Meditations

What God sends is right. Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Luke 15, 21 To hear you bluster and complain, it would seem that you are the most innocent soul in the world, and that a crying injustice is being done to you not to let you back into the Garden of Eden. Remember everything you have done against God, and acknowledge that He is right. What you ought to do is tell God, with the same humility as the prodigal son, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I know what your justice demands of me, but I lack the courage to submit to it. If you were to place your confidence in me and spare me, I would become flattered. I would spare myself, and I would betray myself through that self-flattery. But your merciful hand performs what I would evidently never have had the courage to do. It strikes me out of kindness. Let me patiently bear those healing blows. The least a sinner can do, if he is truly upset with himself, is to willingly bear the suffering that comes his way, suffering he would never have had the strength to choose.