I had breakfast with a friend the other day, a fellow lover of God, life, and the universe at large. Our talk took us deep into the mystery before the eggs even hit the table.
We were sharing about our own journeys, insights from prayer, Scripture, and Pope John Paul II's Theology of the Body. Thoughts starting flying like sparks, bouncing off of the formica, and glancing off of the glasses and cups. Fire was something we spoke of, and what the Spirit led us to see was that the very life of God is a consuming fire. He truly wants to set the world ablaze. Even the pope's final letter on the Eucharist hinted at it: “[W]hen we eat the Eucharist, we eat fire….” And John Paul's wish in that last letter was to “rekindle a Eucharistic amazement.”
Then we looked at the Church today, and the experience of a regular guy going to a typical Mass at a regular old parish. From a certain stance (and this is only an objective assessment from two guys eating hashbrowns at a restaurant), it seems that words like “fire” and “amazement” don't exactly fit the scene. Just the opposite, sadly.
We pondered this mystery. God is a fire of love, and yet we fear this fire. He can burn wild, He can consume us, purify us, He can move us into situations that are out of our control. And there it is. We surmised that it's safer to stay at a cool distance, like the Israelites at the base of Mount Sinai. “Go ahead Moses, we'll wait here. Thanks very much.” To sit back and be a “pew potato” or to speak generically about being nice and luvvy and stuff from a pulpit, this is easy: “Now let's be nice.” It is quite another thing to open up our mouths and let fire come in, and then back out again! The pure flame of love that is sacrificial, that leaps into the unknown.
It seems there's a cool Christianity all around us. But in a diner the other morning, some sparks were flying. And I know there are many other places where God is moving, inspiring, calling out to us to come to Him, leap into the Fire of His love, because the world is getting colder. Fire happens when we allow God to be God in our lives… Oh, this is a powerful image.
Scott Hahn once wrote (in his excellent book A Father Who Keeps His Promises) that there is only One Fire, but two reactions to it. He said the fire of God's love is the same fire that burns in Hell. If we surrender to love, we burn with the passion of the saints. But if we cast ourselves away from that love and seek a counterfeit or a quick fix here below, the fire still exists. But we are on the outside, and the heat is unbearable. How? Because our hearts have put up walls, and at our very core, we are cold. This is the mystery of free will. The mystery that God has given us the very power to refuse His Love! God offers and invites, because love can never be forced. This is a deep mystery and we need to sit still with it.
God is a Fire of Love, and we are called into that Love. It can hurt, it can burn, because we have our own sinfulness, our clinging to finite things when we should let go and drop into His infinite love. But when we do, we dance in the warmth of it, like the three young men in the fiery furnace from the Book of Daniel.
The highest angels are called Seraphim, which means “burning ones.” They are so close to the heart of God, they swim in love. Lucifer, Satan himself, was once the highest of these angels. But rather than lose himself in the joy of selflessness and self-donation (which is our deepest vocation), he grasped at divinity and became the very definition of selfishness. Now, having rejected Love out of jealousy and pride, he still burns with cold hatred.
What is your passion and the flame that lights your way? Is it the steady flame of love, a prayerful self-consciousness and self-giving, or is it the flash-fire of selfishness that reaches out and grasps at people and things, only to quickly recoil with a still-empty heart? God help us to move into the fire of His love. In the words of St. Catherine of Siena, “If you are what you should be, you will set the whole world ablaze!”
© Copyright 2006 Catholic Exchange
Bill Donaghy teaches theology in Malvern, Pennsylvania, speaks on topics of faith, and lives in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, with his wife Rebecca. You can visit his website and semi-serious blog at www.missionmoment.org.
