Moses received the 10 commandments of which the second was, "You shall not utter the name of Yahweh your God to misuse it, for Yahweh will not leave unpunished the man who utters His name to misuse it." Misusing it means to swear falsely by God's name or to utter it irreverently. God cares about His Name and taught us, as His children, that we should do the same. He told Moses that anyone swearing by God's name must speak the truth since He would take vengeance on anyone who coupled His name with a lie. He also made it clear that His name should never be used in casual conversation. It should be spoken with reverence and gratitude and only in holy circumstances.
'Taking God's Name in vain" means to use it as casually as any common word. We not only hear, nearly everyday, His Name 'taken in vain' but His name coupled with profanity, applied to sinful situations and used disrespectfully everywhere and always. People's response if confronted is, "Oh! It's just talk - just a word! I didn't really mean anything by it. It's just an expression. Why are you getting so worked up about it!" We often hear people on T.V. say when surprised, "Oh my g--!" for no reason. This is offensive to God and God has indicated He will punish those who misuse and abuse His Name! St. James said, "God says, "Vengeance is mine. I will repay them as they deserve!" and "It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God!"
Moses, after leading the Israelites out of Egypt, asked God, "Show me Your glory, I beg You!" 'I will let all My splendor pass in front of you and I will pronounce before you the Name Yahweh. You cannot see My face for man cannot see Me and live . . . you shall see the back of Me; but My face is not to be seen." Later, Yahweh passed before him and proclaimed, 'Yahweh, Yahweh, a God of tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in kindness and faithfulness; for thousands He maintains His kindness, forgives faults, transgression, sin; yet He lets nothing go unchecked, punishing the father's guilt in the sons and in the grandsons to the third and fourth generation.'
It is written that when Moses came down from the mountain after talking with God, the skin on his face was 'shining'! All of the people were terrified at the awe-inspiring sight of his face shining as brightly as lightning! We read here that Yahweh proclaims His Name before Moses and expresses the goodness within Himself, His Name and His presence - filled with compassion and blessings - but also justice. He forgives, to the faithful, the sins of thousands of generations of descendents but punishes the unrepentent!
We all know that God is omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, eternal and all good. However, since we are all temporal, weak, sinful and ignorant . . . how can we expect to know and understand a God that is so unlike ourselves?! How can we ever grasp, have the strength to endure or the goodness to perceive, all the 'Wonder' He is?!
St. John gave us insight into the essence of God's being when he said, "God is love". The Person, the Presence, the Name, the Voice (Word) and finally the Love of God are all so pure and powerful that none of us can grasp them. However, because God IS Love, we can get some sense of Him through a pure understanding of what Love is - even by looking at limited human love! God is love and everything He made is an expression of His love. We know that we are the ultimate expression of the Love of God since we were 'made in His image', the image of God is the expression of Love, since God is Love.
St. Francis said, "Love is so great and precious it ought never to be mentioned except rarely and under great necessity, and with much reverence."
Since God is love - the word 'love' should (like the Name, the Word and the Presence of God) be treated with the same reverence and wonder. However, the devil is constantly trying to corrupt God's holy words doing this through 'popular culture' - 'the World'. For example, men often use the word 'love' to get a woman to accept sexual advances even though these men have no love for these women and just want to use their bodies to satisfy their selfish sensual greed. All of their supposed 'love' vanishes after they get what they want from them! Also, we often hear people telling others that they love them and afterward hear they have done heartless things which prove they don't even know the meaning of love! This is something often seen in many of the 'Reality' T.V. shows e.g. 'The Bachelor'. Even religious folk talk about 'loving' things e.g. that new dress, a sport's team or the 'good' weather. This abuse of the word Love cheapens Its Divine significance in the world and the hearts of men - including the hearts of us who are religious!
Our father Francis said that love 'ought never to be mentioned except rarely and under great necessity, and with much reverence'. This a very interesting thing to say since the love of God, in this world, seems to be almost forgotten! Shouldn't we try to mention God's holy name and the infinite love He has for humanity, all of the time? Francis was an evangelist. One of the great Apostolates of the early Franciscans was evangelism - spreading the Good News of God's great love for humanity. The Franciscans, as we know, went literally around the world bringing this message of salvation to all and, without hesitation, proclaimed to all the Love of God.
So . . . what did Francis mean when he said 'rarely', under absolute 'necessity' and with 'much reverence'? He meant that, each BELIEVERS heart, should wonder at the greatness of God's love and should gaze with awe at God's love as shown on the cross of Christ. However, BETWEEN BELIEVERS the Love of God (which we should already know since we know God) should rarely be spoken. Francis said we should mention it 'rarely' to each other but that we should always have it in our hearts and shown through our actions. He said it should only be uttered under great 'necessity' - only when absolutely necessary as when a believer is suffering doubts or is experiencing terrible trials. Finally, he said, on those rare occasions when it is absolutely necessary, it should be uttered with great 'reverence' - with the greatest sense of awe, wonder, respect and gratitude (between believers).
Also, even when God's Love is talked about during evangelizing, Francis said that his followers were to spread the Gospel 'by their lives and, if need be, with words'. If we hold Christ sacred in our hearts, tremble at His glorious name, are shaken at His presence in our lives and overwhelmed by His voice speaking through His holy Word, then our lives will reveal the wonder of this Love that Francis was reluctant, due to his great reverence, to mention. Jesus said, "People will know you are My disciples by your love . . . ". That is what Francis told the brothers: love is not something we talk about between ourselves but something we MUST show to everyone we meet. St. John said, "Let our love not just be something we talk about but something that is real and active in our lives".
St. Paul said " . . . planted in love and built on love, you will with all the saints have strength to grasp the breadth and the length, the height and the depth; until, knowing the love of Christ, which is beyond all knowledge, you are filled with the utter fullness of God!" Amen! Let us live lives filled with love until, transformed in love we can love like the Father of Love - perfectly!
PRAYER: Lord God, You are too great to even mention just like Your Word and the Love You revealed through Your Son, Jesus, our Savior. We thank You for not letting us be destroyed by Your glory and holiness. You draw near us because You love us and know that the greatest blessing You can give us is . . . Yourself. Lord, our sins make us Your enemies but we look to Jesus, our brother, crucified out of love, to cleanse us from our sin. Help us to always be with You so that we can always rejoice in Your presence. It is You that gives us life and allows us to know the glory of true Love, Your Love. Help us to reveal Your Love to the world, not so much by what we say but by what we do. Help us to love like Your Son Jesus loved so that the Light of Your Love might find a home in every mans heart. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment