God so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal love.
Even as we switch back and forth between our infidelities to God, he patiently reaches back to us, each time calling us to himself. God's love cannot be undone by our ongoing infidelities. All he waits for is that split-second turning of our hearts back to him, and in order that this tiny miracle of turning may take place, his grace is there to see us through. But what about our constantly falling back? Are we able to look beyond our ongoing disappointment in ourselves and more importantly, are we able to believe in the dynamism and the completeness of his each forgiving?
Living as best we can through the reality of these infidelities, we eventually come to understand and taste the meaning of those words of Christ, "Without me, you can do nothing." We have to accept the humiliations of those many failings, small or great, because Christ uses them to convince us that our modest efforts have to be harnessed to his own powerful might and that ultimately we have to turn over the brunt of the battle to him. His love will not be outdone by those infidelities; he looks beyond them because he revels at the thought of what he will bring about in us through his own great love.
Even as we switch back and forth between our infidelities to God, he patiently reaches back to us, each time calling us to himself. God's love cannot be undone by our ongoing infidelities. All he waits for is that split-second turning of our hearts back to him, and in order that this tiny miracle of turning may take place, his grace is there to see us through. But what about our constantly falling back? Are we able to look beyond our ongoing disappointment in ourselves and more importantly, are we able to believe in the dynamism and the completeness of his each forgiving?
Living as best we can through the reality of these infidelities, we eventually come to understand and taste the meaning of those words of Christ, "Without me, you can do nothing." We have to accept the humiliations of those many failings, small or great, because Christ uses them to convince us that our modest efforts have to be harnessed to his own powerful might and that ultimately we have to turn over the brunt of the battle to him. His love will not be outdone by those infidelities; he looks beyond them because he revels at the thought of what he will bring about in us through his own great love.
Photograph by Brother Brian. Excerpts from Father Gabriel's homily for the Twenty-seventh Sunday .
