BUILDING OUR OWN PRISONS

I realized that we as humans do not have to be incarcerated to be in prison. This thought crossed my mind as I was called this last week by my Aunt Reva who is 93 years old and told my cousins to get me over to her home to pray over her. So as I was sitting by her hospital bed in her room I performed the Last Rite from the Book of Common Prayer and added some of my own prayers along with the ancient ones with Holy Oil. I saw a woman who loved living life and loved people and was always on the go now she seemed trapped by her failing, human, aging body. She was imprisoned by her body and her eyes looked at me like she was saying, "Free me, oh free me, for the love of God free me. I want to get up and move around again and go places, please free me." At that moment I realized she was imprisoned. Soon She will be called home by the Father in Heaven where she will be young and free again and free forevermore.

There are people imprisoned by their minds. Mental Illness imprisons many and it can be an awful nightmare for them and their loved ones. At times medicine can loosen the shackles and provide for minimum security while others require full-time care in a maximum security type of institutionalism. But who is really free?

We imprison ourselves with fears. I have a profound fear of big dogs that can paralyze me. It keeps me ever vigilant whenever I go some were never knowing if a big dog will appear and bite me. If one is around it is hard to relax and enjoy where I am at. So at times I feel imprisoned by this fear.

Humanity can imprison themselves with bad habits or addictions that can make a person a prisoner of whatever habit or addiction they may have like drugs, alcohol, smoking, and pornography to name a few. The habits of people-pleasing can be another vicious one also.

But we can hand over these prisons to Jesus and let Him help us. To what extent He will help us is left to His own wisdom and He may also use others to help with the process. Between the human and divine, the Great Physician can help in many different ways and we can be a part of that process of releasing people from the prison they find themselves in. May we be open to being the hands and feet of our Lord.

The greatest prison that Jesus Christ released us from is the prison of sin. Loving us enough to leave Heaven and come in human form and redeem us and resurrect us back into a harmonious relationship with the Holy Trinity.

2 Corinthians 3:17Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

Comments

POISONING THE FRUITS OF THE HOLY BIBLE

The Holy Bible has many beautiful truths within its pages and the most wonderful story in the world of how a loving and gracious God came from Heaven to Earth to save us from sin and ourselves. What I have seen that saddens my heart is when men and women distort the Bible's precious truths. Sometimes they play mental gymnastics with a rubicon of verses to put together their own view of a topic and make the Bible appear to support their side. Both the liberal and conservative Christians do it and even those who are not even believers play this game. People who want all answers to life and faith but only from the Bible are some of the most toxic and unhappy people I know. Where is their Christlike love? Jesus dealt with this kind of mindset in his mortal time on earth and they were called Pharisees. We must be willing to take the Bible as it is written and what the writers led by the Holy Spirit meant. We must be authentic and transparent. Some things in the Bible are uncomfortabl

CATHOLIC TENDENCIES

Ever since I was introduced to the Catholic Church I have been fascinated by this body of the Christian faith. One thing that has stuck with me that I admire is the unashamed strength to stand up for what they believe and back it up with The Three Pillars of the Church. Now for those who do not know The Three Pillars, they are number one, Sacred Scripture which comprises the Old Testament and New Testament in a total of seventy-three books. Next is the Apostolic Tradition which is the Living Tradition and the liturgies. Thirdly, The Living Magisterium which is the teaching authority of the Pope in Communion with the Bishops. So what brought this topic up for me is listening to a podcast by Fr. Mike Schmitz denouncing the opening in France of the Olympics when blasphemy was committed by mocking The Last Supper of Jesus Christ. I know some of you are thinking this is already old news. At the time, so many wrote and talked about it that I felt it would be overkill if I wrote about it. I

WHAT VOICES ARE YOU LISTENING TO?

Since the internet entered our homes and social media dominates the culture of the world we as a human race have rapidly lost our humanity in many ways. People are so vicious to one another and it is so sad to see how narcissistic we have become as a species. I am often balancing what I read and what I listen to so I do not become toxic and filled with false understandings and beliefs. So it is very important to consider just what voices you are listening to and what voices are you reading. What is the mindset of the people, shows, and music you are allowing into your life? We need to be more alert to not allowing trash into our minds, ears, and eyes. Let us not become a landfill for society's useless trash. If you let garbage in soon it will be garbage out. What is most in your heart will eventually come out the mouth both spoken and written. Matthew 15:18-20

Rewired for the Journey

Search This Blog