It's hard to really understand and internalize that love, for in our human frailty, we most often fail to love either ourselves or others - and all love is a participation in God's divine charity.
This morning I went to the Adoration chapel at my parish to pray the Divine Office and Morning Prayer before completing my errands, still pondering what she had said.
While I don't normally read or pray the "Psalm-Prayer" after every Psalm, today one portion of it from the Office caught my attention:
"We, your children, are weighed down with sin; give us the fullness of your mercy."
That line spoke volumes to me; we are, in fact, weighed down with sin, and only God's great mercy can relieve the crushing burden. Note in the prayer that we don't ask only for a little mercy, but boldly, we ask for what Our Lord has provided through the Cross: the FULLNESS of His mercy.
In prayer, even though we are "weighed down with sin", we still go to Him, prodigal children, humbly demanding our birthright.
It was then that it struck me more profoundly than it ever has before; we have nothing.
I thought of my financial burdens, my burden of sin, my worries, my physical possessions...all of it. In prayer I said to Jesus, "I have nothing to offer because all I possess is my sin; that originates with me."
But no; even sin, even my greatest sins, are taken away through God's mercy in the Sacrament of Confession.
The only thing any of us truly possess, the only thing that makes us fully human, the only real treasure to be sought has been given freely; God's incredible, merciful, fiery Divine Love.
We are all poor in our mere possessions and money; no matter how much we have, it is nothing.
The ONLY thing we really need is not tangible, but is far more real than the biggest gem right down to the smallest penny: God's merciful love.
With that, we have far more than we will ever need; we have only to accept it so that we, too, can bring it to others.
Thank you, Jesus
4 comments:
His mercy is so sweet... I feel like a child that ate not a speck of dinner, and yet I get the entire tub of ice cream.
So unworthy, and yet so loved.
Joe ~ That's such an apt description. (And being that it's 81 degrees and humid in my house right now, that ice cream tub is sounding mighty nice...)
"I have nothing to offer because all I possess is my sin; that originates with me."
Yes, and sometimes so long ago.. I am now 60! I remember my 1st mortal sin. It was walking the neighborhood instead of going to Sunday Mass as my parents thought. That was amazingly the seed that spawned so much related sin wrapped as layers until I was blind.
My hand is on the plow. These things I remind myself of during dryness:
Do not look back. Concentrate on God's will ahead of you.
It's never that I ever have zero to offer. I always have my will to offer. Let all else drop away and offer only it.
This offering feels to me like it feels when the Priest says "lift up your hearts".
We are being taken back to our childhood innocence to when we saw everything and lived abundantly. That won't happen unless we once and for all stop the sin we are conscience of. A stop has to happen.
Then, walking behind the plow, our unknown sins are revealed to us, gently but painfully as we are able to handle the truth by a gentle Shepherd.
I have no strength, Jesus must supply it.
I have no courage, it must be Jesus'.
And finally.. I remind myself to take it like a man. I know that sounds macho, but among men we know what that means.
I've said much more then I intended as usual. Perhaps a word here and there will be useful.
Regards,
Bruno
tetrah@hotmail.com
Bruno ~ Even our will is not really our own. Yes, God gave us free will, but it is the gift of His grace that enables us to turn our will toward Him and unite it with His Divine Will. And still...we fall because we are weak.
That is why He died for us; because we CANNOT overcome our sin. This is why the Saints always recognized themselves as "wretched sinners". They were just the ones who cooperated most fully with God's grace and, as you say, put their hands to the plow. :-)
And believe you me, I know what "take it like a man" means! I may be a woman, but having worked in many male-dominated fields, the phrase has been applied to me, too, if a bit wryly!
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