LOSING FAITH MIGHT BE EASIER THAN YOU THINK

Faith is the divine energy, grace, that only comes from the divine nature. We can share in this pure energy only because Christ became one of us and mediates that energy as we can absorb it. No one can look in the face of God and live. I like to think of it as frying your neurons beyond repair. As a Lay Cistercian, using Cistercian practices and charisms to convert my false self to one more and more like Christ, I see all prayer as sitting on a couch being next to Jesus, from whom all blessings flow. Christ allows us to grow (capacitas dei) and change our humanity to an ever deeper ability to know, love, and serve God on earth. Christ is my friend and I depend upon Him to give me what I need to walk the minefields of life’s temptation without tripping up too badly. Christ gave me the greatest gift, Himself in the Eucharist, as a sacrifice to the Father, like Abraham did, not to be outdone, He gave me the Sacrament of Reconciliation to make all things new once again. All Sacraments are instituted by Christ to give his followers the energy to move forward in time, all the while growing in complexity. The Church is the living body of Christ right now for me to help me survive the temptations of the world (the Devil being the Lord of the Earth, and Jesus being the Lord of Heaven). My choice is to deny the Devil as being Lord of the Earth and to proclaim that Jesus is Lord, Messiah, and Savior. I do that by how I love others as Christ loved me.

Belief is that human characteristic that comprises both human reasoning and the ability to choose what I think is good for me to reach the purpose of my life. I get to choose that purpose but I need help to keep my equilibrium in the face of the seduction of the world to be someone merely human and not to move to the next phase of my evolution, to be an adopted son (daughter) of the Father and heir to the kingdom of heaven. My thinking runs the gauntlet of thoughts that God does not know us, so how could God create all of this, go through passion, death, and resurrection, just so I could have the chance to fulfill my human destiny as an adopted son or daughter? It doesn’t make sense. It is a sign of contradiction that Christ had to transform by being not only divine nature but human nature. Philippians 2:5-12. By telling us to follow Him, Christ gave us a big clue as to how what makes no sense to the world makes perfect sense to those who die to self and rise again to new life in new skins. “We must renounce ourselves to follow Christ,” says St. Benedict (RB 4:10), and again, “Your way of acting should be different from the world’s way.” (RB 4:20)

My problem is in making a commitment to that Lay Cistercian Way for me, yet forgetting to do what I need to do to sustain my resolve against the onslaughts of the Devil, who tries to put in other centers than Christ Jesus. In this context, the three temptations of Christ were to replace the mission of Christ from the Father by making the Devil the Lord of the Earth. St Paul calls these “thorns in the flesh,” which, forgive my translation, I call “pains in the butt.”

Faith is easily available but only at the cost of abandoning everything in the world to offer to the Father that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Here comes the hard part. I must daily take up my cross and follow Christ in order to keep myself centered on His way, His, truth, and to share in His life while I am on this earth. That is why Faith is a struggle to keep myself centered on Jesus.

I came across a YouTube video that captured my feelings about losing my faith. If I want love in my life, I must place it there. If I want hatred in my life, it slithers to replace Christ so very easily and almost without any notice of what is taking place.

THE RULE OF THREES

I would like you to watch the YouTube video three times.

THE PHYSICAL UNIVERSE; The first time, just be aware of what you see in the video. Don’t make any judgment and question anything. What do you see? Take about five minutes to just close your eyes and reflect on what you just saw.

THE MENTAL UNIVERSE: Next time, watch the same video but now use your mind to ask why you are seeing what you are watching and how did it become so abandoned? Take five minutes to go to that upper room in your inner self (Matthew 6:5) and just wait.

THE SPIRITUAL UNIVERSE: Because you are an adopted son (daughter) or the Father, your inheritance is to use the treasures God gave you to maintain Faith in the midst of chaos. Watch the video one more time. This time think of the empty building as someone who formerly was a temple of the Holy Spirit but it is now derelict and abandoned. Ask yourself how this could happen? What could this person have done to keep the corruptibility of nature, life, and spirit from overtaking this once proud shell? Does any of this apply to your life?

ABANDONED AND FORGOTTEN

What happens when someone abandons their Faith? Is there an equilibrium here where everything resorts back to its normal state? How does doing nothing mean the corruptibility of nature wins the battle over this once-proud building?

When you have finished the three viewings, take some time in your upper room and think about what it takes for you to sustain the kingdom of heaven right now, and how original sin always seeks to take over our spirituality. The result? Loss of Faith. If you want to lose your faith, just do nothing.

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