Lenten Reflection: Heaven Hath No Fury…
04 Mar 2025 | Office for Mission and Identity (OMI)
There is a popular saying that ‘Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’. While we can debate the truth or soundness of this statement, we can all believe that extreme feelings can push us to extreme actions. In fact, even Saint Ignatius warns against making decisions at the height of one’s emotions. For true enough, too much happiness, anger, sorrow or excitement can color our perspective.
The same is true with love. When one loves so intensely, it can dictate our steps, words and inclinations. And even God was not spared from this reality. For His deep love for us led Him to come down and be in our woundedness, to suffer for us, and to die pursuing our salvation. Perhaps we can say it was foolish that in this case when love was not only a feeling but became an action and a commitment, the Father did not withhold even the Son in His passion for us. He discarded the wall between His divinity and our humanity, breaking the barrier between the paradise of His world and the slum of our existence. Heaven hath no ‘fury’, no limits, like a God who loves so completely.
This is the love we have been shown and offered for that is the kind of lover the Lord is. And this may be the only extreme emotion and choice that we gain from for we are all the better because of it. So perhaps it is time to turn to ourself and look: what about us, how much do we love? How much do we allow ourself to receive such love? How much do we give love that we have been empowered to share? We can never have the same depth or breadth of God’s love but for sure, we have love in our very own corner and capacity. Especially these days when the world seems to shift and fall apart all around us, may we never fail to choose to be ruled by love’s strength and power.
May sikat na kasabihang maging ang impyerno ay di makalalamang sa kabangisan ng isang babaeng nasaktan. Samantalang puwede pa nating pagdebatehan ang katotohanan o katinuan nitong pangungusap, maaari tayong maniwala na nakapagbubunsod nga sa sukdulang pagkilos ang mga sukdulang damdamin. Katunayan, nagbabala pati si San Ignacio laban sa pagpapasya sa rurok ng ating mga nararamdaman. Sapagkat tunay na nakukulayan ang ating pananaw ng labis na kasiyahan, galit, lungkot o pananabik.
Ganyan din sa pag-ibig. Kapag nagmamahal na ubod ng rubdob, madidiktahan nito ang ating mga paghakbang, pananalita at pagkiling. At maging ang Diyos ay nabiktima niyang realidad. Sapagkat nagbunga ang Kanyang malalim na pagmamahal para sa atin upang bumaba Siya at makiisa sa ating pagkakasugat, na magdusa para sa atin, at mamatay sa pakikipaglaban para sa ating kaligtasan. Marahil masasabing kahibangan iyon na sa pagkakataong ito na hindi lamang damdamin ang pag-ibig bagkus naging isang pagkilos at pagtataya, walang ipinagkait ang Ama kahit pa ang Anak sa pagkahumaling Niya sa atin. Isinantabi Niya ang pagkakahiwalay ng Kanyang kabanalan at ng ating katauhan, winasak ang harang sa paraiso ng Kanyang mundo at lugmok ng ating pag-iral. Maging langit ay di makalalamang sa ‘kabangisan’, sa kawalang-hangganan, ng isang Diyos na lubos na nagmamahal.
Ito ang pag-ibig na ipinakita at inialay sa atin sapagkat ganoong uri ng mangingibig ang Panginoon. At tila ito lamang ang sukdulang damdamin at pagpiling may mabuting dulot sa atin sapagkat mas mainam tayo dahil dito. Kung kaya marahil tamang panahon upang bumaling sa sarili at tingnan: tayo, gaano kalalim tayo magmahal? Gaano nating hinahayaan ang sarili na tanggapin itong pag-ibig? Gaano nating ipinagkakaloob itong pagmamahal na binigyan tayo ng lakas na ibahagi? Hindi tayo kailanman makakatulad sa lalim at lawak ng pag-ibig ng Diyos subalit tiyak na mayroon tayong pag-ibig sa sarili nating kinalulugaran at kakayahan. Ngayong mga araw kung kailan tila nagbabago at nagkakagulo itong mundo, higit ang tawag na piliin nating masaklaw sa bisa at kapangyarihan ng pag-ibig.
#ateneoishome #aihlentenreflections
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