Love through Locked Doors

[Psalms62]

POSTED ON DECEMBER 21, 2017 BY PARACLETE PRESS

An Excerpt From Bruised and Wounded by Ronald Rolheiser

Some years ago, some other friends of mine lost a daughter to suicide. She was in her early twenties and had a history of clinical depression. An initial attempt at suicide failed. The family then rushed round her, brought her to the best doctors and psychiatrists, and generally tried in every way to love and coax her out of her depression. Nothing worked. Eventually she died by suicide. Looking at their efforts and the incapacity of their love to break through and save her life, we see how helpless human love can be at a point. Sometimes all our best efforts, patience, and affection can’t break through to a frightened, depressed person. In spite of everything, that person remains locked inside of herself, huddled in fear, inaccessible, bent upon self-destruction. All love, it seems, is powerless to penetrate.
Fortunately, we are not without hope. The redeeming love of God can do what we can’t. God’s love is not stymied in the same way as is ours. Unlike our own, it can go through locked doors and enter closed, frightened, bruised, lonely places and breathe out peace, freedom, and new life there. Our belief in this is expressed in one of the articles of the creed: He descended into hell .

What is meant by that? God descended into hell? Generally, we take this to mean that, between his death and resurrection, Jesus descended into some kind of hell or limbo wherein lived the souls of all the good persons who had died since the time of Adam. Once there, Jesus took them all with him to heaven. More recently, some theologians have taken this article of faith to mean that, in his death, Jesus experienced alienation from his Father and thus experienced in some real sense the pain of hell. There is merit to these interpretations, but this doctrine also means something more. To say that Christ descended into hell is to, first and foremost, say something about God’s love for us and how that love will go to any length, descend to any depth, and go through any barrier in order to embrace a wounded, huddled, frightened, and bruised soul. By dying as he did, Jesus showed that he loves us in such a way that his love can penetrate even our private hells, going right through the barriers of hurt, anger, fear, and hopelessness.

 

[TheOldColonel]

Indeed. There must be a way to break through… otherwise, it is a vicious cycle.

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[Psalms62]

We see this expressed in an image in John’s Gospel where, twice, Jesus goes right through locked doors, stands in the middle of a huddled circle of fear, and breathes out peace. That image of Jesus going through locked doors is surely the most consoling thought within the entire Christian faith (and is unrivalled in any other world religion). Simply put, it means that God can help us even when we can’t help ourselves. God can empower us even when we are too hurt, frightened, sick, and weak to even, minimally, help ourselves.

I remember a haunting, holy picture that I was given as a child. It showed a man, huddled in depression, in a dark room, behind a closed door. Outside stood Jesus, with a lantern, knocking softly on the door. The door only had a knob on its inside. Everything about the picture said: “Only you can open that door.” Ultimately what is said in that picture is untrue. Christ doesn’t need a doorknob. He can, and does, enter through locked doors. He can enter a heart that is locked up in fear and wound. What the picture says is true about human love. It can only knock and remain outside when it meets a heart that is huddled in fear and loneliness.

But that is not the case with God’s love, as John 20 and our doctrine about the descent into hell make clear. God’s love can, and does, descend into hell. It does not require that a wounded, emotionally-paralyzed person first finds the strength to open herself to love. There is no private hell, no depression, no sickness, no fear, and even no bitterness so deep or so enclosed that God’s love cannot descend into it. There are no locked doors through which Christ cannot go.

I am sure that when that young woman, whose suicide I mentioned earlier, awoke on the other side, Jesus stood inside of her huddled fear and spoke to her, softly and gently, those same words he spoke to his disciples on that first Easter day when he went through the locked doors behind which they were huddled and said: “Peace be with you! Again, I say it, Peace be with you!”

Reference:https://blog.paracletepress.com/index.php/2017/12/

Paraclete Impressions

 

[Psalms62]

You have to read the rest of the story.

 

[TheOldColonel]

I did. Yet, the reality of such suffering transcends the ending of that story. It is a collective suffering shared by many who are locked in by the ironies of isolation in the midst of help.

 

[0Scarlett_nidiyilii]

I’m sorry for you pain and that of your friends.

Praying for the dear girl , and her friends and family ray:t2:ray:t2:ray:t2:

 

[Psalms62]

I did. Yet, the reality of such suffering transcends the ending of that story. It is a collective suffering shared by many who are locked in by the ironies of isolation in the midst of help.

The meaning of the word “transcend” in the English dictionary describes rising above, going further, triumphing over, being more, or extending beyond conventional limits . When we use this term in connection with God, we are acknowledging and recognizing that He is completely beyond what we can imagine, understand or comprehend.

The resurrection is a good example. You know, and I have to bring up the Exodus, the people feared Pharaoh and his army pursuing them. That is a physical fear but then there is another kind of a fear within ourselves. That state of inadequacy can bring us to a point of having to trust in God and much like Moses when he had to face Pharaoh, what did he say? Send someone else. God “builds us up” for his purpose. That fear when trust and a belief become a struggle from within, it will not allow you to run away until you face it with God’s help. Then like a test - as if God released his hand from you, you begin your walk with God and have confidence that He is continually guiding you. No one is really all alone - we think we are but not really.

 

[Psalms62]

I’m sorry for you pain and that of your friends.

Praying for the dear girl , and her friends and family ray:t2:ray:t2:ray:t2:

Thank you so much! All souls day was today so I went to church and just got home. The organist played my favorite songs and I felt at peace. My whole family lost a great mother and I miss her tremendously but then, there some other struggles as a family. So the needed extra prayers is always a blessing. I have to learn a different path as a mom, I’ve never become so close to God within these last a couple of years and have teetered back and forth within my own faith. I’ll never forget (prior) a new seminarian had struggled with scripture so he finally knelt down at the altar and prayed to God to show him or to give him insight. I thought that he will have to be a “great” seminarian when showed how much he wanted to be taught. We have been very blessed with some very inspired priests!

 

[Psalms62]

Last comment: You and I were thinking of the same word “transcend” so I hope that you will not connect my post as a rebuttal.

The* Via Pulchritudinis,
Privileged Pathway for Evangelisation and Dialogue

“There is nothing more beautiful than to know Him and to speak to others of our friendship with Him. The task of the shepherd, the task of the fisher of men, can often seem wearisome. But it is beautiful and wonderful, because it is truly a service to joy, to God’s joy which longs to break into the world.”

Benedict XVI
Homily at the Mass for the Inauguration of his Pontificate
24 April 2005

 

[Lee1]

He is continually guiding you. No one is really all alone - we think we are but not really.

Absolutely. Faith like this is a wonderful gift, we should never stop thanking Him, never stop loving Him and never stop longing for His love.

 

[Psalms62]

Jesus penetrates into our hearts and allows the spirit from within us to be loved and to have his peace. You know, when you sit in front of the Holy Eurcharist and others are in the same room that peace is felt throughout. I have to admired the younger generation because they sit right in front and have such a devotion and love for Christ that it generates off to others…