Luke,
Chapter 1, verse 30:
30 Then the angel
said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
Mary had no fear of the world or man, yet, when the
angel appeared she was immersed in holy fear.
Let us follow Mary’s example and bravely face the day saying YES to God.
Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Listen to Mary’s words of encouragement as
she appeared to Saint Juan Diego.
"Hear
me and understand well, my son the least, that nothing should frighten or
grieve you. Let not your heart be disturbed. Do not fear that sickness, nor any
other sickness or anguish. Am I not here, who is your Mother? Are you not under
my protection? Am I not your health? Are you not happily within my fold? What
else do you wish? Do not grieve nor be disturbed by anything."
One wonders if Mary thought of these same
affirmations during the angel’s visit of God the Father. Are you not happily within my fold! Are you not under my protection!
Mary appeared to St. Juan Diego just 12 years after
the defeat of the Aztec empire by Hernan Cortes. Documents from that period indicate that the
Aztec leadership was hatching a plot to reestablish themselves and renew the
taking of human hearts as a sacrifice to their gods. Our Lady stopped that with her appearance to
Juan Diego. In the space of 10 years after
her appearance over 9 million Aztecs converted to the faith.[1]
Today would be a good day to go to confession.
AN EXCERPT FROM BEAUTIFUL
MERCY
By Matt Fradd
Several years ago, as I stood in line for the sacrament
of confession about to confess for the umpteenth time a sin I couldn’t seem to
quit, I began to fear that God’s mercy was running out. I didn’t doubt that God
would pardon a person who turned to him after a life of the most heinous sins
imaginable. What I did doubt was that he would continue to forgive me. How many
times have I said, “I will never do this again,” only to return to that sin
like a dog to its vomit (see 2 Peter 2:22)?
At that moment, by God’s grace, no doubt, I was reminded
of the incident in the Gospel of Matthew when Peter approached Our Lord with a
question:
Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often shall my
brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said
to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.” (Matthew
18:21-22)
Now Jesus did not mean that Peter was to forgive his
brother 490 times and then no more. No, rather, “seventy times seven” signified
perfection and consistency. It then occurred to me, if God’s forgiveness is not
like that—perfect and consistent—then Jesus was commanding Peter to act in a
way that was contrary to the nature of God.
The truth is, God is infinite in all of his attributes.
In fearing that God’s mercy was slowly evaporating, I was unintentionally
making God in my image. If you have ever been tempted to doubt God’s mercy as I
did, or if you’re tempted to do that now, please ingrain the following words
from St. Claude de la Colombiere into your brain:
I glorify you in making known how good you are towards sinners,
and that your mercy prevails over all malice, that nothing can destroy it, that
no matter how many times or how shamefully we fall, or how criminally, a sinner
need not be driven to despair of [God’s] pardon. . It is in vain
that your enemy and mine sets traps for me every day. He will make me lose
everything else before the hope that I have in your mercy.
Regardless of where you have been or what you have done,
be at peace. The same God who forgave Moses the murderer, Rahab the prostitute,
David the adulterer, and Peter the denier will forgive you. All you have to do
is seek that forgiveness with a contrite heart. The only sin God won’t forgive
is the one you will not ask forgiveness for.[2]
[1]
Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mother of the civilization of love. Carl Anderson & Msgr. Eduardo
Chavez. http://www.secretsoftheimage.org/en/index.html
[1]
Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mother of the civilization of love. Carl Anderson & Msgr. Eduardo
Chavez. http://www.secretsoftheimage.org/en/index.html
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