Rousing Her Radiance: Day 28
Author: Andrew Comiskey
November 07, 2023
Bridal
Tears
‘Mary
triumphs with the sword in heart, not hand.’ - Cardinal Christoph Schonborn
Loving
Christ’s body hurts. The more we love Jesus, the more we love His heart’s
desire, ‘the Bride who has made herself ready’ (Rev. 19:7). Well, not quite
ready. She still stumbles down the aisle. ‘Jesus entrusts Himself to men who
betray Him again and again,’ laments Pope Benedict XVI alongside us.
We
ache for Her. All members of Jesus are subject to Her failings because She is us.
We stumble, and shepherds He entrusted to tend us fall sideways and backwards
in the grand procession.
At
times, it is a quiet discontent and at others a body blow—a direct hit. We have
all been scandalized in route to consummation.
Blessedly
so. Let me share three things I’ve learned about suffering well for the Church
(Catholic and Protestant).
1.Gift
of Tears: ‘Let the ministers of Lord weep between the porch and altar, “Have
pity and spare Your people, O Lord, give not Your heritage to reproach” …Why
should they say among the peoples, “Where is their God?”’ (Joel 2:17). My community lay in ruins. We had landed in
the center of a thriving ‘mother’ church that presided over a fast-growing international
movement. The aging founder John Wimber chose a successor who stumbled morally under
the weighty assignment. Then John died. Amid it all we scandalized the church
with our abuse crisis.
Jesus
invited me into Joel’s prayer: for weeks all I could do was weep before the
‘altar’ at church services. It was pure, from His heart for His Bride. I wanted
His beauty to rise from Her ashes. For His name’s sake. I was grieving for Her,
not me. I didn’t know if we had a future there or anywhere. I prayed through
tears.
2. Bearing:
‘If someone is caught in sin, restore him gently and watch out for your own
temptations. Bear each other’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ’ (Gal.
6:1-2). Everything was uncertain except God’s faithful love for us. We had to
bear the burden of not knowing what would happen. We stood with those more
impacted by the losses than we were. We trusted Him and the Spirit helped us,
reminding us that the Father’s embrace broke fear and all its enslaving
attachments (Romans 8:15-16). We persevered in
prayer to serve Her amid a messy process.
‘Perseverance
means remaining underneath, not throwing off the load but bearing it. We know
too little in the Church today about the ministry of bearing. Bearing involves
not shaking off the weight nor collapsing under it but remaining underneath it
and thus finding Christ there, even as He bore His Cross.’- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
3. Growing
Up into Jesus: ‘Then we will no longer be like infants, tossed and blown about
by…men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, living the truth in love, we will
in all things grow up into Christ who is our Head’ (Eph. 4:14-15). Bearing
with the Church in Her groanings, especially when we experience the wound,
invites us into maturity. We are learning His ache for Her affliction, sharing
it a little. We find Him. He burns off baby fat and self-concern so we can tend
to Her.
We as
members of Christ become ministers. Maybe the best thing on the Synod on Synodality?
Quiet people spoke. Lay members discussed big topics with cardinals. I love
that. Jesus entrusts each one of us with the privilege of doing our part for Her,
beginning with prayer. Costly. He allows us to be pierced by an embattled Bride.
He is making us ready.
‘Thank
You for entrusting us with preparing a people for You. Help us to know our part
and to do it. Give us tears, patience, and a glimpse of how You help us through
our hurts. Teach us to carry a little cross for the Church.’
‘Father,
we thank You for Jesus who established the Church on a Rock against which hell
will not prevail (Matt 16:18). We pray for every Christian leader to build on
Her firm foundation of sexual clarity and integrity. Father, unmask the
deceiver and divider of Christians and unite us in one Spirit. As weak members
of Christ, we ask for truth to guide our pursuit of sexual wholeness, for grace
to sustain it, and for spiritual power to transform us. May we reflect the
chaste radiance of Jesus (2 Cor. 3:18) as we “shine like stars in the universe,
holding out the word of life” (Phil. 2:15-16) to a lost and hurting world.’
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