THE UNFINISHED SYMPHONY

No, I am not referring to Beethoven’s ‘Unfinished’. This symphony I’m writing about, happened probably eons ago. The first movement was the ‘Overture’ as a fitting opening to a great, master Symphony. All went well, until there was one of the lady musician who dropped a ‘note’, then another male musician followed.

The maestro had to start the Symphony all over again. But, being a master conductor, he took the one note that went astray , and which kept travelling along the sound waves into the immense space, and from that ‘stray note’ he created, he composed another great Symphony, which he called ‘The Symphony of Love’.

He chose as his solo player a young maiden of fifteen. She accepted the invitation and put her body and soul into it to give an excellent execution. Her performance was superb. But, she needed more musicians, because a symphony should be played, executed by an orchestra, and it needs be a ‘professional’ orchestra. Only the very best will do.

She invited all her children to join in and play the instrument which suited them best, but, they had to play the same score, in unison. Some did drop out, because no contract was drawn up; each one was at liberty to drop out, according to one’s free will.

But those who remained faithful played this wonderful ‘Symphony of Love’ … and it is still being performed; every single day and night.

You have certainly guessed rightly. That ‘note’ which dropped was the disobedience of our first parents, on that fateful occassion, when everything was going on with fidelity and precision, after a perfect ‘Overture’ they preferred to disobey God’s law.

The maiden chosen to play the new symphony was Mary of Nazareth, when she accepted God’s invitation for His Symphony of Love’. We are her children, all of us who accept her invitation to play the same score, by doing ‘what He tells us’. After all, every professional musician must follow the directions of the Maestro.

We are all playing ‘The Symphony of Love’. Why Love? Because the great Maestro, Jesus Christ, had to shed every drop and suffer death to write the score of this new Symphony.

Let’s not tire of playing and enjoying this wonderful music which we shall all, one day, listen to, and play with the multitude of Angels and Saints, with the solo player Mary under the able direction of Maestro Jesus Christ.

FROM THE CROSS CHRIST REIGNED AS KING

The true royalty of Jesus, which had nothing to do with the local, royal consciousness, but was rooted in His Divine filiation, was expressed in His identification with the reign of God.  Consequently it was not something He could claim during His public life because he knew well that the royal consciousness was as much at work in the hearts of the victims of the oppressive regimes as it was in the officials.

The people wanted to declare, Jesus king, but not because He inaugurated  among them the reign of God by preaching the Good News to the poor, but because he seemed, in their eyes, a better version of their earthly rulers. They wanted to replace the current institutional idols with a new idol. As Jesus says to the crowds: “You seek me, not because you saw signs (that is not a locus of Divine Revelation), but because you ate your fill of the loaves.”  Meaning: because you think that I could fulfill your immediate material needs better than the current regime.)

Jesus refused a royalty already corrupted by the royal consciousness, and functioned only as a prophet. As a prophet he evoked the past, the Covenant God made with the people in their poverty and their powerlessness, and He energized them to hope for an alternative future.  He announced that the reign of God would belong to the poor, the meek, the hungry, the dispossessed the powerless. It is a reign in which mutual love among equals will replace all the hierarchical relationships built on inequality, the relationship of power and domination which structured the society of the pagans and oppressed the people of God.

Jesus avoided identifying Himself publicly as a king until the moment when He was beyond the corrupting reach of the royal consciousness in the people, as the victim of the royal consciousness in the institution.  When He was definitely involved in the ultimate reversal that characterizes the divine reign, in the poverty and powerlessness of death from which only God could rescue Him. THEN, He claimed His royal identity. From the Cross He reigned as King.

Adapted from: Sandra M. Schneiders, Cogregation of the Sisters, Servants of the Imm. Heart of Mary

“GOD LOVES YOU AS YOU ARE”

One of the most often quoted statements, and so often misunderstood, and explained is this: “God loves you as you are.” That is very true. BUT, what is the truth? Does it mean that God loves the drunkard and the criminal? HE certainly does. But, it does not follow that HE wants, wishes them to remain living as they are. Notwithstanding their weakness, God loves them just the same, and HE is constantly watching them and showering on them “graces” as a means of curing them, of saving them. BUT, and, it’s a big BUT, they must cooperate with those graces. Read the life story of St.Matt Talbot.

For, what use is it throwing life jackets, inflatable boats,ropes and what not to a drowning man, if the poor chap does not try to catch hold of one of them and thus save himself ? You might just as well send him a lifeboat or a helicopter, if the drowning man does not make an effort, try to accept help, in other words cooperate, he is a condemned man.

Reading, rather studying the life of Saints, we realise this fact. God keeps ‘chasing’ man, like Francis Thompson’s ‘Hound of Heaven’, not to bite him but to protect and save him. God has a plan for each and every one of us, that has been drawn out since eternity. God’s Divine Plan to lead me, Tony, to Him, is different from God’s Plan for you, and for that matter, from all other’s.

Yes, God does take into account my, should I call them, ‘characteristics’  ‘ingredients’ from which to produce the tastiest, loveliest, most delicious cake. Those ingredients are all the characteristics which make up my character, my good points, my defects, my nervousness, my lethargy, my love for such and such a thing, my abilities, my inabilities … my pros and cons. ALL these are taken into account by the Good Shepherd, to shape, to change, to transform a rebellious, silly lamb into a faithful one. The good potter breaks up the old clay pot and includes those chippings in re-moulding a new pot. This was the system used in Christ’s days on earth.

Could any one have imagined a person so rough in character, a bully, so hyper, in today’s jargon, always ready to be outspoken and challenge anyone who opposes him, or his friends … such was that fisherman, who was anything but intellectual. I doubt it, if he could read or write. Yet, God did transform him, re-moulded him, and ended up as the leader of the Church, Saint Peter.

Yes, we have to let go, trust HIM, and cooperate with His graces, and HE can make us all Saints. We are not expected to be a photocopy of any Saint. I am unique, and so is God’s Plan for me. One thing is needed … my cooperation.

AA-1025: The Memoirs of an Anti-Apostle

While working as a nurse in a Paris hospital in the late 1960s, a nurse, by the name of Marie Carré claimed that a severely injured man, who had a Slavic look, was brought in after being in a car accident. Carré tried to communicate with the man to ask him some questions but he didn't or couldn't respond. She even tried to get him to answer her questions by blinking his eyes but he didn't. The man survived for a few hours before he succumbed to his injuries. Having no form of identification Carré was instructed to go through his belongings in order to possibly identify him.

She did not succeed in discovering his name, but she did discover in his briefcase a 100-page-typed memoir. She began reading the papers partly to find some information to identify him and partly out of curiosity.

The memoir claimed that he was an undercover agent of the Soviet Union ordered to infiltrate the Catholic Church by becoming a priest and to put forth modernist ideas through a teaching position that would undermine the main teachings of the Church during the Second Vatican Council in subtle ways, by turn of phrase methods. The document gave details and even told of a murder of a priest he had committed in order to get his way. No one ever claimed his belongings and Carré eventually decided to publish the memoir. It was printed in France in May 1972 and eventually was translated into several other languages.

Catholic philosopher and theologian Alice von Hildebrand says that:
AA-1025 may be a literary invention of Marie Carre, but one must admit that she hits the bull's eye from the first page to the last. Some people have extraordinary talents to foresee the future. Carre certainly had an extraordinary perception of how best to harm the Church. How surprising indeed that all her [so-called] inventions have become reality in the post-conciliar Church.

I suggest you get a copy of this book and read it well, rather, digest it. It should be read by all open-minded Catholics