Being Led to God - Part Four

For you and I to really face our life and become absolutely all we are created to be requires the virtue of courage. First and foremost, courage understood as a virtue means one truly accepts one’s own existence.  Existence has to do with all the good and bad, sorrow and joy, as well as that which supports and assists and that which frustrates and weighs down. Courage involves accepting the whole as it is; confident that all of it will play into the wisdom of God. Our individual qualities form our whole and this leads to us having an essential character. Our essential character determines what we are able to do positively and/or detrimentally. To have courage is to accept the entirety of our character.
 
Deep within us rests a place from which we can draw new beginnings. This place is a freedom given by God. And our interior life involves the practice of courage. The future is always the unknown. Courage requires advancing into the unknown even in the midst of chaos. Jesus came to reveal that the future, although completely unknown, is not strange, not hostile, but arranged for you and me by God. Our lives don’t just happen alongside the history of humanity; they form a part of it. And if and when we find that we are stuck on something from our past, we need to stop and acknowledge we are held captive and need to strive for and regain our courage and face the future with confidence. Bravery and the virtue of courage are related but not the same thing. Bravery refers to behavior in visible situations. Courage refers to the way we meet life. A brave person stands one’s ground in danger, facing evil. Bravery is bearing up against the difficulties of life. Courage is accepting life and meeting it bravely.
 
In order for Jesus to authentically be the Way, the Truth, and the Life he had to accept everything! He faced violent, deceitful, corrupt, and immoral men. What was most evil in humanity Jesus faced head on! Let us think for a moment about Jesus’ fateful night in the Garden of Gethsemane, try and fathom just some of it. That night revealed the greatest call and response to courage. I would like us to realize something; that suffering that night in Gethsemane is unlike any other. Other men and women suffer brutal deaths. It was not just merely his human struggle with the ugly realities of the cross. It was supernatural suffering, unparalleled; suffering of a sinless God-man who alone could fathom the depth of God’s righteousness and human sin. His struggle in the Garden reveals the most important truths of our lives. Jesus explored this question one last time with the Father: Is there any other way to achieve salvation for humanity? Is there any other way for the sins of humans to be forgiven? Let me underscore the answer revealed painfully that night – There is no other way for humans to be saved! There are no other options!
 
Jesus accepted everything of his own existence and sought to clearly accept the wisdom of God. Jesus not only had within his reach everything Satan tried to tempt him with in the desert, he could have been and done anything he wanted. But Jesus dared to live his life not in order to accomplish something of earthly greatness, or glorious heroism. Jesus courageously lived to reveal his truest self. He courageously lived to seek the greatest good for the other, and he did it by accepting everything about himself.
 
Let us never lose sight of the fact Jesus lived so that you and I might gain the courage to follow him. That night in Gethsemane reveals the tremendous need in our life for prayer. That night in Gethsemane reveals the power of prayer. Prayer that night did not deliver Jesus from what he had to suffer, but it did deliver him through it. The Apostles did not pray for themselves that night as Jesus requested. Fear would then end up ruling their hearts and they deserted Jesus. Without prayer it is impossible to be delivered from temptation. Without prayer you and I will eventually turn from God. Without prayer you and I will never attain the virtue of courage and be led to God’s ultimate will for our life. We adore you, O Christ, and praise you. Because by your cross you have redeemed the world.