31 Meditations for Advent and Christmas
"The King Who is to come; O come let us adore Him."
11th Day: THE TRUE NATURE OF REBELLION
"The King Who is to come; O come let us adore Him."
11th Day: THE TRUE NATURE OF REBELLION
Rebellion consists in any willful disobedience to
the express commands of our King in order to
gratify our own will, or promote what seems to us
to be our interest. Let us see what such disobedience
involves.
It involves a preference of ourselves to God our King, of our supposed advantage to His glory. It thus reverses the order of Divine Providence. The disobedient man places himself, so to speak, above his King, and, instead of serving his King, seeks to make his King serve him. He who is Lord of Heaven and earth is set aside for a miserable worm, made of the dust of the earth, who is of no account and nothing. What insolence could be greater than this?
Every act of disobedience treats as of no account the Passion and Death of our King. It deliberately adds to His suffering, and if it is a serious act of disobedience it in some way shares the malice and cruelty of those who scourged and mocked Christ, and put Him to death. St. Paul tells us that when, after swearing allegiance to Him, we afterwards join the ranks of His enemies, we "crucify the Son of God afresh, and put Him to open shame." What is not deserved by those who are guilty of such infamy?
Rebellion and disobedience to our King are also the most frightful ingratitude. Nothing is more hateful than to return evil for good. When we think of the most generous sacrifice of Himself that our King made of His life for us, what can be more shamelessly base and ungrateful than to insult and outrage Him in return. Yet this, (alas!) is what I have too often done.
It involves a preference of ourselves to God our King, of our supposed advantage to His glory. It thus reverses the order of Divine Providence. The disobedient man places himself, so to speak, above his King, and, instead of serving his King, seeks to make his King serve him. He who is Lord of Heaven and earth is set aside for a miserable worm, made of the dust of the earth, who is of no account and nothing. What insolence could be greater than this?
Every act of disobedience treats as of no account the Passion and Death of our King. It deliberately adds to His suffering, and if it is a serious act of disobedience it in some way shares the malice and cruelty of those who scourged and mocked Christ, and put Him to death. St. Paul tells us that when, after swearing allegiance to Him, we afterwards join the ranks of His enemies, we "crucify the Son of God afresh, and put Him to open shame." What is not deserved by those who are guilty of such infamy?
Rebellion and disobedience to our King are also the most frightful ingratitude. Nothing is more hateful than to return evil for good. When we think of the most generous sacrifice of Himself that our King made of His life for us, what can be more shamelessly base and ungrateful than to insult and outrage Him in return. Yet this, (alas!) is what I have too often done.