{"id":37539,"date":"2019-09-19T23:28:21","date_gmt":"2019-09-20T05:28:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/?p=37539"},"modified":"2019-09-19T23:56:05","modified_gmt":"2019-09-20T05:56:05","slug":"woe-to-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/woe-to-me\/","title":{"rendered":"Woe to Me!","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"

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OH<\/strong>, what a summer it has been! Everything I have touched has turned to dust. Vehicles, machinery, electronics, appliances, tires… nearly everything has broken. What an implosion of the material! I have been experiencing firsthand the words of Jesus:<\/p>\n

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Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be. (Matt 6:19-21)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I have frequently found myself at a loss for words and entering a deeper truth: there is no formula for God. Sometimes I hear people say, “If you just have faith, God will heal you” or “If you just believe, He will bless you.” But that is not always true. Like Jesus, sometimes the answer is that there is no other cup but the Way of the Cross; like Jesus, there is sometimes no other path but through the tomb. And that means that we must enter into the realm where, also like Jesus, we can only cry out, “Father, why have you forsaken me?”<\/em> Believe me, I have said that so many times this summer as I watched the first relative financial stability we’ve had in twenty years of ministry virtually crumble overnight. But time and again, I also found myself saying, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. What can the world offer me? Money? Fame? Security? It is all dust, all dust. But Lord, I don’t know where You are right now… but still, I trust in You.”<\/p>\n

Yes, that is a “now word” for the Church at this hour: let go, let go, let go<\/em>. God has something better to give us, but He can’t when our hands our full. We have to let go of this world, of its enticements and comforts so that the Father can grant us The Coming New and Divine Holiness<\/em><\/a>. If God warns, it is because He loves us. And if He chastises, it is so that He may bless us. In the parallel passage in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus says:<\/p>\n

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All the nations of the world seek for these things, and your Father knows that you need them [food, clothing, etc.]. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these other things will be given you besides. Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your belongings and give alms. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy. (Luke 12:30-33)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The Father wants to give us the kingdom! That is what the present labour pains are all about. The Father is about to establish on earth the Kingdom of Christ in a new modality so that His will be done on earth “as it is in heaven.”<\/em> Yes, we must keep on living as the duty of the moment demands, for we cannot for certain “know the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority.”<\/em> [1]<\/sup><\/a>Acts 1:7<\/span><\/span>