Grabbing the Ropes

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Grabbing the Ropes

Picture Attribution

I am a needy person.  I'm in great need of God.  Yet, knowing that He has "thrown down" numerous "ropes" to help me scale walls between Him and me, I often turn away from His helps and let myself remain needy.  And, frankly, very stubborn.

"Lord, help me," I beg.  And then I forge ahead under my own steam.  I think of the joke (we've probably all heard it) about the man on the roof of his house as flood waters rose all around him.  He prayed and trusted God.  People called out to him from boats and a small plane, offering aid.  Nope, said he - God will save me. When the waters swept over him and he went to meet his Maker, he asked God why He hadn't come through.  "But I did come through," he was told.  "I sent you two boats and a helicopter!"

What ropes are before us today, just waiting to hoist us into the Presence of God on earth?  He has provided oh, so many aids!  There is the amazing Sacrament of Reconciliation to pull us out of serious sin.  There is His Presence in the Eucharist, where we can adore and even receive Him.

As we discussed a few days ago, there are ropes to pull us toward God in personal prayer... aids He has provided to snatch us out of the grasp of distractions so we can concentrate on Him.  Thus we'll be able to "hear" more clearly His guidance for our everyday lives.

Ah, but there is an enemy of our souls, one who'd like nothing better than to cut every one of our  ropes.  Or at least to convince us that we shouldn't use them, we don't need them, they're silly, we should be stronger and more intellectual than those who might need such things. 

The Sacraments.  Scripture.  Holy music.  Sacred art.  Holy reading.  The rosary.  Various devotions that the Church has found worthy of approval.  Stations of the Cross.  These have been "dropped down," as it were, through the merits of Our Lord's death and resurrection.  These are of much more value than all the ropes mankind ever made.

I will admit it.  I'm a needy person.  I need the Sacraments.  I need Scripture.  I need holy music and sacred art and saints and my guardian angel and lots of devotional reading.  I need helps to keep me focused in prayer.  I want nothing more than to stay tied tightly to my Lord, Jesus Christ.

I am a needy person.  So I'm grabbing the ropes.

Text not in quotes © 2013 Nancy Shuman.  All Rights Reserved.