HOW GREAT THE JOY

 

 

 

I have moved house 16 times in the past 28 years. Wherever I go in Sydney, I am met with memories. Over the years, I have suffered much from lack of ‘belonging’. As I reflected recently on the lone existence I have led, I realised that no matter where I live on this earth, I will always feel that I don’t belong. In that moment of realisation, my understanding was opened to a greater truth. I came to comprehend what it means to live in a fallen world, that to be cut off from God’s presence is the greatest tragedy there is. Cain considered his banishment from His presence more than he could bear (Genesis 4:13,14). I am beginning to understand what he meant, now more than ever as I have distanced myself from the world a great deal and have begun to yearn for my heavenly home. We, like the ancients, are strangers and pilgrims on this earth (D&C 45:11-13; Jacob 7:26; Hebrews 11:4-13). A clear reminder to us that we should not get too comfortable here. 

 

During my moment of reflection I also understood the need for the Atonement. I think the Saviour knew in the beginning what it means to be cut off from Father’s presence forever. I think this is why He yearned to save us from this devastation, hence so much emphasis on the sheep that are ‘lost’. A couple of years ago I had a revelation during which I was led to know that the Father loves His First Born Son the most because of what He has done for the rest of His children. Rightly so, because nobody deserves it more. Because of Christ’s sacrifice, I can now yearn for the eternal home and all the noble host of heaven I have left behind knowing that He has paved my way back.

 

How many tears will be shed on judgment day by ‘the lost’ when God’s presence is denied to them forever? Imagine how joyful will be some who enter His presence, to finally be home once again….but how much more joyful will be those who get there and bring somebody else with them…..(D&C 18:15,16)

 

I long to be where I once was,

 

A child in my eternal home.

 

I long to see the God of love

 

And with Him walk the heaven’s floor.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art by Greg Olsen)

THE INEVITABLE PRICE

 

THE INEVITABLE PRICE

 

Very often we get lost in our admiration of Paul the apostle and we miss the most important lesson we can learn from him, and that lesson is this: all our actions have consequences that cannot be escaped because what we send into the lives of others, comes back into our own.

 

Alma the Younger gave his son Corianton some interesting advice that we can relate to Paul. He admonished him to be merciful to his brethren and he shall have mercy; to deal justly and he shall have justice; to judge righteously and he shall be righteously judged and to do good continually and he shall have good rewarded to him…..and then he said summed it up beautifully: ‘for that which ye do send out shall return unto you again….’ (Alma 41:14,15). 

 

When the Lord said of Paul, ‘For I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake’, He wasn’t kidding (Acts 9:16). Paul suffered five scourgings, three beatings with a rod, one stoning, one shipwreck, lengthy imprisonment, and endurance of peril, hunger, painfulness and weariness wherever he went but most of all, if you read the book of Acts, constant persecution by the Jews (2 Corinthians 11:24-27). And so you see, Paul the persecutor became Paul the persecuted…..

 

No wicked act committed against another will go unnoticed. Those who do not repent of unjust behaviour toward others will have to confront that accountability on that day ‘when the Lord shall come to ‘recompense unto every man according to his work, and measure to every man according to the measure which he has measured to his fellow man’ (D&C 1:10). We mostly focus on Saviour’s mercy these days because we want to believe that we will be forgiven for anything and we overlook the fact that He will also come to execute justice for those whose lives and spirits were crushed and damaged by others.

 

There is another great lesson here. We cannot eternally live with the God of love if we do not love one another. We cannot live with the Saviour if we are not like Him. Love is central to His character. His love transcends our weaknesses, our flaws and even our sins. Paul learnt this lesson well. In extolling the high status of charity to the Corinthians he said: even if I speak with the tongue of angels and have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and knowledge and have faith to move mountains, and bestow all my goods to the poor and give my body to be burned and have not charity toward others, I am nothing…..(1 Corinthians 13:1-8). 

I kept my love close to my heart

Until it became too heavy to bear.

It overflowed my weakened arms

And scattered along humanity’s path.

Like crumbs from the table it fed a few,

The lonely, the weak and the weary

And gladdened my giving heart.

I spread my arms wide

And fed a throng for many years

Until each cared for soul

Paved the trail of my happy tears.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: As I Have Loved You by Greg Olsen)

THE REVEALER OF CHRIST

 

“The gift of the Holy Ghost inspires virtue, kindness, goodness, tenderness, gentleness, and charity. It develops beauty of person, form, and features. It tends to health, vigor, animation, and social feeling It invigorates all the faculties of the physical and intellectual man. It strengthens, and gives tone to the nerves. In short, it is, as it were, marrow to the bone, joy to the heart, light to the eyes, music to the ears, and life to the whole being.” (Parley P. Pratt, “Key to the Science of Theology”, p 101).

 

Considering all he CAN do, the gift of the Holy Ghost is God’s greatest gift pertaining to this life. All he DOES do, however, is very much up to us. It is one thing to have a gift, any gift, and another to be enjoying the same. I want to bear witness of what the Holy Ghost has done for me. He has invigorated my spiritual senses and opened my mind to understand the truths of eternity, he has endeared me to the things of the spirit and enabled me to distance myself from the world, he has recalled to my memory events of my pre-existence, and the greatest thing He has done is reveal to me the Christ. It is very seldom that my daily scripture study will not bear fruit to this fact. I see the Saviour on every page and I see who He is: His character, His personality, His attributes, His passions, His devotion, His love, His mercy. But this is the beginning of something greater.

 

Elder Holland has stated that besides His atoning sacrifice, Christ’s purpose of coming to this earth was to reveal to us the Father (Jeffrey R. Holland, The Grandeur of God, GC, October 2003). The Saviour spoke often of Him being one with the Father, in every respect: spiritually, intellectually, physically (John 14:9). All the Saviour was and did in mortality was a reflection of the Father. The Holy Ghost has not only brought this to my intellectual understanding, but has helped me see in my heart the distinction between the two most important personages in my life. The closeness I have felt with each can only come through the medium of the Holy Ghost who has brought to my remembrance my eternal association with both. This is the greatest blessing that has come to me in this life. And I owe that to the one person who works so tirelessly to help us see the path of salvation through Christ and the way home to the Father. 

 

The days you embrace my heart

I can scarce contain my tears.

You are the Witness,

The Testator of truth,

The illuminator of my path.

I crave your presence

In the caverns of my heart.

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: As One (Father, Son and Holy Ghost) by Danny Hahlbohm)

THE SUM OF US

 

“Some have wondered why the Lord would appear to an enemy of the Church like Saul and subsequently call him to His ministry. Elder Bruce R. McConkie explained that this difficulty is resolved by understanding that the Lord’s plan of salvation encompasses our premortal life: ‘Saul was foreordained; nothing he had done on earth qualified him for what was ahead; but his native spiritual endowment, nurtured and earned in pre-existence, prepared him for the coming ministry’ (Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 2:91)” (New Testament Institute Student Manual, Gospel Library)

 

It is truly amazing that the Lord would call two of the worst sinners to be mighty men in His Church and to bring thousands of souls to repentance. I speak of Saul of Tarsus, known as Paul the apostle, and Alma the Younger. When the Lord revealed the eternal nature of spirits to Abraham, he was shown the intelligences that ‘were organised before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones’ whom He determined to make rulers on earth (Abraham 3:22,23). Amongst those great ones were no doubt Paul and Alma. And this is what makes this doctrine one of comfort……imagine if we were judged only on the merit of this fallen world that we reside in now. How many of us would be fit for anything? Another comforting thought…..imagine if there was no room for error whilst in mortality! How many of us would be doomed??? The answer is, ALL. 

 

I am an idealist. I struggle with this life and what I am like here. I want the ideal me, now. I long to be the me I once was before my mortal birth: zealous, fearless and of perfect faith. Another comforting thought: God remembers me from that time and sees me in my entirety. My dearest friend always reminds me of that. My greatest attribute is that I love the truth and am very passionate about it. It keeps me afloat and ensures I stay on the straight and narrow. It keeps me grounded. Another comforting thought……the Saviour atoned for us as we are now, in this imperfect sinful world. Sometimes we feel inadequate and even worthless but I am certain He looks at us and thinks: If only you knew who you REALLY are!

 

Your truth in my soul, burns and burns

And guides me over and over back to Thee.

I hear the sweet sounds of home

Etched in my everlasting memory.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: The Robe of Righteousness by Phil McKay)

A LEGACY TO TREASURE

 

 

 

Before the Saviour died, He delivered the Olivet Discourse to His apostles wherein He outlined the preaching of His Gospel, the destruction of Jerusalem and the persecution that would come upon the early saints (Matthew 24; Mark 13; Luke 21). He warned the apostles that they would be hated for His sake, persecuted, beaten and killed.

 

Upon the arrival of the Holy Ghost, the early Church spread like wild fire. What the Jewish hierarchy hoped to extinguish with Christ’s crucifixion began to thrive in earnest. People joined the Church by the thousands despite the opposition from Jewish authority and ruling classes in Jerusalem. As the Church continued to outgrow Judea and Samaria and reached the Gentile nations, the opposition turned to horrific levels of persecution in the Roman Empire, for to join the Church in those days was to prepare to die.  If ever there was a dispensation of martyrdom, it was in the Meridian of time. 

 

The Olivet Discourse also tells us what we the saints of the last days are to expect prior to the Second Coming. Ours will be the dispensation of war, carnage, plagues, pestilence, famine, disease and earthquakes.  The worst of all will be the moral decay of our society which has already begun. It is plain to see that evil has taken over the minds of many that is changing the moral landscape of the world. Whatever comes, now is the time like never before to cement our testimonies that we might one day be able to stand the challenge of ridicule and persecution from our neighbours, friends, families and even State. 

 

We, modern Israel have two legacies to live up to: the early Christian saints and the early Church members of this dispensation. Both suffered and became martyrs for the truth. 

I have faith in us….because of Nephi, who saw our day and that even though our numbers were few, ‘the power of God descended upon the saints of the church of the Lamb and upon the COVENANT people of the Lord’ and we were armed with righteousness and with ‘the power of God in great glory’ (1 Nephi 14:12-14). And is there a greater assurance than this: “…..my disciples shall stand in holy places, and shall not be moved; but among the wicked, men shall lift up their voices and curse God and die” (D&C 45: 32)

 

May we be like Peter and John who when arrested and beaten by the Jewish council, departed from their presence ‘rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name’…..(Acts 5:41). Are we ready, if need be, to die for Him???? Like He died for us......

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: Second Coming by John McNaughton)

AGAINST THE WIND

We very often say that we ‘should’ be Christlike. In fact, the world even judges us Christians by this edict. What we overlook sometimes is that we cannot be Christlike if we do not ‘become’ like Christ by engaging Him in the process of our becoming. When we don’t rely on His enabling power, we are just walking against the wind wishing for the impossible.

Some of us have brought with us spiritual gifts we developed in pre-existence like compassion, patience, tolerance, love, forgiveness. Even if we have these attributes under our belt, they can never equal the level of them that the Saviour possesses. His level is the level of perfection. For instance, I often hear that we should forgive our enemies and those that hurt us abominably like the Saviour did whilst on the cross. I ask, how many of us are capable of such forgiveness in the midst of such excruciating agony? This kind of forgiveness is a higher level that we cannot reach on our own. Forgiveness is central to Christ’s character but not to our own. Comparing us to Christ is like comparing apples to oranges. I had a conversation with a dear sister recently who told me it took her 12 years of intense therapy to forgive someone. I reflected on my own experience of much needed ability to forgive whilst in excruciating pain some years ago, which took only months to obtain through fervent and persistant appealing to the power of the Atonement. By virtue of our discipleship and by being faithful and keeping our covenants, we have ‘increased access to the power of Jesus Christ’ and need not suffer unduly. We can still become free when forgiveness is beyond us. (President Russell M Nelson, “Overcome the World and Find Rest”, Liahona 2022, p 96)

Another example of being ‘Christlike’ is in regards to charity or the pure love of Christ. This is not something that we are capable of, ever, and this is why: The ‘pure’ love means something significant. It means that the Saviour had no motive for self-gratification, self-advancement or self-aggrandizement but that His love motivated Him to put others before Himself, hence the ability to atone for us sinners, as opposed to Satan who wanted advancement of self and nobody else (Moses 4:1-2). Because we are fallen, the natural man tends to gravitate toward focus on ‘self’ rather than others. Also, It is not charity, the pure love LIKE Christ, it is charity, the pure love OF Christ. It is a love that only He is capable of. It is His unique love. We cannot develop it but we can aspire to it through prayerful seeking of it and it will be bestowed upon us if we are ‘true followers of Christ’ (Moroni 7:48). Charity or pure love of Christ is a gift. It is beyond our power to develop for ourselves.

If we don’t focus on the Saviour and His enabling power, we will sink into a river of debilitating ‘shoulds’. We beat ourselves up by our ‘shoulds’ which make us blind to the solution which is always in Christ and His power to heal, deliver, strengthen and endow with such attributes as are needed for us to rise to eventual perfection. He alone can make us like Him.

You enliven my spirit,

You enrich my impoverished heart.

You are the God of power and might;

You make of me what I alone could never be,

You light my way into eternity.

• CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Artist: Against the Wind by Liz Lemon Swindle)