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A person who shares God's very life, through Baptism, and lives in a state of grace, can be certain that when she prays to the Father in Christ's name, in the Spirit, He hears and answers. How can He fail to hear the prayer of His own Son? In sharing the life of the Divine Persons, we share in Their loving responses to one another in the Godhead: hence our prayers are granted.
A person who shares God's very life, through Baptism, and lives in a state of grace, can be certain that when she prays to the Father in Christ's name, in the Spirit, He hears and answers. How can He fail to hear the prayer of His own Son? In sharing the life of the Divine Persons, we share in Their loving responses to one another in the Godhead: hence our prayers are granted.
A deep pool in a forest clearing is like the mystery of the Godhead. It is unfathomable, but we can still 'enter' and know God more deeply by study and prayer, by knowledge and love.
The message preached by a faithful Pope is consistent, coherent, and effective for those who receive it and who therefore 'live in the light'. It is a message for the whole world. And Pope John Paul II, who has preached it so well, and has now died, has 'soared' into the heart of the Godhead, in death - a 'place' with which he was familiar through prayer.
At the 'heart' of the great fire of the Godhead stands the figure of Christ, like a second Adam. Christ stripped Himself of glory to descend to our sinful world: hence the Father's gift of an Immaculate Mother, to welcome Christ, and to be his 'home' in exile.
The Godhead is so holy and ineffable and glorious. The glory of the Godhead is like shards of glass or ice: piercing, powerful, and even painful for those unaccustomed to the light; and we can only enter it with and through Jesus Christ our Saviour and Mediator.
When people accept God's call, and approach Him, some halt soon afterwards, being afraid that He will ask them to do uncongenial tasks, or make sacrifices they don't want to make. They do not really open their hearts to Him in prayer, for the same reason, and picture the Godhead as a massive fortress or walled city, with an open door they do not want to enter. They do not discover, therefore, all the joys and delights found inside by God's friends.
The soul who is ready to enter Heaven, after Purgatory and not straight after death, kneels in awe before the Godhead, and waits for Christ and Our Lady to lead him to the Father's heart.
Heaven is found by those who follow the path to the river of living water which is the Godhead. Those who refuse to walk where the Saints have walked, and follow their own paths, find they arrive, after death, below the dam. It is too late to change their minds.
The Godhead is like an opaque cloud, in that we cannot pierce it by our sight to understand God's plans and thoughts. Yet we know His Will for us, which is that we keep His Commandments and fulfil our daily duties.
Where divine fire blazes up from a human heart - fire which is perfect charity - it reaches as far as the great 'Fire of Charity' of Heaven, which is the Godhead; and so there is union. Where a soul lacks charity, there is no union - though only God can judge.
From the 'whirlwind' of love which is the life of the Three Divine Persons in the Godhead, Christ descended to earth at His Incarnation, in the womb of the Virgin Mary; and it was always part of the Father's plan of salvation that Christ would continue to be found amongst us, by His Real Presence in the Blessed Sacrament, the Holy Eucharist.
How do we gain entry to Heaven? The Godhead is like an impenetrable cloud that no-one can enter by his own efforts, or by earning entry, or bargaining, or using skills. It is entered by humble souls who surrender to God; the Holy Spirit lifts them into the heart of the Godhead, where, at the centre, they join Christ and His Saints.
It is as if, far above the earth, the Godhead holds at its heart an oasis of light. This is the city of God, home of the Saints and Angels for Eternity; and it is foolishness, in the Lord's sight, to risk losing an Eternity of bliss, there, for a moment's earthly pleasure or gain followed by Eternal pain and darkness.
By ourselves, we cannot penetrate the bright cloud which is the Godhead. But God reaches out to some of us with a firm invitation to enter - in a sudden conversion - or reaches out at the very instant that someone calls out for His help. Unless we enter His life we shall, in the end, fall into the void.
The Godhead is like a bright cloud which loving people can enter, in prayer. For those who yearn for entry, but who fail to care for their neighbour in earthly life, there seems to be no way 'in': no possibility of union in contemplation, unless they first learn how to love.
It is the Will of God to draw us up, to share His Divine life, so that each of us, after death, might live eternally within the interpenetration and communion of the Three Divine Persons in the ecstatic Unity within the Godhead. Yet this is not possible for those who oppose His Will or refuse to believe in the Son Who died to save us.
Christ is true God, as well as true man. The bright cloud represented the Godhead, and Heaven; and as it split open, Christ emerged, willing to descend to earth to live as a sinless man in a sinful world, to save us from Hell. The Angels looked on in awe and wonder, seeing His love for us all.
We can no more know what it is 'like' at the heart of the Godhead than we can know what it is 'like' at the centre of an exploding star in the heavens. But we do know some things which are certain, because God has revealed them, through His Son. First, He is Love: like a fire of love. Secondly, we need to be pure if we hope to enter God and be joyful rather than tormented.
By Sincere repentance, expressed in Confession to a priest, we take such a powerful step towards the Lord that it's as if the soul soars like a rocket, into the heart of the Godhead, to be met with cries of joy amidst the glory. If everyone knew the great benefits of sorrow-for-sin they would repent more frequently and do so with gladness!
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