Thomas Jacob
Unconditional love of God is demonstrated in the Cross of Calvary. This is a concept that means showing love towards someone regardless of his or her actions or belief. God’s love is not restricted to any particular people but is open to all. Jesus is teaching us to love not only our friends but also our foes. It is the sign of forgiveness and willingness to sacrifice. The sinless Creator sacrificed himself for the sin of the creation. This is the redemption of humanity.
The passion of Christ is “self denial’. The son of man shed his blood and broke his body as ransom for sin. This “unconditional love” of God is “Christ Consciousness”. This state of mind is victory over the bondage of humanity to this world. This is the meaning of Cross. Here, “Human soul” overcomes “human senses” to win over the temptations of the world. Lent assists us in our efforts for this higher level of spirituality. It is the way of the cross.
The passion of Christ is “self denial’. The son of man shed his blood and broke his body as ransom for sin. This “unconditional love” of God is “Christ Consciousness”. This state of mind is victory over the bondage of humanity to this world. This is the meaning of Cross. Here, “Human soul” overcomes “human senses” to win over the temptations of the world. Lent assists us in our efforts for this higher level of spirituality. It is the way of the cross.
How far we are true to this state of mind in our day to day life? Are we not attached to the lust of this world, ignoring the needs of our less fortunate fellow beings? We feel that we are the owners of what we possess in this world and want to amass more and more at the cost of others. We fail to understand that our existence in this material world is immaterial. Those who lived in this world one hundred years ago are no more in existence now.
Our current possessions belonged to them once. Another one hundred years later, none of us will be in existence in this world. Then somebody else will possess what we possess now. The material world is an illusion, not reality. Our attachment to this world is fallacy. When we leave this world, nothing will follow us. We have to leave everything here. If we do not save our soul, we have lost everything. Our motto should be “the union” of our soul with the Divine. We should strive for this by attaining the “Christ Consciousness”. For this we have to align our life with that of Jesus. To merge us with Jesus, discipline of body and mind is required. This can be attained through meditation, prayer and scripture reading. It should be a continuous process in our life till death. Let us work together for a meaningful Lent and Christian life. Our Savior will strengthen us in our earnest attempt in this direction if we allow him to lead us. It is the unconditional surrender to the Will of God.