SHEPHERD'S VOICE OCTOBER 2023 - HUMBLE and UNSHAKEABLE CONFIDENCE

The month of October begins with the feast of St. Teresa of the Child Jesus or the Little Flower as we are accustomed to call her.

What great virtue does she hold be fore us in her littleness? None other than humble and unshakeable confidence in God’s love which is also God’s mercy become incarnate in Jesus Christ – the Eternal Word become flesh for our salvation.

Exactly like St. Pul who could exclaim, “For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15: 9-10) and “I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13), St. Teresa of the Child Jesus considers herself as the ‘greatest of all sinners’. This ‘littleness’ is for her like an ‘elevator’ that lifts her up into the arms of Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. So great was her humility that she sees in herself sins and imperfections galore, but so great was her childlike confidence in the mercy of God in Christ that she is absolutely confident that the Lord will lift her up to the summit of the mountain of love.

This great saint never tires of stressing the infinite mercy of God revealed to us in Jesus Christ our loving Saviour. In other words, she is proclaiming the hope Christ has brought to humanity in his life, death and resurrection and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit when he tells his disciples, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.” (Luke 24:46-48).

However much the modern culture may try to eradicate the sense of sin from our consciousness, our consciences will betray us. In the depth of our being the ‘inner voice’ will never cease to tell us that we have wronged. Yet, the question is, should we be overburdened by feelings of guilt? Should the dark and ugly side of our life make us morose and take away the joy of our life?

Here comes the Gospel of Divine Mercy and what St. Teresa of the Child Jesus has been propagating through the spirituality of the ‘little way’: Let the purifying Sun, the Light of Light, Jesus Christ Our Lord and Saviour change the dust that we are into pure gold. Instead of plunging into the misery of past memories, plunge yourself into the furnace of Divine Love, i.e., the Merciful Heart of Jesus, through a single act of humble confidence. If we believe enough in merciful love, we’ll stop believing too much in our own wretchedness.

“We must have confidence, not in spite of our miseries, but because of them, since it is misery that attracts mercy” [Fr. Jean C.J. D’Elbée, I Believe in Love , Bangalore: ATC Publishers, p. 29].

The Little Flower believed with all her heart that she could repent and throw herself into the arms of Jesus at any time, even if she had on her conscience all the sins that she could commit. She knew that Jesus could never reject the repentant sinner who returns to him. Such was her humble confidence in the provident mercy of the Lord. Shortly before her death she openly declared that she had such confidence in the mercy of God that she considered all the multitude of her sins and offences as a drop of water in the immense ocean of God’s love and mercy.

What the Little Flower assures us of is very clear: the more we see ourselves as weak, wretched and unworthy sinners who have fallen and prone to fall, the more should be our confidence in the mercy of our Divine Saviour, and the more we should run to Him in a childlike trust that never plays us false and never lets us down, because His love is limitless, His mercy is infinite.

Every time we receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation the parable of the ‘Prodigal Son’ or the ‘Prodigal Father’ is replayed. This Sacrament always renews our trust and confidence in the mercy of God. It is a profound and ineffable experience of our Saviour who tells us, “Your sins are forgiven…Your faith has saved you; go in peace” (Luke 7:48-50).

In the Church and human society, we need to lift up one another to have the courage of the ‘prodigal son’ to return to the Lord in repentance and humble confidence that ‘I will not be rejected’ but will be ‘lovingly accepted’. This ministry within the Church is invaluable and especially in our relationship with the young who are always in need of such encouragement lest they lose their faith.

All who came to Jesus for healing and forgiveness and received salvation showed in their life this quality of humble and unshakeable confidence in the Lord’s power to heal them physically, mentally and spiritually, but we can never forget for instance:

- the centurion who said to Jesus, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed” (Mathew 8:8)

- the Cananite woman who replied to Jesus’ curt response saying, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table” (Mathew 15:27)

- the sinful woman who “brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment” (Luke 7:37-38).

- the woman who touched the fringe of Jesus’ garment with such a remarkable confidence: “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.” (Mark 5:28)

- Zaccheus, who said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold” (Luke 19: 8)

- The Good Thief on Calvary, who cried to the Lord in the dying moments of his life, ”Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” (Luke 23: 42).

- Peter, who said to the Risen Lord on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” (John 21: 17).

Whatever be the depth of our sinfulness and misery, our weaknesses and failures, if we look toward Jesus with the look and disposition of the Good Thief we will receive pardon and purification in a moment and the promise of Our Lord, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).

Jesus needs nothing from us except our humility and our confidence in order to work marvels of purification and sanctification in our lives, and the more we realize our unworthiness the more we will have recourse to Him who is our Resurrection and our Life.

What does Jesus lament most when He is with His disciples? Their lack of confidence . During the episode of the ‘Calming of the Storm’, when the disciples are filled with great anguish and fear that they are going to drown despite the fact that Jesus is present in the boat though sleeping, Jesus calms the storm but gently reprimands His disciples saying, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” (Mark 4: 40).

Even though Jesus looked to be ‘sleeping’, He was there in the boat in the very midst of His disciples, therefore there was no need for them to be terrified. He was watching over them with the utmost tenderness and love.

It is not so much our sins as much as our lack of faith and our doubts that pain Jesus. To quote Fr. D’Elbée:

“But you see, we have lost so completely the notion of the entire confidence that He expects of us, that we sometimes make a prayer of the words for which He reproached His Apostles: ‘Lord, save us; we are perishing!’

This is not how we should pray, but rather, ‘With You, Jesus, I cannot perish; You are always in the boat with me; what have I to fear? You may sleep; I shall not awaken You. My poor nature will tremble, oh yes! But with all my will I shall remain in peace in the midst of the storm, confident in You…

The great tempest is what our sins stir up in our souls. It is there that Jesus must arise in order that a ‘great calm may descend’” (I Believe in Love, p. 41)…

St. Paul is the best model for us of the humble and unshakeable confidence that should mark our life of Christian discipleship when he says:

“I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the foremost” (1 Timothy 1: 12-15).

Like St. Teresa of the Child Jesus let us abandon ourselves into the arms of Jesus remembering what St. John Mary Vianney said: “It is not the sinner who comes back to God to ask His pardon, but God Himself who runs after the sinner and who brings Him back to Himself” [I Believe in Love, p. 80].

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