie was based on those visions. In one story I had read, Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane and, as we all know, in great anguish of about what was going to happen. She described her vision and said, “Jesus, in his great agony, turned and saw the multitude of souls on their knees, praying for Him.” I don’t know why that is always stuck with me when I picture Him there in the garden, but it has. He knew He would be abandoned by his closest friends and followers. The pain and burden about to placed on Him. Maybe that sight fortified Him in some way.

How many hundreds or thousands of years were those souls anticipating this moment not fully understanding its magnitude. From the simplest of people to the great prophets. Maybe Jesus told Moses and Elijah to go back and tell all the souls to prepare.? Where did Jesus go for three days between His death and Resurrection? We say, in the Creed, that after his death, he descended into hell. But it is not the hell of eternal damnation. It was the dwelling place for those souls. All the souls who had been waiting.

I saw a bird the other day. It flew up with a little branch in its beak. It looked around and flew away. It occurred to me that this little bird was  really free. It was free to fly where it wanted and when it wanted in the direction it wanted to go and where it wanted to land. It was free to decide where it wanted to build a nest. But yet, it has instincts. Innate. The instinct to eat to drink and to build a nest to lay eggs. 

I thought to myself what it doesn’t have is will. What is the difference? We have similar instincts; when we’re hungry, we eat, when we are thirsty, we drink. These are innate  to all of us. But what sticks out is the difference between me and the bird, and that is will. 

I can decide what I want to do and when I want to do it, I decide to stand up. I decide to sit down. I can decide to go work out. I can decide to do many things. It’s these decisions that make us different from all creatures. Ultimately it is the freedom of Will.

When God created us, He gave us free will. The ability to choose. We are not robots or slaves. It’s the ultimate act of love. When God created the angels He gave them free will. The free will to choose love, to choose God. It was free will that let Satan and all of the fallen angels to choose pride over God. Likewise for us, He gives us freedom. The freedom to choose. Freedom is not a right it is a gift. The gift of free will.

When I think of Jesus in the garden, hunched down. Sweating blood from anxiety. It makes me really pause. His whole life on earth had come to this. He knew what He was about to endure. He had the freedom of choice. He had healed the sick, raise people from the dead, walked on water, calm the oceans and storms. Certainly He could choose a different path. But He didn’t. 

Instead, with full knowledge of what it’s about to happen He united his will with God’s will. He chose to save me. To save all of us. God did not make Him choose. He did not force Him. In the greatest act of love, Jesus willed himself to walk the path to the cross.

We cannot forget that He was a man. Flesh in blood just like us. What could it be like to take on the sins of all mankind? It’s an unfathomable burden that we can’t even contemplate.When they ripped the flesh from his body, He could have made them stop. When they placed the cross on his shoulders He embraced it. It was his choice. His will.

And where did He get His strength from?  It came from God’s love for us. He loves us so much that He gave his only Son so that we could be with Him forever. Jesus united His will with His Father.

The bird can fly where it wants but is driven by instinct. I can decide where I want to go but I am driven by will. If I can just unite my will with God’s will, then I know the path will lead me to heaven. It’s not easy, there are many burdens, many crosses, many temptations. But we can will ourselves to pray, to go to Mass, to go to confession, to offer up our problems and weaknesses. And the more we decide to do those things, we all know, the closer we get to clarity, to peace, to His will for us.

Just think how precious this gift is. It is the gift of love. It the gift of true freedom.