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Fear is no obstacle for God
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By Mary Regina Morrell
©Catholic Online 2005
"Rejoice, I have found my sheep which was lost." Luke 15:6
In years past, New Year's resolutions for me have been anything but divinely inspired. They ran the gamut of the ordinary -- be more organized, eat better, exercise more, spend less money, finish all my projects.
This year I had, more or less, rejected the idea of making any resolutions and, when, on January 1st I heard person after person recount their already broken promises, I was glad I hadn't bothered.
But as God would have it, I soon recalled a small print hanging near the sacristy of the Cathedral, a beautiful painting by renowned artist, Alfred Soord, entitled "The Lost Sheep." The painting depicts a shepherd high up in the crags of a mountain, leaning precariously over the rocky slopes with only his staff to steady him, in order to reach down and pull to safety a sheep who had wandered over the edge.
It only takes a slight stretch of the imagination to picture the next frame of the scene: Jesus gathering the animal in his arms and crying down the mountain, "Rejoice! I have found my sheep which was lost!"
I have reflected on this picture often, most especially when I am need of feeling that Jesus will always be there for me, always be the hand that reaches out to me even when I am lost through my own willfulness. It called to mind the words of the beautiful psalm, "The Lord is my Shepherd, there is nothing I shall want." In reminding me that there is someone who rejoices simply in my being in the fold, the painting had always been a source of comfort, a well-spring of peace, a reminder of a very different kind of love.
But on this day I was struck by something different - the courage of Christ; the courage that enabled him, out of love, to overcome whatever fear he must have experienced in being Shepherd to the lost.
Jesus moved past his fear, denied his instinct for self-preservation for the sake of another and taught us all what it means to truly love.
Now "The Lost Sheep" had become a challenge, an encouragement to journey through the fears that have so often kept me from becoming all that God intended - fear of failure, of change, of rejection, of ridicule, of imperfection.
I had become aware over the years of many things I had not done in my life because of fear. There were many impediments to my own spiritual and emotional growth, and my own physical health as well, that had never been overcome. An inertia fortified by fear had taken over and the richness of my life had been diminished.
Today I can hear the words of author Anais Nin ringing in my ears, "Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage."
Certainly, as preacher, teacher, healer, Shepherd and Lamb, Jesus' life was one stretched to the limits and beyond, richer than anyone could imagine and filled with as much pain.
No doubt, as the wisest people will tell you, he would acknowledge that it was the pain that taught him the most and the Spirit's gift of courage that allowed him to bear it all.
Now when I look at the painting and consider the courage of Christ, I think that maybe it's time for a resolution.
This is a new year after all.
______________________
Mary Regina Morrell is the author of Angels in High Top Sneakers, a free-lance writer and columnist.
Contact
Diocese of Metuchen
http://www.diometuchen.org
NJ, US
Mary Regina Morrell - Associate Director, Office of Religious Education, 732 562-1990
mmorrell@diometuchen.org
Keywords
fear, courage, sheep, resolutions
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