I Met God. And God said, “My Mercy is Sufficient.”
My friend shared with me the following profound insight into the Book, “Don Quixote”:
After hundreds of pages of Don Quixote courageously performing acts of unselfish chivalry for what is “Right”, the author dismisses all the previous sacrifice of doing “Good”, and replaces that Principle in the last few pages of the book with: “Don Quixote”, “I met God. And God said, “My Mercy is Sufficient.
This dismissal of doing “Good Deeds”, is congruent to Franciscan Priest, Richard Rohr’s interpretation of the “Letters of St. Paul”: “Ladder Theology is Wrong”. A person doesn’t earn his way to Heaven by Keeping Commandments, Doing Good Deeds, or Knowing Scripture. Belief in Christ’s Merciful Redemption is sufficient
“Ladder Theology” is based on the Pavlovian Principle of: Stimulus. Response. Reward. Our Culture demands a reward for doing a good deed. And nothing for no results. We must earn what we get. That Principle is counter-intuitive to God’s Mercy, Love, and Forgiveness. God’s Forgiveness is “Like the fragrance that the violet sheds on the boot that crushed it” (Mark Twain). That’s why Christ said from the Cross, “Father forgive them (Jewish false accusers, & Roman brutal executioners) for they know not what they do”.
WE DON’T NEED “To be willing to march into Hell for a Heavenly cause – To reach the Unreachable Star.”
The “New Impossible Dream” is to accept that God accepts us “AS IS”
God knows that we are Guilty Sinners, but acquits us anyway. Forgives us, anyway. Accepts us “As Is”. God’s 3 attempts in the Old Testament “Covenants with Man” all failed because man couldn’t keep his part of the Bargain. So, God found a different way to re-graft His “Broken Branches” into the “Living Vine.”
God sent his only Son to become man (Jesus) and suffer & die for the forgiveness of all sins (past, present, and future) so that all who believe in Him, shall not perish, but have life everlasting. Christ came to restore the broken relationship with God. That restoration requires Faith & Repentance. Faith in Christ as the Son of God who died to forgive our sins. Repentance “To create in me a new clean heart.” – Psalm 51. Repentance removes the fog of sin which obfuscates the presence of God in the Sanctuary of our Soul.
Faith in Christ restores our relationship as “Children of God” & ”Heirs to Heaven”. Repentance maintains & cultivates that restored relationship. There is No Limit to the number of times we can repent our sins. No sin, no matter how vile or frequent exceeds the forgiveness of the welcoming embrace, of the outstretched arms, of the Redemptive Cross. Our difficulty is to accept that God accepts us “As Is”. Or That: “God’s mercy is sufficient.”
God sent us The Holy Spirit, to serve as the Gyroscope for our soul to continue to enjoy our Companionship with God.
As a result of accepting God’s Merciful Forgiveness, we will love God and each other. As a result, we will keep the Commandments, do good deeds, and know Scripture. Our new relationship with God is best expressed as a member of the “Mystical Body of Christ”.
The “Mystical Body of Christ” is described as “Christ as its Head, and all members of different talents, all valued the same by God. God’s Gift of Grace flows from one member to another. That’s the functional definition of Love: “Sharing what we have with each other, expecting nothing in return”
That’s the Cosmic Beauty of the “Mystical Body of Christ”: Experiencing the awesome awareness of the presence of God within us, and sharing it with others – As expressed in the “Flash Mob’s” – “Ode to Joy”, Below
Or, if you prefer the half hour long classical version: This marvelous new relationship with God & each other is majestically & joyously expressed in the Divinely Inspired Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, with Barenboim conducting the West East Divan Orchestra (of 100 Arab & Israeli musicians & the 200 member London Youth Choral Group).
The above YouTube music video expresses the Divine Inspiration of Beethoven’s Creation of his Symphony No. 9