For the forgiveness of sins
- MOTHER MARY FRANCIS, P.C.C.
This Advent I would invite you to make this consent to be forgiven because this is a very unique gift to God.
He, as God, can show mercy; he cannot receive it. As God, he is the Lord of forgiveness, but he cannot be forgiven. We can say, in our human way of expressing a real truth of God before which all our human language limps and falters, that we can contribute something to God, who cannot be forgiven. And so, let us bring to him, in everything that we strive to do this Advent, this consent to be forgiven, this gift of being forgiven. When he, with lordly mercy, promises to throw all our faults and our sins into the sea, let us not put on the diving equipment of pride and go right down and bring them up again.
There is something in all of us that would like to pretend that we do not need to be forgiven, and this is why we sometimes get so excited about our faults, why we cannot be simple, why we will not stop rocking that little spiritual monster-child that we cuddle so, that we do not want snatched from us, that we do not want laid to Christian burial. We want to keep looking at it and in the end we convince ourselves that it is beautiful. Or the other alternative is to say that this isn't my child; it is somebody else's. We are adept at choosing one of those two alternatives which save us from being forgiven….
Let this be our consolation, that God is truth and all truth honors him; therefore, the honest admission of our faults gives glory to God. And so, there is no reason to be discouraged because no matter how many faults the light of the coming King brings into focus in our hearts, everything honestly faced can give honor to him. Now isn't that wonderful? Isn't that something to be happy about? Isn't that why we continually rejoice in this season of penance? We laugh together and we are happy together, because this is the whole meaning of Advent, that we are the forgiven ones.
This is Meaghen Gonzalez, Editor of CERC. I hope you appreciated this piece. We curate these articles especially for believers like you.
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Acknowledgement
Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C. "For the forgiveness of sins." excerpt from Come, Lord Jesus: Meditations on the Art of Waiting (San Francisco, Ca: Ignatius Press, 2010).
Reprinted with permission from Ignatius Press.
The Author
Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C. (1921-2006) was the abbess of the Poor Clare Monastery in Roswell, New Mexico. She was an accomplished author and writer of thirteen books, seven plays, and numerous poems. Among her books are: Come, Lord Jesus: Meditations on the Art of Waiting, But I Have Called You Friends: Reflections on the Art of Christian Friendship, A Right to Be Merry, Anima Christi, and Forth and Abroad. During her life she helped found four new Poor Clare monasteries, including one in Holland, and led the restoration of two others.
