In an 1885 biography of Servant of God Mary Ward, Sr. Chambers writes of how she was filled with Grace. In the early 1600’s, women were not to be in public without a man’s escort, nor were they to speak unless spoken to. But Mary Ward could walk into a room of men in great dispute, and the entire room would still and calm in her presence. She was a vessel of Grace.
Can you imagine how life would change carrying that Grace into your family’s dinner table? Your workplace?
“Jesus himself is what we call “heaven”; heaven is not a place but a person, the person of him in whom God and man are forever and inseparably one. And we go to heaven and enter into heaven to the extent that we go to Jesus Christ and enter into him. In this sense, “ascension into heaven” can be something that takes place in our everyday lives…” (Pope Benedict XVI)
Some days I pray endlessly for God to give me a break and take away the parts of myself I most despise. However, that is a futile prayer. His intent isn’t to take me apart like a Mr. Potato head doll and toss away the parts that don’t belong. Rather, His desire is to perfect this nature He has intentionally created in me.
Our 2nd reading from the 1st Letter of St. John is confusing. What does it mean to see God as He is? And why does that matter in my day today? It matters because it is our path to happiness; the path God wants us to bring others to as well.
A priest once said “When Jesus looks at you, He does not see your sin. He sees through your sin to the images of God still remaining.”
St. Claude de Colombiere wrote “Men may deprive me of property and honour; sickness may take away my strength and other means of serving You; I may even lose Your grace by sin; but never, never will I lose my hope in You.” That is Divine Mercy.