Pope
Benedict XVI will refer to the ‘law of excess or superfluity’ that runs through the
whole of salvation history, finding its clearest expression in Jesus. The Pope
emeritus sees this law as “the righteousness of God, which goes far
beyond what need be, which does not calculate, which really overflows.” God’s
greater love infinitely surpasses the failing efforts of human beings. God
refuses to let us go.
This
is the real source and ground for all our Lenten observances. God’s grace does
not wait upon my change of heart. It is only the grace of God that turns my
heart around. It is the mercy of God who loves me, that draws me to plead for
his pardon and to trust his forgiveness. In a way our Lenten pleadings for
God’s mercy, in whatever form they take (prayer, fasting, almsgiving), are
really a response on our part; an echo reverberating God’s plea for us “to
return to him with all our heart.”
Reflection by Abbot Damian.