Tag Archives: sin

Children of a loving Father

 

 

 

 

One of the great revelations that Jesus gives us, especially in the Sermon on the Mount, is that God is not just the Supreme Being, the creator of the universe, but truly our loving Father. In this meditation we use texts of Scripture and of St Josemaria Escriva to consider what God’s Fatherhood means for us:

  • Our Father God has a plan, a mission for each one of us
  • He loves us dearly and we want to love him in return
  • He invites us to talk with him in prayer, including the Our Father
  • He respects our freedom, allowing us to sin but always welcoming us back
  • He disciplines us, as all good fathers do with their children
  • He watches over us in his loving providence, moving us always to trust in him and not be anxious
  • He wants us to come home to heaven with him

The Pharisee and the Tax Collector

the Pharisee and the Publican

The parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector praying in the temple has much to tell us. In this meditation we use texts of Scripture, St Augustine, St John Chrysostom and St Josemaria to reflect on how:

  • We too should endeavour to pray before the Blessed Sacrament whenever possible
  • The Pharisee’s pride and self-righteousness make his good deeds of less value
  • We should never judge others the way the Pharisee did
  • The tax collector teaches us the great importance of humility
  • We should regard all our virtues and good deeds as gifts from God.
  • We are all sinners and we should ask God to forgive us, as the tax collector did
  • We should do penance for our sins and go regularly to confession

Love, sin and repentance

 

The parable of the prodigal son is mercy perosnified.

God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son, and Jesus loved us so much that he suffered and died on the cross for us. Jesus invites us to love him in return but we so often show him by our sins that we love him too little. In this meditation we consider how:

  • We cannot avoid all sins – even the saints in heaven committed them – but we can try harder to avoid sinning.
  • God expects more from us than from many others.
  • We should strive especially to avoid committing mortal sins and deliberate venial sins.
  • We should identify the occasions of our sins and strive to avoid them.
  • We should foster true contrition for our sins.
  • We should do penance to make up at least in part for our sins and to strengthen our will to resist future temptations.
  • We should strive to go regularly to the sacrament of penance, knowing that there God always pours out his mercy on us.