"The righteous can justify themselves. … Jesus came for the sinners.” - Francis
"[T]hink of the gossip after the call of Matthew: 'but that one keeps company with sinners!' And He has come for us, when we recognize that we are sinners. But if we are like the Pharisee before the altar—'Oh God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity—greedy, dishonest, adulterous—or even like this tax collector.'—then we do not know the Lord's heart and we will never have the joy of feeling this mercy! It is not easy to trust in God's mercy because it is an incomprehensible abyss. But we must do it!”
The Pope explained that sometimes people say to priests: “'Oh, Father, if you knew my life you wouldn't say that.' 'Why? What have you done?' 'Oh, I've done bad things.' 'Good! Go to Jesus; He likes you to tell him these things. He forgets. He has the special ability to forget. He forgets them, kisses you, embraces you, and tells you only: 'Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.' He only gives you this counsel. A month later we are the same … We return to the Lord. The Lord never tires of forgiving us, never! We are the ones who get tired of asking forgiveness. Let us ask for the grace to never tire of asking forgiveness, because He never tires of forgiving us. Let us ask for this grace.” - Pope Francis: Homily for Fifth Sunday in Lent
When you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind... the damaged.
"If God wants you to be as weak and powerless as a child, do you think your merit will be any less for that? Resign yourself then, to stumbling at every step, to falling even, and to being weak in carrying your cross. Love your powerlessness, and your soul will benefit more from it than if, aided by grace, you were to behave with enthusiastic heroism and fill your soul with self-satisfaction and pride." - Therese By Those Who Knew Her, testimony of Marie of the Trinity, OCD
I rejoice to be imperfect... and damaged."Sometimes it happens that despite their best efforts, some souls remain imperfect because it would be to their spiritual detriment to believe they are virtuous or to have others agree that they are." - My Sister, St. Therese
I'm one of the spiritually retarded that Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange wrote about. It's hard to embrace that weakness when you're German and OCD.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's the same thing? We both rely on God's strength - not ourselves - don't you think?
DeleteAnyway. Rejoice.