Adieu My Bangkok!

Admit that God deserves to be loved very much, yea, boundlessly, because He loved us first, He infinite and we nothing, loved us, miserable sinners, with a love so great and so free. This is why I said at the beginning that the measure of our love to God is to love immeasurably. For since our love is toward God, who is infinite and immeasurable, how can we bound or limit the love we owe Him? Besides, our love is not a gift but a debt. And since it is the Godhead who loves us, Himself boundless, eternal, supreme love, of whose greatness there is no end, yea, and His wisdom is infinite, whose peace passeth all understanding; since it is He who loves us, I say, can we think of repaying Him grudgingly? ~Saint Bernard, On Loving God

 

I read this and thought what an extraordinary insight.  Just revolutionary!  And it comes from a 12th century, French monk, St Bernard of Claivaux, theologian and church leader.  He shares so passionately on God's intimacy with us.  Who are we to be honoured with such intimacy?  Yet, who are we not to be so honoured?  Truth is it is God's choice, pure and simple.  So much love is so readily on offer to us, here and now.  Revolutionary stuff!  Yet what do we do with it?  Do we even know about it?  Sadly, we too easily squander this precious opportunity in life.    

I was struck recently by how we waste love offered, when I read a news piece on abortion.  I am against abortion, but I do not want to appear as an anti-abortion extremist or terrorist, for we kill life in so many ways.  Abortion is but one way.  Still, what I read just left me speechless.  It is the testimony of a nurse in Queensland.  

"Some babies born alive after an abortion were never held by their parents but were instead placed in witches hats, taken out of the room and left to die."  

When so much love is offered us so freely, so intimately, by a God of life, how can we do that?  Do we really get it?   God's love is such that it revolutionizes our lives.  Revolution!  It is a word we pull back from, are threatened by.  Yet our faith in God and humanity calls us to revolution, for it is so far from human conception or thought.  Are we held back by the very word?  Is it such a dangerous word?  Yet, revolution is at hand when we fully partake of God's love and life. 

If we truly believe that God loves us so deeply, so intimately, we will never be the same again.  I reflect upon this mystery in the midst of My Bangkok, a somewhat crazy place, knowing that I am about to take my leave for three weeks holiday and explore the bigger world.  Such reflections on the mysteries of life deserve a wider field of  exploration, than even that of My Bangkok.  Adieu My Bangkok!  I will return soon, hopefully wiser and healthier for the experience.