“As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.”
– Psalm 103:12
Meditation
In our daily quest to receive God’s love and return it back to Him, our past sins may come to mind and seem like a brick wall between us and God. This is a trick of Satan, but we can fight back through three radical dispositions of the heart, all of which make us look up to God rather than turning inward towards ourselves:
- Choose gratitude rather than shame. Thank God for his mercy and forgiveness! He has wiped your sins away, completely forgotten them, and never grows tired of forgiving! Give him the joy of being your Savior.
- Choose humility rather than discouragement. Our sins can serve to remind us of our own weakness. It is not God who grows weary of us, but we who sometimes grow weary of ourselves. If your past sins keep you humbled, thanks be to God, for “God opposes the proud, even when they are right.”
- Choose to receive the gift of faith rather than to despair. St. Paul says where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. When we recall our past sins and ponder God’s mercy, surely our faith can increase like St. Paul’s.
Rather than become a brick wall, our sin can stir us towards greater communion with God! St. Therese defines sanctity as “a disposition of the heart which makes us humble and small in the arms of God, conscious of our weakness, and confident to the point of audacity in the goodness of our Father.” Just like last week, we are called to rediscover the goodness and love of God.
Live It! Tip of the Week: Make a plan for when you will next go to Confession. Before you go, examine your conscience in a spirit of humble confidence in God’s loving mercy and give God the joy of being your Savior.
Prayer
“Lord, increase our faith in You! Give us the holy audacity to trust in “the immensity of that infinite mercy which casts all [sins] into the depths of the sea of oblivion when we repent of them with love.”
–St. Francis de Sales
