During one of our Benedictine Oblate meetings
at St. Scholastica Monastery in Duluth, Sister Edith handed us sample copies of
a new publication from the Liturgical Press. “Give
Us This Day: Daily Prayer for Today’s Catholic”
is a treasure for those of us seeking to live a deeper life of
prayer. Morning and Evening prayers
include Scripture and intercessory prayer and features models of holy living in
a daily reading called “Blessed Among Us.” Mass texts include reflections by
well-known spiritual writers.
Today, the reflection for the mass was taken from “God,
Christ and Us” by Father Herbert McCabe, an English Dominican,
theologian, philosopher and preacher:
“You do not have to be
good before God will love you; you do not have to try to be good before God
will forgive you; you do not have to repent before you will be absolved by God.
It is the other way around. If you are good, it is because God’s love has
already made you so; if you want to try to be good, that is because God is
loving you; if you want to be forgiven, that is because God is forgiving you.”
I was especially moved by the words: “You do not have to try
to be good before God will forgive you . . . if you want to be forgiven, that
is because God is forgiving you.” It brought me back to the day I saw my
daughter Francesca for the last time. When Francesca came to see me that day,
it was September 11, 2001 and the attack on the World Trade Towers in NY had
just hit the news. She’d called to tell me she was on her way from Minneapolis
to our home on Minnesota’s North Shore of Lake Superior. “I need you, Mommy,”
she said. “I need to be with you.”
Francesca was a wildly loving, intensely vulnerable, and
tormented young woman whose lifestyle placed her at great risk. When she came
to see me on September 11, it was to tell me how much she loved me and agonized
over all the pain and worry she’d given me. When I pulled her into my arms and
told her I’d loved her through all her choices, she asked about God and God’s
forgiveness.
“What about God, Mommy. Can God forgive me for the way I’ve
lived my life?”
“Oh Fran, honey,” I reassured her, “God has already forgiven you; you’ve
always had God’s forgiveness; even in your darkest hours God’s been there,
loving you”
I hope Francesca believed
me for on September 18, one week later, my lovely girl – all of 24 years old --
was shot and killed. I pray that Francesca died knowing how greatly she was
loved . . . and forgiven. Seeing Father
McCabe’s words this morning brought me to tears. This was the message I’d hoped
to give my daughter. That is the message I hope to take into this day and the
rest of my life. The knowledge of and belief in God’s “besotted”[i] love for
us.
2 comments:
So beautiful, Beryl. Thank you.
What a beautiful reflection, and one that so deeply ties the present realities in our world with the depths of God's forgiveness. I'm certainly glad that Give Us This Day is proving to be such a deep resource for so many of us. Sister Edith
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