SAINT AUGUSTINE ZHAO RONG, PRIEST, AND COMPANIONS, MARTYRS (OPTIONAL MEMORIAL)

My heart is overwhelmed, my pity is stirred. . . . For I am God and not man. 

Well, of course he’s God and not man—isn’t that obvious?   Still, our ideas about God can be colored by our experience of human relationships.   We are parents or children; we are friends or siblings.   We have been disappointed or angered or pleased by all of them.   That can lead us to think that God will react to situations in the same way any of us would.   But God likes to surprise us.

When Hosea prophesied in Israel around 750 BC, many of God’s people were comfortable and prosperous—so much so that they had started drifting toward the idols that their neighbors and trading partners believed in.   Now, if God were a man and not God, the people’s infidelity could have moved him to abandon them or revoke their status as his chosen people.   Their betrayal could have justified a harsh response.   But he is God, not man.   He offers relationship and redemption, not revenge and recrimination.

This is how God relates to you too.   His heart is filled with love for you;   he wants to draw you into an ever-deepening relationship with him.   Why would he reject you?   As Pope Francis once said, “Jesus never strikes.   Jesus cleanses with tenderness, mercy, love.”

Do we need to be cleansed?   Of course.   But how will Jesus go about it?   Perhaps our experience of having been hurt or rejected in the past can lead us to expect Jesus to condemn us as well.   But he won’t;   he came to save us, not to condemn us (John 3:17).

Try something different today as you reflect on this passage.   Think of the worst thing you’ve ever done.   Now, imagine that Jesus is sitting with you, looking into your eyes.   Can you see the mercy and compassion there?   What if he raised your face to his cheek or kissed you on the forehead as you might do to a child?   Even if you didn’t feel especially repentant, it wouldn’t take long for your heart to melt in the face of such tenderness.

Let Jesus disarm you with his compassion today.   Let him move you to repent.   Let him cleanse you with his mercy.

“Jesus, your love can’t be explained in human terms.   Thank you, Lord, for embracing me!”

Psalm 80:2-3, 15-16
Matthew 10:7-15