Deep calls unto deep…
“Father, I will that where I am they also whom you have given me may be, in order that they may behold my glory…”
“In order to understand this very mysterious saying, we must not, so to speak, stop at the surface, but enter ever deeper into the divine Being through recollection. “Abyss calls to abyss.” It is there in the very depths that the divine impact takes place, where the abyss of our nothingness encounters the abyss of mercy…” - Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity
***
I dare say, even if we fall into serious sin, we must remember to look up slightly, while we are face down in the dirt and slime of sin and remorse. We will see his face very close to our own. We will understand that he fell just as low as ourselves, to be there for us, to be there with us. He who knew no sin is always waiting for us, no matter how low we may fall… he waits for our repentance, longing to show us his mercy.
“Jesus came and touched them, saying, ‘Rise, and do not be afraid.’” - Matthew 17
February 12th, 2008 at 5:46 am
Two days ago, the Holy Father’s Sunday Angelus (2/09/08):
“… Christ’s invitation for us Christians to take up one’s own Cross and follow him with humility and trust (cfr Mt 16,24) resounds more urgently than ever.
The ‘Cross’, no matter how heavy it may seem, is not synonymous to bad luck or misfortune to be avoided as much as possible, but it is an opportunity to place ourselves in Jesus’s steps and thus acquire the strength for the battle against sin and evil.
To enter Lent thus means to renew our personal and communitarian decision to face evil together with Christ. In fact, only the way of the Cross leads to the victory of love over hate, of sharing over selfishness, of peace over violence.
Seen this way, Lent is truly an occasion of strong ascetic and spiritual commitment based on the grace of Christ.
This year, the start of Lent coincides providentially with the 150th anniversary of the Marian apparitions in Lourdes. Four years after the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception by the Blessed Pius IX, Mary showed herself for the first time on February 11, 1858, to St. Bernadette Soubirous in the grotto of Massabielle.
Other apparitions followed, accompanied by extraordinary events, and in the end, the Virgin Mary bid farewell, revealing to the young seer in the local dialect: ‘I am the Immaculate Conception.’
The message that Our Lady continues to disseminate in Lourdes recalls the words that Jesus said right at the start of his public mission, which we will hear several times during these days of Lent: Repent and believe in the Gospel - pray and repent.
Let us welcome Mary’s invitation which echoes that of Jesus, and let us ask her to obtain that we may ‘enter’ Lent with faith, so we may live this season of grace with interior joy and generous commitment.”