Day Twenty-Two
On this “Spy Wednesday” (so-named because Judas sells Jesus to the Sanhedrin at Mass today), we move into the last week of our 33-Day pilgrimage to Mercy Sunday. Tomorrow we enter the darkness of the Triduum with Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. And today we enter the fourth week of Fr. Gaitley’s book, entitled “Into the Darkness.” But as he writes at the end of today’s reading, “the darkness of sin (repented sin) is not so dark after all.”
Apparently, St. Thérèse did not commit even one mortal sin throughout her life, and not very many venial sins. That makes her quite different from most of us. But what makes her quite similar to us is her capacity to reject God’s will. She believed that, in God’s unknowable providence, He had preserved her from mortal sin, but that even had she committed all possible sins, “I would go, my heart broken with sorrow, and throw myself into Jesus’ arms, for I know how much He loves the prodigal child that returns to Him.” That is the last complete sentence in her autobiography. The tuberculosis that would end her life at age 24 stopped her from writing any further. She died, however, with full confidence that she was going to God, and I will tell you how she showed that to me. Thérèse often communicates to people on earth, and in a few days I will describe how she came to me in 1997.
For now, let me finish with a saying from the Desert Fathers: “Look up, not down.” You can turn your eyes from the darkness of this world, from your own sin or the sin of others, and look up to heaven. We must be aware of dysfunction in this life, but we don’t have to let it rule our minds. We can train our souls to look up when darkness calls our name, to look up towards Easter, to the radiance rising in the East, to Christ the King seated in the eternal Kingdom of Light.
Prayer
Come, Holy Spirit, fire of mercy. Let the light of God’s Merciful Love shine into the darkness of my sin.