"Trust the past to the mercy of God, the present to His love, and the future to His Providence." - St. AugustineIt's
kind of funny reading my last entry & then
reflecting where He has brought me today. The Lord's mysterious yet
beautiful ways have truly revealed to me what He meant by "Blessed are
the poor for they shall inherit the kingdom of God" high on the mount
before hundreds of people. To be poor is to own nothing obviously. I
own nothing... no material goods, no spiritual gifts, no destination or direction, no friendship, no nothing. I don't own virtue, or success, or wealth. I
don't own my future, or any sure knowledge, or even my own breath. It
is all from God, destined for God and created by God. I lose nothing,
but gain everything.
This
is the Truth that He has struck upon my heart, and I desire Him to
strike it repeatedly if it means that I draw more in love with Him. My
heart inherits the riches of Heaven when it possesses nothing for it's
own selfish benefit. After a personal retreat recently, my heart has
been renewed by His Grace & for the first time in an extremely long
time, I cried tears of joy at the mere realization of God's Infinite
Mercy. It is an unshakable peace, rooted in His Eucharistic Heart.
Listen to the words of St. Augustine again:
"Trust the past to the mercy of God, the present to His love, and the future to His Providence." If I could be any sort of encouragement to you, reader, in any way... do
not be driven by any sort of fear or judgement like I was once consumed
by, for if we fear judgement, then God's love is not perfected in us (1
John 4:16). Just like Tobit, the cataracts have been removed from
my eyes, and what I once considered to be a form of judgement &
punishment was actually sanctification for my soul. And just like
Tobit, all there is left to do is to shout praises: "Blessed be God who
lives forever, because his kingdom lasts for all ages.
For
he scourges and then has mercy; he casts down to the depths of the
nether world, and he brings up from the great abyss... Praise the Lord
for his goodness..." By His Love & Mercy, my heart has been restored.
Comments (4)
Ditto on Monica's post--are we going to see you at Believe? Am I going to have to persuade Fr. John in any way for it to happen? I'll have to talk to his Boss...