“He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” (John 14:21).
I have never delivered a child by caesarean section. However, I know many women who have, and I have heard some very interesting stories about how very clever doctors are able to use the cold as part of that process…
Apparently, when the anaesthetist is administering the anaesthetic to prepare the mother for a partial spinal block – which is the preferred option for the delivery of a child by caesarean section – the anaesthetist needs to ensure that the mother’s pain receptors are switched off. To do this, he or she needs some sort of a test to see whether the medication has served its purpose in numbing the mother’s pain receptors, so that the surgery can be performed and the mother will not feel any pain during surgery. And the test that the anaesthetist will use is cold.
You see, the anaesthetist will simply apply ice to the mother’s skin because if the mother can feel the cold ice against her skin, it means that the medication has not yet worked, and if she cannot feel the cold, it means that the medication has numbed the pain receptor nerves. This is because the nerves that detect cold and those that detect pain operate similarly and can be turned off in a similar way.
And I have been reflecting on that simple test of the cold to determine numbness, because it has reminded me of the numbness of souls who deliberately make themselves cold of God by turning away from Him.
You see, when a mother is numb, she is unable to feel the pain of the procedure being performed on her. And it is the same with numb souls. When souls deliberately numb themselves to God by causing themselves to become cold to God and to separate from God by turning away from Him, they too are unable to feel the full pain of their choices – at least at first. You see, just as the mother will eventually feel some pain as a result of her surgery when the numbness wears off and she begins to feel the cold again, so too will a cold, numb soul eventually experience the pain of their separation from God in the Earthly and their Spiritual lives.
You see, a cold spiritual life will result in a soul that could bleed until it is dead, with no understanding of how terribly it is injured because it lacks the feeling and understanding of the implications of its choices…
Saint Josemaría described the Christian mission as being required to “raise the spiritual temperature” of the souls who have become so numb to God’s love that they cannot even feel the cold of their own isolation…
You see, we have been created in the image and likeness of God to find Him in all things and embrace Him in all things. And Christ told us, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” (John 14:21).
And I have been thinking of that warm bright love of the Living God today, as I pray for all the cold numb souls. I have been thinking about that LOVE, very very much indeed…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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