"Let the person who is without sin cast the first stone." These words of Jesus serve as a reminder that none of us should cast stones at anyone, not even at ourselves. For we are all sinners. We are all in need of the loving mercy of God. As such, let us approach God in humility each day with the words, "Have mercy upon me, Lord, a sinner." We should also remember to have mercy upon ourselves. One of the greatest difficulties or trials that we can suffer in life is learning to forgive ourselves for our past or present sins. But this is precisely what Jesus calls us to do. Jesus calls us to love ourselves as He loves us. He calls us to humbly accept ourselves for who we actually are with all our wounds, deficiencies and failures as he does. Christ does not love ideal or perfect persons. Nobody is perfect. Christ loves real people who are imperfect. He loves us with all our wounds, defects and failings. Let us, therefore, love ourselves as Christ loves us. Let us be merciful and forgiving of ourselves. This is the first step in moving towards the perfection to which Christ calls us. For if we cannot learn to love ourselves with all our imperfections, how will we ever learn to love others with all their imperfections? In fact, how will we ever learn to love God? As St. John tells us, if we desire to love the God whom we do not see, we must learn to love the neighbor whom we do see, including ourselves? The love of self, the love of neighbor and the love of God are inseparable. May Jesus help us to love well, dear friends
Posted on: Mon, 09 Sep 2013 04:01:20 +0000
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