"Faith is an oasis from which we must draw in order to live. Like an oasis, faith is a gift from the Lord that must be shared with all.
"Like an oasis, faith must be used with measure and not wasted. Like an oasis, faith should be at the center of a garden.
“For it is only in the garden of a just and truthful society, watered by well measured faith, that we may cultivate the spirit of the people.”
– The Scriptures, Seventh Letter of St. Junip of Aerui
As I have walked on my journey in faith in the Lord our God these words from Saint Junip have stayed with me. We who sojourn with God know what it is like to thirst as if in a parched land after the sacred and divine. We tend to our gardens seeking the waters of truth as we cultivate our own spirits but this has always begged the question for me: what is the essence of faith? At its core, for me, it has always been love. More so than the love of this transient and temporal world such as romance or what one might mistake in a carnal relationship the love of God is transcendental and divine—it is patient, kind, tender, and never self-serving when it is afforded to the faithful.
Just as fear of God is the beginning of instruction, and instruction is the beginning of wisdom then so to the love of God given unto us is the beginning of learning the other facet of the divine: grace. It is through grace that we begin our relationship with God. That from the love that flows from God do we learn of the sublime nature of the divine, and so does the spark of faith ignite within us. We do not earn this love of grace like a merchant seeking a transaction in exchange for a reward, but rather we learn to cherish it as a gift freely given unto us by the majesty of our Lord in Heaven. For in the end what are the things of this world but dust and empty vanities compared to the gift of love from the Heavens.
While fear of God is instructive, the love of God is transformational. From love and grace given from God like the waters of life so does the garden of faith bloom in one’s own heart. There is no greater gift to a human being than the love of God, and from that love our faith in God which is the divine essence of a relationship with the divine. From that love the insurmountable can be overcome, what is difficult becomes simple, what was once crooked can once again be made straight again. Through God’s love we are transformed from who we once were into what glory and greatness the Lord intended for us in service to a just and truthful society: Holy Amarr.
As we look towards the stars and our fellow human beings we must not revoke this blessing of love and grace that flows from God and into our hearts and spirits. We should look at our fellow human beings with the same tenderness and compassion that our own God shows us, who often for all our failings as human beings still in all His mercy loves us still instead of destroying us. We should look at our fellow humans as essentially good. That what separates us, and others, from God is the spiritual wounds caused by human action in a broken world. Pain begets pain and the wounds caused by the injustices of the cluster lead many towards a darkness where it is difficult to see the light of goodness that comes from faith and love.
It is easy to be judgemental of those who have unfortunately walked into the darkness of their own hearts of this broken world; it is much harder to share the love and grace given unto us by God towards others and act as God does—with patience, forbearance, and compassion towards those who only hurt themselves and others. Faith should be at the centre our gardens, and by the grace and love of God do we seek to share with and invite others to enter and enjoy the wonders of our faith. I say this as one who speaks from experience, long did I walk in the dark, shackled by my own pain until through the love of God was I set free through the grace of the Lord and the waters of faith.
From the love of God do all the good things in life flow: temperance, patience, kindness, amity, truth, justice, and charity. Through these things do we seek to cultivate our own spirits and attend to our gardens through the wellspring and waters of life. Together in love and grace bestowed upon us as a gift from God do we create a society worthy of the faithful in the unity of the spirit of Holy Amarr. We should always seek to be motivated by love and not hatred in our actions; towards God, ourselves, and each other, for there is more that unites us through grace and love than can ever divide us by the riven potentials of anger, pain, or hate.
God, for ever, and ever.
Veikitamo Gesakaarin,
YC126