“When you are obedient I take away your
weakness and replace it with My strength. I am very surprised that souls do not
want to make that exchange with Me.” Diary (pg
172, #381)
How
often do we attempt to ‘handle it on our own’ or exercise our stubbornness to
the utmost of our limits? Why is it that we decline the generous offers of Our
Lord with His available graces and blessings? Perhaps it’s simply a matter of
trust. Remember the contrasting ends to the lives of St. Dismas and Judas. One
was the ‘ultimate thief’ deciding to trust during his final moments of agony
essentially ‘stealing heaven’, and one was perhaps the ‘ultimate fool’ in
disowning his apostleship with the Christ. Tis amazing how often participation
on a team, an organization and/or a family quite frequently exposes one’s flaws
and/or leads to newly found reserves of energy and perseverance.
“It is not always
within your power to control your feelings. You will recognize that you have love
if, after having experienced annoyance and contradiction, you do not lose your
peace, but pray for those who have made you suffer and wish them well.” Diary (pg 575, #1628)
At
this midnight hour, the last theme I feel the need to delve into would be
mercy. One more exciting episode of ‘The Red Head Express’ starring our two
year old took center stage last night. Then again as Daun reminded me, when
these little ones come running, it does indeed give our hearts pause. Seeing
their faces is yet another all too brief ‘glimpse of Heaven’. My preference would be to discuss lessons to
be learned from a Rocky or Rambo movie, but here’s a story from my beautiful bride
on the more appropriate and difficult topic of mercy.
The
concepts of mercy and confession have taken on a whole new light now that I am
a parent. My guess is I am not alone and we have all wondered or even uttered
once or twice during our parenthood: “Why don’t you just do what I ask you to
do?”
Last
week, our little red headed two-year old was throwing the tantrum of all
tantrums, and these exact words came from my mouth. I wanted to tell her how I
knew what was best for her and that she should probably just settle down and do
what mommy and daddy tell her to do.
Then
it dawned on me – how many times am I the one throwing the fit when my Father
has very clearly laid out before me what He wants me to do? After all, He knows
what is best for me, right? Within a couple days of that incident, I found
myself in the confessional asking for the Lord’s forgiveness and attempting to
start anew again. Of course, I have fallen since then, but my hope and trust is
that the mercy and grace I receive from the Lord, will help make those times I
need to get back up a little bit easier.
The
question was once asked, why do I need to go to confession? I am just going to
sin again. And the answer was as simple as “Why take a shower each day? You are
just going to get dirty again.” My prayer is that I may always remember, to never
turn away the opportunity to be showered in His mercy.
This
Sunday we celebrate the 15th Divine Mercy Sunday. It is this
original mercy of our Lord, in His sacrifice upon the Cross, that we
encountered once again during Holy Week. It is in the writings of the Diary,
beads of the Chaplet and Novena prayers that the efforts of St. Faustina are bestowed
upon the world, blessed with His approval.
P.S. “You
can continue to be at peace if you always do the best you can in respect to
this work of mercy. Be absolutely as frank as possible with your
confessor.” Diary (pg 537, #1499)
I make it a rule always
to be as Frank as I can with whomever I meet….
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