4th Sunday after Easter 20.4.08 Immersed in God
The three young men were cast into the furnace, and emerged without a hair singed, and not even the smell of burning about them. Just a pleasant excursion for them (cf Daniel 3).
This is a very remarkable story, because we are accustomed to think of fire as a very destructive element and something much to be feared.
We could say they were cast into God’s protection as well as the furnace and He delivered them from evil by the greater power of good.
God Himself is sometimes likened to a fire in mystical language. The intensity and power, and warmth of His Presence make it an appropriate if inadequate image.
If we could think of being cast into the fire, only this time the fire is all good in its effects; not destroying us but blessing and healing us – this would be an image of our interaction with God.
He asks us to cast ourselves into His care, totally believing and trusting in Him.
This fire will change us certainly, but always for the better.
We often do not know what to pray for; so many different things play on our minds and occur to us.
At such times we could think of God as being in front of us, like a raging fire, and we stand in need of Him in all sorts of ways.
Just cast ourselves into His presence, immerse ourselves in the flames of His love.
He will forgive us, console us, guide, protect, heal, supply what is lacking, change vices into virtues, make things happen, prevent other things happening... He will act always and only for good.
So our prayer must bring about good. It is always good to pray, and always necessary too. (We might think: well, everything is going smoothly at the moment; nothing to pray about – never! At the very least we could give thanks, but there are always a million needs to ask for.
The prayer of immersion in the fire covers every kind of prayer, including thanksgiving and praise.)
Whether we are praying for our own needs, or another person, or the whole Church, the principle is the same. Make contact with Him, in a casting-down motion (indicating trust and abandonment) – and things will happen. (Sparks will fly, we might say)
This approach will work whether we are thinking generally or in particular, large or small scale. Everything goes into the fire.
St James says that only good things come from God. There is no impurity in Him; all is pure and clear, like a flame. And the same with Our Lord in the Gospel, referrring to the Holy Spirit. He will show up evils by the purity of His own goodness.
If we come into His presence He will burn away all impurities from within us.
All fear, all self-interest give way in the light of God’s glory. We are raised to higher things as our understanding and capacity to give are increased.
Often we don’t know where to start when it comes to changing our lives. We have one fault, one weakness and that leads to another and we can’t seem to get out of the cycle of sins.
For example, if we are too lazy to pray we will not pray to be free of laziness; so we are trapped in the cycle.
If we are too angry to forgive we will never forgive and thus always be angry.
We need something to help us break free.
The Holy Spirit (God) will burn through the barriers and all at once enable us to see and do things differently.
If we stand close enough to the Fire we cannot fail to receive some of the heat. Throw ourselves into His presence and change must happen (for the better).
