Belonging to the Christian religion is so much more than belief in a set of statements about Who God is, such as is found in our Creeds. Faith in our Trinitarian God leads us directly to giving our hearts to this God Who is a Consuming Fire of Love. Sr. Ilia Delio says "...religion won't go away - ever - because religion is about the deep-rooted energies of the spirit yearning for ultimate meaning and fulfillment. The word religion means literally 'to be bound' or to be 'bound back' (re-ligare) just as a ligament binds two bones together. Religion undergirds the unyielding longing to be bound to an ultimate source." (in "Making All Things New.") Our love, our longing for God binds us to God as both our ultimate Source and our ultimate Destination, the one Who gives our lives ultimate meaning and fulfillment.
Fr. Pedro Arrupe, SJ, wrote the following poem prayer about being consumed by love for God:
Fall in Love
"Nothing is more practical than
finding God,
than falling in Love
in a quite absolute, final way.
What you are in love with,
what seizes your imagination,
will affect everything.
It will decide
what will get you out of bed in the morning,
what you do with your evenings,
how you spend your weekends,
what you read, whom you know,
what breaks your heart,
and what amazes you with joy and gratitude.
Fall in love, stay in love,
and it will decide everything."
But this power and glory of God living in us is not for us alone. Christ's mission is to bring all things into one in Him, in the Heavens and on Earth. If we are consumed by our love for Jesus, then soon Jesus, alive in us, expands our love so that we see His vision - the vision that none of us are separate, that God in Jesus has already made us one and we are called to recognize this oneness, - and live it. This is our oneness with all of creation, in the heavens and on earth. Oneness with the angels, the planets, the sun and the stars. Oneness with the earth, the forests, mountains, and seas, the birds, beasts, and fish that make their way through the waters. Oneness with all peoples on the planet for all time. All together comprise the Whole Mystical Body of Christ.
So - what happens to us when we fall in love with God? We begin to become irrevocably transformed, to become who we really are. Once we allow the irresistible Love of God to possess us, to consume us, heart, mind, and soul, Heaven begins in us. Heaven is not simply a "God and me" "Thing." Heaven means oneness with God and all that God has made. We are now transformed so that oneness with all creation begins in us, love for all creation begins in us, joy in the love of all creation begins in us.
Pope Francis says, "Jesus has come to bring joy to all people for all time. It is not just a hopeful joy, or a joy postponed until paradise - as if here on earth we are sad but in paradise we will be filled with joy. No! It is a joy already real and tangible now, because Jesus himself is our joy, and with Jesus joy finds its true home."
Falling in love with God means that we simply cannot love God with full hearts and reject anyone or anything else. Because God dwells in everyone and everything! To reject anyone or anything created by God is to reject God.
Fr. Arrupe asks us:
- What gets you out of bed in the morning?
We answer: God. God dwelling in me as I dwell in Him. God dwelling in my relatives and neighbors, the ones I like and the ones I dislike. God dwelling in a Ku Klux Klanner or a terrorist. God in a flood ravaged family in Texas or in Puerto Rico. God dwelling in my ravaged planet.
- What do you do with your evenings and weekends?
We answer: Tend to my soul. Tend to those I meet, those I expect, and those who come to me unexpectedly. Those whose stories and tears are convenient to share and those which are inconvenient for my schedule.
- What breaks your heart?
We answer: Disunity. Misunderstandings. Anger. Superiority. For we are all equal if we are all one in Christ. I no longer know where I leave off and you begin, for we are one. And, acknowledging this oneness, I begin to truly experience the love, the peace, the joy of Heaven, beginning in me NOW: Union with the all-joyful Consuming Fire Who is God and All which God has made.
Fall in Love
"Nothing is more practical than
finding God,
than falling in Love
in a quite absolute, final way.
What you are in love with,
what seizes your imagination,
will affect everything...
Fall in love, stay in love,
and it will decide everything."