Catholic Calendar
and Daily Meditation
Saturday, June 15, 2013
Saturday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:
http://new.usccb.org/bible/readings/061513.cfm
2 Corinthians 5:14-21
Psalm 103:1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-12
Matthew 5:33-37
A reflection on today's Sacred Scripture:
As far as the east is from the west,
so far has He put our transgressions from us. (Psalm 103:12)
Homilies have been given that touch upon the mercy of God being so great it is as if a repented sin is etched from God's memory forever. Some theologians have difficulty with this, but they will have to take it up with some of the saints and others who have made God's mercy known in this way.
Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, OCD, author of the "Divine Intimacy" meditations puts it this way:
"God is magnificent when He pardons: He does not reproach us for the faults over which we have already wept, nor does He keep any account of them; His pardon is so generous, so great and complete, that it not only annuls our debts, but destroys even the memory of them, as if they had never existed."(Divine Intimacy, 336, I)
"If God is all-knowing and perfect, how could He possibly forget anything?" one could ask. Fr. Gabriel might respond by saying that "God's merciful love trumps everything, engulfs everything, even turning scarlet sins into the whiteness of snow."
(see Isaiah 1:18)
It is not uncommon for devout, committed Christian souls who have long ago repented of the sins of their youth or even sins from later in life, only to retain deep remorse and a desire to confess these same sins repeatedly, to assuage their guilt.
Let them be reassured, implies Fr. Gabriel, that "every tear will be wiped away" (Revelation 21:4) and every mountain made low. (Isaiah 40:4) Indeed, God's mercy, love, and forgiveness are infinite, far beyond human bounds: as far as the east is from the west.
Lawrence Martone, OCDS | send comments to: lowlyservant1@yahoo.com
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