The mercy of God - 2

When Adam rebelled against the Lord and hid himself from His grace, behold the Lord goes in search of the lost Adam, and almost weeping calls him: Adam, where art thou? Ah, this good Lord goes all day in quest of sinners, saying to them: Ungrateful that you are, do not fly from me! Why will you die, O house of Israel?

I. Consider the mercy of God in calling sinners to repentance. When Adam rebelled against the Lord, and afterwards hid himself from His face, behold God, having lost Adam, goes in search of him, and, almost weeping, calls him; Adam, where art thou? (Gen. iii. 9). "They are words of a father," observes Father Pereira, "who seeks his lost son." My brother, how often has God done the same for you? You fled from God, and God continued to call you: now by inspirations, now by remorse of conscience, now by sermons, now by tribulations, now by the death of your friends. Jesus Christ appears to say, speaking of you: I have laboured with crying: my jaws have become hoarse (Ps. lxviii. 4). My son, My voice is weary crying after thee. "Remember, O sinners," says St. Teresa, "that the same Lord Who cries to you now will one day be your Judge."

My brother, how many times have you been deaf to the voice of God Who called you! You have deserved that He should call you no more. But no, your God has not ceased to call you, because He desired to make peace with you and to save you. Who was it that called you? A God of infinite majesty. And you, who were you, but a miserable worm? And why did He call you but to restore to you that life of grace you had lost: Return ye and live (Ezech. xviii. 32). To obtain Divine grace it would be but little to live in a desert during a whole life; but God offered to you that you could receive His grace in a moment, if you chose it, by an act of contrition; and you refused it. And after all this God has not abandoned you; He has sought you, as it were, weeping, and saying: "My son, why wilt thou damn thyself?" Why will you die, O house of Israel? (Ezech. xviii. 31).

Behold, O Lord, at Thy feet an ungrateful sinner, imploring Thy pity! My Father, pardon me! I call Thee Father because Thou desirest I should so call Thee. I do not deserve compassion, for after Thou hast been good to me I have been the more ungrateful to Thee. Ah, by that goodness which has withheld Thee, my God, from abandoning me when I fled from Thee, by that same goodness receive me now that I return to Thee. Give me, my Jesus, a great sorrow for my offences against Thee, and bestow on me the kiss of peace.

II. When a man commits a mortal sin he drives God from his soul: The wicked have said to God: Depart from us (Job xxi. 14). But what does God do? He stands at the door of the ungrateful heart: I stand at the door and knock (Apoc. iii. 20); and prays, as it were, the soul to admit Him: Open to me, my sister (Cant. v. 2); and He wearies Himself with entreaties: I am wearied of entreating thee (Jer. xv. 6). Yes, says St. Denis the Areopagite, God follows sinners like a despised lover, beseeching them not to lose their souls: "God lovingly follows even those who turn away from Him, and beseeches them not to perish." This precisely was signified by St. Paul when he wrote to his disciples: For Christ, we beseech you, be reconciled to God (2 Cor. v. 20). Commenting upon this passage St. John Chrysostom makes a beautiful reflection: "Christ Himself conjures you. And for what? To reconcile yourselves to God: since it is not He that is the enemy but you." By which the Saint means that, far from striving to move God to make peace with him, the sinner has only to resolve to make peace with God, since he, and not God, flies from peace.

Ah, this good Lord goes all day in quest of sinners, saying to them: "Ungrateful that you are, do not fly any more from Me; tell me why you fly from Me? I love your welfare, and only desire to make you happy; why will you lose your souls?" But, Lord, what art Thou about? Why so much patience and so much love for these rebels? What good canst Thou hope from them? It redounds but little to Thy honour to show such ardent love for miserable worms who leave Thee: What is man, that thou shouldst magnify him? Or why dost thou set thy heart upon him? (Job vii. 17).

O Lord, I grieve more for the injuries done to Thee than for any evil whatsoever; I detest them, I abhor them; and I unite this my abhorrence to that which Thou my Redeemer didst feel for them in the Garden of Gethsemane. Ah, pardon me through the merits of that Blood which Thou didst shed for me in that Garden. I firmly promise that I will never more depart from Thee, and that I will banish from my heart every affection that is not for Thee. My Jesus, my Love, I love Thee above all things; I will always love Thee, and love only Thee; but give me strength to do this; make me wholly Thine. O Mary, my hope, thou art the Mother of mercy; pray to God for me, and have pity on me.