Do You Have Your Cross Yet?
O God, Who does great things and unsearchable, and wonderful things without number. -- Job 5:9
"D." is a young Muslim man who lives in Indonesia. One night during Ramadan (in 1991) he had a dream. He dreamt he was sitting with his arms tied to a chair. Then he saw a man he recognized as Jesus coming. Jesus touched the ropes and they fell from his arms. Jesus said to him, "Look for the pole" - D. didn't know what the meant so he asked "what pole?" But Jesus just said again "Look for the pole". When D. awoke he tried to think what the dream might mean but after a few days he forgot about it.
But Jesus didn't forget. Two years later during Ramadan, D. had another dream. In this dream Jesus was saying to him, "I told you to look for the pole. Why haven't you done what I asked?" So D. asked, "Where is this pole and how will I find it?" Jesus pointed to a hill very far away and said, "Go, look for the pole." In his dream, D. ran through jungle and thorns for a seemingly long way. Finally exhausted he came to a clearing and there he saw a cross. This was the pole Jesus had told him to look for.
The next day D. went to see the Imam - the leader at the mosque. He asked him about the dream. The Imam told him to search for the truth. That night D. had another dream - he dreamt he saw a Christian cemetery. All the graves had crosses at the end. Suddenly, all the graves opened and the people rose into the sky where Jesus was waiting for them. D. realized he wasn't ready, because he didn't have his cross yet.
In the morning D. couldn't forget this disturbing dream. So he went to visit the pastor of a church he knew of near his village. The pastor opened his Bible and helped D. understand that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. After going to church for a few weeks, D. gave his heart to Jesus. Now he is hoping to share his faith in Jesus with other Muslims.
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The Science of Love
by Dr. John C.H. Wu (continued)
SINCERITY AS THE SOUL OF LOVE
Therese loves her Divine Spouse for His own sake, not for the sake of His
diamonds. All that she desires is to rejoice the Heart of Jesus. She wins
Him by her secret caresses, for she knows that He is a bashful Bridegroom
who would blush at caresses too dramatically performed. She gently
insinuates herself into His Heart, until she knows all its ins and outs.
The wise serpent that she is, she bores sinuously into the deepest recesses
of the Sacred Heart of her Beloved, and yet she never wearies Him by
overloading Him with attentions. She holds Him by not using any ropes or
"hoops of steel."[19] She even confirms this to Mother Mary:
All that He hath given me may Jesus take again,
O tell Him, Mother, ne'er to feel in aught constrained with me;
He may hide Him if He will, in peace shall I remain
Till the Day that knows no setting, when faith shall cease to be.[20]
These lines are so touching that I want to reproduce here the French
original:
"Tout ce quil ma donne, Jesus peut le reprendre, Dis-lui de ne jamais se
gener avec moi; Il peut bien se cacher, je consens a l'attendre Jusquau
jour sans couchant ou s'eteindra ma foi."[21]
This was written when she felt Jesus was far away from her. But love has
hopes unknown even to faith. She knew Him too well to fear that He would
ever desert her. The subtle child wrote to her sister Pauline, "The glory
of Jesus, that is my whole ambition; my own I abandon to Him, and if He
seem to forget me--well, He is free to do so, since I am mine no more, but
His. He will weary sooner of making me wait than I of waiting for Him!"[22]
Not that she relies upon her own charms, but that she has a boundless
confidence in His goodness. The Almighty is incapable of being unfaithful
to His lovers. Just because the little Therese did not want any reward, how
amply He has rewarded her! She did not want to shine like jades and resound
like bells. She wished to be an obscure grain of sand, too small to be
trodden upon even by the feet of men she wished to remain a hidden flower
whose fragrance is for Him alone.
But He is not to be outdone in generosity. He has transformed the grain of
sand into a radiant star gleaming with a thousand fires; he has filled the
whole universe with the fragrance of the little fugitive flower. One
wonders what she feels now. I should think that she would still feel as she
did when she was on earth, "I am but a tiny soul whom Almighty God has
loaded with His favors--Still I cannot boast. See how this evening the
tree-tops are gilded by the setting sun. So likewise my soul appears to you
all shining and golden because it is exposed to the rays of Love. But
should the divine Sun no longer shine, it would instantly be sunk in
gloom."[23]
Is this false modesty? No, she is only telling the truth and nothing but
the truth. Any one who knows the power and love of God as intimately as she
does, any one who has a glimpse into the infinite greatness of God and his
own nothingness, simply can no longer boast, even if he would.
GOD AS A LOVER (To be continued)
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Revelations of Saint Gertrude (continued)
Chapter 3. Human consolation weakens that which is Divine.
Gertrude received another plain testimony, although she did not understand it very well at first, that contradictions and privation of consolation in suffering greatly increase merit. On a certain day, about the Feast of Pentecost, as she suffered such severe pain in her side that those who were present feared her last hour had arrived, her Beloved, the true Consoler of her soul, retired from her, and this increased her suffering, although the cares and attentions of those who surrounded her were redoubled; whereas, when she was less carefully attended, this loving Lord remained near her, to solace the severity of her pain by His presence, thus making her understand, that when we are deprived of human consolation, the Divine Mercy regards us most favorably.
Towards evening, as the Saint was worn out by acute suffering, she sought to obtain some mitigation of it from Our Lord, but He raised His right arm, and showed her the pain she had endured all day as a precious ornament on His bosom. As this ornament appeared so perfect and so complete in every part, she rejoiced, hoping that her suffering would now cease; but Our Lord replied: What you suffer after this will add brightness to this ornament. And certainly, although it was garnished with precious stones, the gold appeared dark and dull. What she suffered afterwards was not so grievous in itself, but she was more tried by being deprived of consolation, than by the acuteness of the pain.
Chapter 4. How vile and despicable are all transitory pleasures. (To be continued)
Revelations of Saint Gertrude. On line
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