O Eternal Goodness!

Seeing over and over again the truth of who we are, our struggles and the leftover dreams that still nag and clog our sensibilities, we wonder, "How can God be so patient with us?" But the Lord our God looks into the depths of our hearts. God understands. And best of all in Christ Jesus, our Lord and God has come to be with us and call us to life, and remind us who we are in God's eyes - always beloved children. Then even more we are filled with wonder. And we want to cry out as did Saint Catherine of Siena:

O eternal beauty! O eternal goodness, O eternal mercy! O mad lover! You have need of your creature? It seems so to me, for you act as if you could not live without her. Why then are you so mad? Because you have fallen in love with what you have made! You are pleased and delighted over her within yourself, as if you were drunk with desire for her salvation. She runs away from you and you go looking for her. She strays and you draw closer to her. What shall I say? I stutter, “A-a,” I don’t know what else to say.

Photo by Brother Brian. Lines from Saint Catherine of Siena, The Dialogue, 153.