"Risen Lamb Writings"
"The Eastern Flow of Intercession" (Part Four)
In the vision depicted in Ezekiel
47:1-12, the Prophet Ezekiel (in Ezek. 47:4B) wades in the "sacred flow" of
living water which comes from the temple altar: "The water was up to my waist."
For intercessors this waist-level water depth can symbolize an urgent "breach"
where intense intercession is needed today. In Eph. 6:14, St. Paul says, "Stand
fast with the truth as the belt around your waist." We are
currently living at a time when there is a growing "apostasy from the truth"
(see CCC 675). Many today join Pontius Pilate in asking Jesus the question:
"What is truth?" (John 18:38). St. Gregory the Great has said, "For anyone
who does not love the truth has not yet come to know it" (St. Gregory
the Great, cited in the LH, vol. II, p. 753). Jesus is "the True light,
which enlightens everyone" (John 1:9), and his word "is a lamp for my
feet, a light for my path" (Ps. 119:105).
Unfortunately,
one reason why many people today are afraid to trust the truth of God is that
they are not experiencing God personally in their lives. One reason for this
may be that today more and more people seem to be afraid of silence and
stillness. The voice of God is heard best within a silent heart: "Everyone
who belongs to the truth listens to my voice" (John 18:37). Today
prayer warriors, "waist deep" in the living water of the Holy Spirit, are
called to beg God for the urgent grace humanity needs to return to our heart. "The
heart is our hidden center" (CCC 2563). There is a dire need, not so much
to know more about God, but rather to experience—to come to know—God in the
depths of our being. In Ps. 87:7 God speaks to every heart: "Within you is my
true home."
The
Catechism of the Catholic Church states (in CCC 2563) that "The heart
is the place of decision…it is the place of truth…it is the place of
encounter…it is the place of covenant." Truth, then, is intimately associated
with the heart, with decisive choice, encounter and covenant. The Dictionary
of Biblical Theology states, "The biblical notion of truth is
founded on the religious experience of encounter with God" (p. 618). In
Jesus Christ God and humanity meet, divine and human natures embrace, and
heaven and earth unite. Jesus brings humanity into the immediacy of God's
presence! We have been created for encounter with God. The biblical notion of
covenant connotes a life of communion with God, an exclusive relationship of
love, fidelity, interior knowledge of God, heart and commitment—a "marriage"
between God and His people. This
concept reaches its fulfillment in Jesus, the Mediator of the New and Eternal
covenant in his Blood. He is the Bridegroom of the Church.
Ps. 45 is entitled, 'Song for a Royal
Wedding'. Verses 4-5 read:
"Gird your sword upon your hip, mighty warrior! In splendor and majesty
ride on triumphant! In the cause of truth and justice may your right
hand show you wondrous deeds."
Intercessors engage in the cause of truth and justice
which is the cause of Jesus in the world. The dictionary tells us that a cause
is "a goal or principle served with dedication and zeal; the interests or a
person or group engaged in a struggle." Intercessors enter into the
"struggle" of Jesus by waging war against the spirit of the world, the flesh
and the devil (all of which are set in opposition and resistance to authentic
truth and justice)—first of all within one's own self, then on behalf of
others.
More and more people seem to be
pushing authentic truth (the "real") about God and humanity--and hence, moral
truth--to the periphery of their lives. At times, this dismissal of truth is
done with a blatant, willful disregard. Repentance is the "royal road" of
return to the "real" for everyone. Although this is always a costly grace for
an intercessor to pray for on behalf of others, one must always keep in mind
that souls are at stake—and Eternal destiny!
Pope John Paul II has written insightfully about this
current predicament:
We "are made holy by "obedience
to the truth" (Pet. 1:22). This obedience is not always easy. As a result
of that mysterious original sin, committed at the prompting of Satan, the one
who is "a liar and the father of lies" (John 8:44), man is constantly tempted
to turn his gaze way from the living and true God in order to direct it towards
idols (cf. 1 Thess. 1:9) exchanging "the truth about God for a lie"
(Rom. 1:25). Man's capacity to know the truth is also darkened, and his will to
submit to it is weakened. Thus, giving himself over to relativism and
skepticism (cf. John 18:38), he goes off in search of an illusory freedom
apart from truth itself" (Pope JP II, Encyclical Letter, "Veritatis
Splendor" # 1).
There is no authentic freedom
apart from the "splendor of truth". St. Paul reminds the Galatians, "For
freedom Christ set us free; so, stand firm" (Gal. 5:1). Jesus tells his
disciples, "The truth will set you free" (John 8:32). This truth is
found in Jesus and in his word (see John 8:31).
Truth, then,
is also very much related to obedience, faith, love, and experiential
knowledge: I will obey the One whom I have come to believe in (see
2Thess. 2:13). I will believe in the One whom I have come to love (see
2Thess. 2:10). I will love the One whom I have opened myself to know
intimately in the depths of my heart:
"Him whose beauty eternally awes the blessed hosts of
heaven; to him whose love inspires love, whose contemplation
refreshes whose generosity satisfies, whose gentleness delights, whose memory
shines sweetly as the dawn; to him whose fragrance revives the dead, and
whose glorious vision will bless all the citizens of that heavenly Jerusalem"
(From a letter…by St. Clare, virgin, cited in LH, vol. IV, p. 1310).
Questions:
1)
As an intercessor am I zealous for the "cause"
of Jesus in the world?
2) Is
repentance part of my life of prayer?
Scriptures:
Any scripture from the text; John 4:23-24; John17:17; 1Tim.
3:15; 2 Tim.2:25
