Repent

There is a perfect example of humility given to me with love by the Father, and instead of repenting of my sins, I spend my days trying to justify them…

Imaculate Conception (Magdalena Walulik)

I have heard it once said that the only thing lacking of the souls in Hell is humility.  And that the only thing lacking of the souls in Heaven is Pride.  Perhaps this is an oversimplification, but one thing that is sure is that the Proud cannot repent and got to Heaven and the Humble will repent and beg forgiveness to avoid damnation.  And so, perhaps there is more truth to this little phrase than I first thought…

Reverent Cajetan da Bergamo wrote in “Humility of Heart” at page 56/57, “He who is humble, even though he fall through frailty, soon repents with sorrow and implores the divine assistance to help him to amend; nor is he astonished at having fallen, because he knows that of himself he is only capable of evil and would do far worse if God did not protect him with His grace. After having sinned, it is good to humble oneself before God, and without losing courage, to remain in humility in order not to fall again…  But to afflict ourselves without measure and to give way to a certain pusillanimous melancholy, which brings us to the verge of despair, is a temptation of pride, insinuated by the devil… However upright we may be, we must never be scandalized nor amazed at the conduct of evildoers, nor consider ourselves better than they, because we do not know what is ordained for them or for us in the supreme dispositions of God.”

And what is in the way of my repentance?

Well, firstly it is my own stubbornness and unwillingness to change.  If I were to surrender to God and allow Him to guide all my responses and reactions in life, I would be sinless.  And this is not an exaggeration – this has been done before.  The Blessed Virgin allowed God to take control over her and her reactions.  She decided to surrender herself to God completely, and in this way she made herself the “handmaid of the Lord” – meaning His servant to do with as He pleased.  And she did this – not only because she loved God in a way that I have never tried to love Him – but because she understood that God is perfect Goodness and by surrendering her own finite control to His infinite power she would actually be able to please Him more than in any other way, and in so pleasing Him, achieve the best outcome for herself and all souls in the world.

And this is exactly what happened through her participation in the Incarnation.  By saying YES to the Angel Gabriel during the Annunciation, the Blessed Virgin was saying yes to being a vessel of God.  She was agreeing to mirror back to the world everything that He offered to her.  And she was so humble – that being worthy of sanctity, she never once presumed to request it.  Instead, she remained the handmaid of the Lord.

And when I spot and reflect on that, I am quite overcome.  Because it seems that there is a perfect example of humility given to me with love by the Father, and instead of repenting of my sins, I spend my days trying to justify them…

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.