Somehow I recently stumbled across a section on YouTube with "trailers" for upcoming movies and the trailer for the sequel "The Transformers, Part 2 - The Fallen" was featured. Since it didn't seem to be too racy, I watched it. Now, I haven't seen the original Transformers movie, but I do have at least a passing familiarity of what the original cartoon had been about (good robots that turn into cars, etc. fighting bad robots that turn into other things). I can still hear the old cartoon theme song (sung in robot voice...) "The Transformers, more than meets the eye. The Transformers, robots in disguise...". As I was watching this on YouTube I was struck, all of a sudden, by the name of the bad guys - namely, the "Decepticons". This word seems somehow familiar to me so I am thinking it must have been the name of the bad guys in the original TV cartoon series too. It's a great name for a villain, combining the word "deception" with "icon" (image). The bad guys thus present a "false image". The sense of this in the Transformers movie has to do with their ability to "transform" (i.e. change shape) no doubt, but it called to my mind some Decepticons of a more sinister mien.
With all of the attention I give on these pages to spiritual darkness, the idea that the devil is the "deceiver" and the "father of lies" is chilling. It's bad enough that mankind can't access God through our intellect, or our senses, but rather is consigned to spiritual darkness, a la the Dark Night of the Soul. But to have the demons actively seeking to deceive us at the same time, with eternal consequences, is just messed up. I read once somewhere (I think in C.S. Lewis "The Screwtape Letters"...) that the devil's favorite moment is to see the look on the face of sinners when they land in hell.
Again, that is just messed up.
It also occurs to me that the word "mercy", another of those over-used, under-defined church words, takes on an entirely different meaning in light of the sensual and spiritual darkness we labor under and the active war of deception that is being waged against us by the dark spirits. Mercy, in this fuller context, means anything that tends to free us from the deception we are under. In plain english, anything that helps us to see that we need God. And that could mean pain, or loss, or failure, or broken dreams or a broken heart.
Now, all of those things hurt. They are the type of things that make people (at least people like me...) say "God, how could you let this happen?" But they are also times when people do cry out to God for help and that is exactly what is needed. So, in a profound way, these things are "merciful" even though they may hurt bad.
So, what exactly do we mean when we pray "Lord have mercy" in mass? Do we mean "Lord, hurt me bad so that I am more dependent on you?" No, that doesn't quite seem right. How about instead, "Lord, help me to wake up to how desperately I need you, at least for this one day. Help me to remember what other people have sacrificed in following you. Shine a spotlight on these problems of mine that seem, so strongly, as if they will be the end of me. Let me see their shadows cast against the wall of death that my life is headed toward."
This is a wild concept. This idea of "pain as mercy" is crazy talk to the modern ear - or as the bible would say, "foolishness" to Greeks and "a stumbling block" to the Jews. Yet, somehow, the Apostles, who had been given great light from the Master himself, were able to literally rejoice when they were beaten.
I am not "there" yet. Frankly, I don't see how I would ever get "there" - but as the Lord has thus far been able to help me to come to a deeper understanding (at least) of the profundity of my own spiritual and intellectual darkness, I think it is wise for me to just say that it may also be possible for the Lord to bring me to a point where I can rejoice in my sufferings, even though I can't see how right now.
Grace please?
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