Tag: MercyI hate myself. How can I find comfort in God when I feel so unworthy?
A: First, make sure you cement into the very foundation of your understanding of the universe one extremely important truth that God has revealed to us so frequently and so forcibly that he has removed any room for doubt: “…but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). I would highly recommend that you memorize that verse of inspired Scripture, and that you repeat it to yourself, using it as a prayer, throughout the day. God’s love for his – his personal, all-knowing, passionate, tender, and determined love for each one of us – does not depend on our being worthy of it, being perfect, being selfless, being a model Christian… On the contrary, it is only as we continue discovering God’s love for us that we open our hearts to be touched by his transforming grace so that we can actually love him in return and begin to experience life as he calls us to live it – selflessly, generously, joyfully, humbly. Our journey through this Valley of Tears that we call earth is not primarily about what we can do for God, but about what God has done (and still wants to do for us): “This is real love–not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins” (1 John 4:10). So, keep reminding yourself of this, over and over again. Make it the theme of your daily prayer. Ask God to convince you of this more and more every day. From that perspective, I think you can answer your own question. How best to please God, even though you know that you are unworthy? Throw yourself into his arms. Dive into his mercy. Trust him when he tells you that he loves you just as you are, and maybe even MORE because you are so much in need of his grace. Remember the parable of the Good Shepherd, who left the 99 sheep who were in good shape in order to go after the one sheep that was lost and in need. And he rejoiced when he found it. Your mere desire to follow God, to know him and love him better, gives him immense pleasure. Every time you turn back to him after a fall or a failure, you fill his heart with joy. He longs not for our self-perfection, but for our presence, our friendship, our desire to walk with him. This is what pleases him. You may be confusing God’s being “pleased” with his being “satisfied.” God loves us so much that he is never satisfied. He knows we can grow, and so, like a good coach how really cares about his players, he never gets tired of demanding more from us and inviting us to give more. He loves us too much to let us vegetate in our personal comfort zone, spiritually speaking. But even though he is hard to satisfy, he is extremely easy to please. The slightest effort delights him! He knows better than we do how hard it is for us to live a truly spiritual, truly Christ-like life. So, he is like the dad witnessing his little baby take her first steps. The steps are clumsy, jerky, and unsteady. But how the dad rejoices over them! Okay, now for a hard truth. Whenever you get drawn into a personal pity party and find yourself discouraged or tense or preoccupied about your own weakness and spiritual neediness (selfishness), you are actually falling into dangerous territory. Discouragement is not something that comes from the Holy Spirit – not ever. Discouragement is a subtle, very subtle, form of spiritual pride, which is one of the seven capital sins. Discouragement, when we give into it and revel in it instead of turning it immediately into a prayer and throwing ourselves into God’s loving arms, says to God: “O Lord, look at how evil I am; I am so selfish that not even you can love me or help me…” Oh what a nasty trick of the Devil that thought is! Oh how it hurts our Lord when we say that to him! His mercy, his love, his goodness, his power – they are IMMENSELY greater than our misery! Our Lord revealed to St Margaret Mary that even if all the sins of the world were on her soul, compared to his burning love for her, they would be like a drop of water thrown into a blazing furnace. So, whenever you feel like turning in on yourself and being drawn into the pit of self-deprecation, simply make an act of humility and then turn your attention back to whatever it is God wants you to be doing at that moment, even if it’s something as simple as washing the dishes, “Lord, you know what a mess I am, but you love me. Give me the strength to forget about myself and do what you want me to do. I am in your hands, and they are Very Good Hands…” I suggest that you take for a personal motto what St Paul said about this very struggle, and follow his example of rejoicing in your weaknesses because they force you to depend more and more on God, which is what it’s all about: “I am well content with these humiliations of mine, with the insults, the hardships, the persecutions, the times of difficulty I undergo for Christ; when I am weakest, then I am strongest of all” (2 Corinthians 12:10). Pope Benedict On Divine Mercy
by The Editors, National Catholic Register correspondent “God’s passionate love for his people — for humanity — is at the same time a forgiving love. It is so great that it turns God against himself, his love against his justice.” This is a startling, radical, statement about divine mercy — the kind of declaration that one might expect to see attributed to Pope John Paul II. But it was Pope Benedict XVI who wrote it, in his first encyclical Deus Caritas Est (God Is Love). Seven years after Pope John Paul II first announced the creation of Mercy Sunday, many priests are still wary of the feast. Why do they hold back? There is a certain assumption that the Divine Mercy is a private devotion that had a personal meaning to a particular Polish man who happened to also be Pope, but that it is not for everyone. Reading Pope Benedict’s words about Divine Mercy should dispel that notion. Rather than attributing the popularity of the Divine Mercy devotion to Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI seems more likely to attribute the greatness of Pope John Paul II to his devotion to Divine Mercy. In his homily before the conclave that elected him, he summed up John Paul’s pontificate by speaking about the late Pope’s emphasis on the Divine Mercy: “Jesus Christ is divine mercy in person: Encountering Christ means encountering the mercy of God,” said Pope Benedict. “The mercy of Christ is not a cheap grace; it does not presume a trivialization of evil. Christ carries in his body and on his soul all the weight of evil, and all its destructive force. He burns and transforms evil through suffering, in the fire of his suffering love.” He concluded last year’s Way of the Cross by saying: “The Way of the Cross is the way of mercy, the way of mercy that puts a limit on evil: This is what we learned from Pope John Paul II. It is the way of mercy; hence, the way of salvation. … Let us pray to the Lord to help us be ‘infected’ by his mercy.” He often noted that Pope John Paul II died after Mercy Sunday Mass. And in a March 26 homily last year, Benedict said forcefully: “The Pope, in this last text which is like a testament, then added: ‘How much the world needs to understand and accept Divine Mercy!’” In a visit with the sick on May 7, Pope Benedict embraced not just the message of Divine Mercy, but the specific devotion popularized by St. Faustina. The image the devotion promotes is a portrait of Jesus with rays of light emanating from his heart. The words “Jesus, I trust in you” are inscribed below. Pope Benedict told the sick people, “You who say in silence: ‘Jesus, I trust in you’ teach us that there is no faith more profound, no hope more alive and no love more ardent than the faith, hope and love of a person who in the midst of suffering places himself securely in God’s hands.” He later spoke about visiting the convent where “Sister Faustina Kowalska, contemplating the shining wounds of the Risen Christ, received a message of trust for humanity which John Paul II echoed and interpreted and which really is a central message precisely for our time: mercy as God’s power, as a divine barrier against the evil of the world.” In his homilies, the Holy Father has given us some of our most eloquent and adamant enunciations of God’s mercy: Men and women are prone to doubt God’s care for them. So Pope Benedict stressed: “God loves us in a way that we might call ‘obstinate’ and enfolds us in his inexhaustible tenderness.” The wrong kind of emphasis on God’s mercy can create the impression that God forgives all in an apathetic way, more like a benign uncle than a loving Father. So the Pope stresses God’s anger, too. “[T]he anger and mercy of the Lord alternate in a dramatic sequence, but love triumphs in the end, for God is love.” And always, he seeks to root trust in God’s mercy in the Gospels and the sacraments rather than in private revelation. “How many people also in our time are in search of God, in search of Jesus and of his Church, in search of divine mercy, and are waiting for a ‘sign’ that will touch their minds and their hearts!” he said, in one homily. “Today, as then, the Evangelist reminds us that the only ‘sign’ is Jesus raised on the cross: Jesus who died and rose is the absolutely sufficient sign.” The Church grants an indulgence for participation in Mercy Sunday devotions (see page B2). In his new document on the Eucharist, Pope Benedict recommends such indulgences, but emphasizes that the sacraments of confession and the Eucharist are the most important aspects of them. Finally, Pope Benedict used Divine Mercy to sum up our Christian lives. “To understand and accept God’s merciful love: May this be your commitment, first of all in your families and then in every neighborhood milieu.” This Mercy Sunday is a good day to start. PS: If you would like a great way to learn more about God’s mercy, you might find that “Encounter With Mercy“ will provide powerful insights into God’s mercy in your life. Please explain plenary indulgences and purgatory! – Part II
A: Last time we explored, briefly, the reality of purgatory, as a prelude to understanding the great gift of indulgences. Purgatory is the process of purification by which someone who dies in friendship with Christ but not completely freed from selfishness is prepared for the definitive union with God of which heaven consists. God Indulges in Mercy Through the favor granted by an indulgence, God’s mercy permits this purification to happen more quickly than otherwise. Instead of having to suffer through the purification oneself, in other words, purification is obtained through the suffering already undergone by Christ and the saints. Indulgences can’t free souls from hell, but they can speed up the purification process for oneself or for souls in purgatory, by remitting this temporal punishment (the restorative purification) that personal sins create the need for. There are two types of indulgences: partial, which repairs some of the self-damage caused by sin, or plenary, which repairs all of the damage. As you mention in your question, the Church has usually attached indulgences to some act of piety, by which we can show our love for God and neighbor. Plenary indulgences always include a particular act of piety (like half an hour adoration of the Blessed Sacrament), plus confession within a week, Holy Communion, and prayers for the pope and his intentions. But they also require a complete interior detachment from sin. Sometimes it is hard for us to know if we are fully detached. But even if we are not, God will honor our prayers and faith in some way, perhaps through granting a partial indulgence. Those Complicated Catholics Doesn’t this all seem a bit complicated? Why doesn’t God just simplify things? We can never know all of God’s reasons, but the doctrine of indulgences does reflect his wisdom in myriad ways. First of all, it shows his justice. God longs to forgive all sinners and welcome them back into his friendship and his family. But it would be unfair to simply ignore the damage that sin does. Justice requires that the damage, including that done by the sinner to the sinner’s own soul, be repaired. But God is also merciful, and so he allows us to help each other out, to bear each other’s burdens, to contribute to the good of one another, both here on earth, and after death. Furthermore, the obvious benefit that indulgences give to souls in purgatory can motivate us to a deeper prayer life. I know one couple who structure their spiritual lives around obtaining a plenary indulgence every day. This keeps them on track – they have to pray daily and be receiving the sacraments regularly in order to obtain those indulgences. It adds objectivity to their spiritual life. The bottom line, however, is charity, love. Obtaining indulgences for souls suffering in purgatory exercises true supernatural love for neighbors whom we may never meet till our family feast in heaven. And when we exercise true, supernatural love, it grows – nothing matters more than that. Yours in Christ, Father John Bartunek, LC, ThD Please explain plenary indulgences and purgatory! – Part I
A: Aside from the problem of mathematical piety which we will discuss later, you are basically right, if indeed this person had the intention of obtaining an indulgence as she performed those acts of piety, and if this person were truly detached from personal sin. But we do have to be a bit careful here, so as not to have a simplistic view of indulgences. Let’s review. An indulgence is simply a favor granted by the Church – to which, remember, Christ gave the “keys of the Kingdom” and the “power to bind and loose on earth and in heaven” (see Matthew 16). By means of this favor, the Church applies the merits won by Christ and the saints to repair the damage that sins cause to our soul. We don’t obtain God’s forgiveness through an indulgence, rather we obtain the remission of what is traditionally called “temporal punishment” for sin. This is an important concept to consider. It connects both to the doctrine of indulgences, and also to that of purgatory. A Trip to Purgatory C.S. Lewis explained purgatory with a memorable image. Imagine that a young man leaves home to go off and fight in a war. He is gone for a long time, and when he finally returns, his clothes are tattered, he’s half-starved, he is caked with mud and covered with blood, his head is bandaged, both his legs are broken and one arm is in a homemade sling. But, he is alive, and he has made his way home. Will he go right into the dining room where the family is having a birthday dinner? No. He is not fit for such a celebration, and he wouldn’t even want to make an appearance in his unpleasant condition. He has to go and get cleaned up, and the doctors will have to look at him and set those broken bones and change those bandages, and he’ll have to get his strength back, and he’ll have to undergo physical therapy to recover from his injuries. The process may take a while, and it will probably be uncomfortable, even painful. It may take a full year before he’s 100% healthy and able to participate fully in family affairs. But in the end, he’ll take his rightful seat at the family feast. That temporary recovery period is like purgatory. Our life on earth is a spiritual war. Our selfishness and sins not only offend God (the offense that confession removes, as God grants us his forgiveness), but they also do damage to our souls. They form and deepen spiritual habits, tendencies, and attitudes that are contrary to the gospel. And that damage needs to be repaired; every last scrap of selfishness and sinfulness has to be removed, or purified, before we are able to live in the perfect intimacy with God that heaven requires. This purification can happen either in this life, or after we die. If it happens after we die, it is called purgatory – the state in which all remaining selfishness is purged from our souls. Understanding that concept of purification lays the groundwork for understanding the value of indulgences, which we will look at next time … Yours in Christ, Father John Bartunek, LC, ThD Why would the Church recommend that we meditate on such horrible things as hell and the last judgment?
A: “The Last Things”, or “Eschatology” is the subject that deals with the ultimate truths of our existence. Often called “The Four Last Things,” the number can vary. They are death, judgment, heaven, and hell, but we can also include purgatory and the final judgment. Some add the resurrection of the body and the end of the present world to complete the picture. Your comment that they are horrible would apply to hell (at least inasmuch as it is the greatest definitive disaster that could befall man), but I would not qualify the others with the same adjective. Death is not humanly attractive – and our nature shies from it – but it is a necessary step in order to get to heaven. The same can be said of judgment and purgatory. For those in friendship with God, these are not to be feared. Although awe-inspiring and even painful they lead to eternal bliss, and we can consider them as purification for our sins. I think many avoid these themes because they make us feel our limitedness and our necessary dependence on God. They prick our conscience and shake us out of our comfort zone. Most of all, however, they make us suffer because we often lack faith and trust in God’s love and mercy. We contemplate only our sinfulness and misery and realize that we cannot cause our own salvation. It is a scary thought. We are totally in the hands of God and his compassion. Nothing we can ever do can make us worthy of heaven. It is his gift, his grace (albeit, a grace he offers to all and, once accepted in faith, a grace that we can expand upon and gain merit with). Contemplation of this nature, based on fear and without faith, is never recommendable. It will do little good; it will only make us agitated and worrisome. If, on the other hand, we meditate on these realities based on the sureness of God’s love for us, the panorama changes. Death becomes a sacrifice I can present to God just like Jesus did… my last and most profound offering: my life. The judgment may reveal my sins, but more importantly it will reveal God’s loving care and constant presence in my life – the almost infinite graces he has showered on me and the glories he has worked through me. Purgatory becomes a place to grow in ardent love for him. I find myself not quite ready, with too many imperfections. I want to cleanse myself and enjoy God fully with no limitations. I “purge” myself; I sacrifice myself as fast as I can so that I can enjoy that final embrace. Heaven is indescribable. Think of it as the sum of the most intense desires of your heart, all of them, all together. Multiply that by infinity and then grasp it in one act of love that will never pass. It is too hard to find the words. Hell… definitely not a good subject. But the thought of it can lead us to wake up and shed our spiritual sloth. The children of Fatima were granted a vision of hell from our Lady, and it turned them into ardent apostles of prayer. Christ himself mentions it in the Gospel for those who would rather not take the narrow path but instead choose the wide and easy one. He mentions the fire that is never extinguished and the worm that dies not. This is not just a scare tactic to get us to worry, but as the Catechism says, “a call to the responsibility incumbent upon man to make use of his freedom in view of his eternal destiny… and at the same time, an urgent call to conversion” (CCC, 1036). I think that is the reason we should contemplate the eternal truths: they give meaning to our lives. They get us to pull our heads out of the sand and realize what life is really about and where we are heading. They turn us back to God and teach us to value him and his things above all else. God is not a bookkeeper, keeping track of our faults and sins and waiting for the proper moment to cut us down and cut us off. He is a loving God who loved us so much that he sent us his only Son to show us the way to him. Meditating on the last things enables us to grow in love for him and his mercy. Finally, it is good to remember that the Fathers of the Church and the Popes have always recommended the awareness of (or the contemplation of) these Last Things. A couple of quotes from John Paul II and Benedict XVI can give us ulterior reasons for this contemplation.
Yours in Christ, Father Joseph Burtka, LC |
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