The other day when I went to Mass for the feast of the Immaculate Conception, I paused for a moment to pray in front of a beautiful statue our parish has of the Pieta. As I stood there, I was struck by the thought that I put up a lot of walls in my life that prevent me from fully receiving God's grace and being transformed by Him. Sin, of course, is one example of such a barrier. But I know I put up plenty of other walls. A wall of anxiety. A wall of stress. The wall of my comfort zone. The wall of being too worried about what other people think. The wall of shame. The wall of lack of trust. The wall of grudges. The wall of impatience. The wall of fear. These are just a few examples from my own life.
In the First Reading from the book of Genesis that was read on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, Adam says, "I was afraid because I was naked, and so I hid myself." (Genesis 3:10) Because of his sin, Adam is afraid, and so he puts up a "wall" to hide and protect himself from God. And ever since this first fall, we've all had to struggle with a tendency to distrust God, and this distrust is the main root of the "walls" we put up.
Maybe sometimes we feel trapped, though, in these walls of our own creation. (I know I do, at least.) Maybe it seems like there's no way out. But when Jesus appeared to His disciples after His resurrection, He should that He can enter even when the doors are locked -- and He comes to bring peace to His troubled children. Cry out to Him from the depths of your heart. Invite Him in. He is listening and will answer even the quietest whisper of your heart.
He can make our walls into bridges, if only we let Him, if only we open ourselves even a little to God's action in our lives. Our sins, our weaknesses, our miseries can be ladders, springboards even, to bring us to God's merciful heart because with the help of His grace they can be occasions for repentance and deeper trust in God.
"Perfect love casts out fear." (1 John 4:18) In perfect love, there are no walls to prevent the exchange of love. Out of the whole human race, our Blessed Mother Mary is the only person who never put up any walls blocking the grace of God in her life. This is what we celebrated on the recent feast of the Immaculate Conception: that by a unique gift of God, Mary was preserved from original sin from the moment of her conception in the womb of St. Anne, and that all through her life she, by God's grace, never committed even the smallest personal sin. In every moment of her life she was "full of grace." Let us turn to Our Lady's intercession, that she help us dissolve those walls that prevent us from fully receiving all the gifts and graces God wants to bestow on us.
Maybe sometimes we feel trapped, though, in these walls of our own creation. (I know I do, at least.) Maybe it seems like there's no way out. But when Jesus appeared to His disciples after His resurrection, He should that He can enter even when the doors are locked -- and He comes to bring peace to His troubled children. Cry out to Him from the depths of your heart. Invite Him in. He is listening and will answer even the quietest whisper of your heart.
He can make our walls into bridges, if only we let Him, if only we open ourselves even a little to God's action in our lives. Our sins, our weaknesses, our miseries can be ladders, springboards even, to bring us to God's merciful heart because with the help of His grace they can be occasions for repentance and deeper trust in God.
"Perfect love casts out fear." (1 John 4:18) In perfect love, there are no walls to prevent the exchange of love. Out of the whole human race, our Blessed Mother Mary is the only person who never put up any walls blocking the grace of God in her life. This is what we celebrated on the recent feast of the Immaculate Conception: that by a unique gift of God, Mary was preserved from original sin from the moment of her conception in the womb of St. Anne, and that all through her life she, by God's grace, never committed even the smallest personal sin. In every moment of her life she was "full of grace." Let us turn to Our Lady's intercession, that she help us dissolve those walls that prevent us from fully receiving all the gifts and graces God wants to bestow on us.
Comments
Post a Comment