In the eyes of God

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“In the eyes of God, we are not, first of all, sinners, who can approach him only with fear and contrite hearts.  The basic reality about me is not that I am a sinner, who will be loved only if I fulfill certain requirements.  The basic reality of my life is that I am precious in the eyes of God.  I am loved by God as though I were an only child.  God’s love is not one of his attributes.  It is his very essence.  Thus, it is unchanging, whether we accept it or not; whether we open our minds and our hearts to it, or not.”

That paragraph is an excerpt from God’s Love: Reason for Hope, a somewhat lengthy article by Fr. William P. Clark, O.M.I.  And, if you don’t get a chance to read the entire thing, here are a couple other paragraphs:

“God’s love is unchanging.  There is nothing I can do either to reduce, or increase, God’s love.  I can only graciously accept it, and find in it the fulfillment of my life.  Christ did not wait to offer his love until we changed.  It is because he loved us first, that we have the ability to change.  In his first letter, John stated that very clearly: “It is not we who have loved God, but God loved us, and sent his Son to expiate our sins” (I John 4: 10).

“God’s love is unconditional.  Otherwise, it would not be true love.  True love is always unconditional.  If I attach conditions to my love, it is not true love. It is, rather, an offering, an exchange, not a gift.   In our human relationships, we tend to attach conditions to the love we give.  In telling someone we love them, we may be implicitly saying things like this: “I will love you as long as you return my love.  I will love you if you meet my expectations of you.”  Because that is the way our human condition leads us to act, it is not easy to accept the fact that God’s love is unconditional.  Being aware—often, only too painfully—of our brokenness, our failings, and our guilt, we feel unworthy of such unconditional love.”

Sharon’s story

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Wow.  That’s all I can say about Sharon Doran’s story which she shared at Witnesses to Hope Monday night.  She is so clearly a “witness to hope,” and I hope you can make time to listen to her sharing.  You can find it here.  She’ll make you laugh and cry, encourage you and inspire you.  You can find out more about the Bible Study she leads here: Seeking Truth.  You can e-mail Sharon at contact@seekingtruth.net  (Sr. Ann gave her an excellent and inspiring introduction which you can find here–the quality of Sr. Ann’s recording is not as high quality as Sharon’s but still worth the listen.)

Be it understood

Sr. Dorcee, beloved1 Comment

“Be it understood and remembered that the darkness of trials is not evil, that dryness of spirit is not sin, and that confusion of mind is not malice. They are invitations to patience, calls to resignation, beckonings to the healing Cross, and admonitions to be humble and obedient to the will of God.”

William Ullathorne from Patience and Humility, Sophia Institute Press

Faith’s beginning

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A Sunday-poem by Fr. David May from Madonna House for the beginning of this Year of Faith:

Faith’s Beginning

by Fr. David May.

It was (and is) like this:
That tortuous, tortured place,
Fleeing, like a tremulous little bird,
Flitting between hiding places,
Creature of shadows
Never in full light,
Yet giving away its presence
In fluttering wings and piercing
Song of evening…

That closed and stone-hard place,
Impenetrable, hard as hawk’s eyes,
Gleaming, piercing summer’s noon
With cold, unyielding stare,
Hunter driven by hunger…

Cauldron of bitter schemes,
Witch’s brew angry and troubled,
Seething even in quiet,
Secretly boiling, overflowing
Pain of nothingness and loving it…

That place—my heart—embraced by You.
No word, no admonition,
No judgment, no mountain storm
Of lightning, wind, thunder,
Slide of rocks, mud, trees,
Not even a gentle breeze or whisper of air,
But only strength of stillness
Laying irrevocable claim,
As if mining for gold
Buried in black-night earth,
Seeing treasure where none is,
Digging with bloodied hands
Till the mask is cast off—

Awakening love, reaching out
Like a reed crushed then mended,
Believing in the One believing in me,
Creature from his hands.

And a note from Madonna House: If you enjoy our articles, we ask you to please consider subscribing to the print edition of Restoration; it’s only $10 a year, and will help us stay in print. Thanks, and God bless you!

Friday: from the archives

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Friday: from the archives

Sr. Dorcee, beloved's avatarWitnesses to Hope

A day or two ago one who was with me prayed like this, “Lord, help me to welcome interruptions, especially when the interruption seems less important than the work I am trying to do.”  That prayer has often been mine.  I expect many of you have felt the need of the loving grace of the Lord to help you to welcome interruptions, especially when they do not seem to matter nearly so much as what we are doing at the moment.  Thinking of this, I found myself this early morning in Lk. 9.11.  The people followed our Lord Jesus (He had wanted to be alone with His disciples just then), and He welcomed them.

It is so easy to be too preoccupied to be welcoming.  May the love of our Lord Jesus, for whose sake and in whose service we are here, so overflow from us that it will…

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The Year of Faith

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An article by Catherine Doherty from Madonna House on faith–faith in the God who loves us no matter what.  Be encouraged!

Getting Ready for the Year of Faith

by Catherine Doherty.

When I was a young wife in Petrograd, the city was in chaos when the communists took over. My husband Boris and I were sleeping on the floor after everything was taken away from us.

I said to him, “Boris, I am afraid.” He yawned and said, “Why? You are a Christian.”

That was a pretty good answer, and I never forgot it. If I am a Christian, can I give way to hopelessness? No. The resurrected Christ is in our midst.

What we have to battle in this day and age is our own hopelessness. Many people are depressed. They are depressed by their image of themselves.

Well, the picture they see in the mirror is false. Then, on top of this depression and in it and over it comes a terrible loneliness.

The answer to it is so utterly simple. The answer is faith. A very small word, but one of such immense power that it can lift you to the very feet of God. Faith in who you are as a child of God, faith in what you stand for, faith in where you are going.

These days, who of us doesn’t need faith, love, peace, compassion, understanding? So many of us cannot escape the fears that bay at us like a pack of wolves at our heels.

And so many of these fears are nonsensical. Let us stop listening to them.

We don’t have to worry about our sinfulness. We just need to go to confession. And forget all that nonsense about being ugly and unlovable. Throw yourself into the arms of God who incarnated himself to become like you and me.

You can read the rest here.