Godde is kind and merciful.She pardons all my iniquities,
she heals all my ills.
She redeems my life from destruction,
she crowns me with kindness and compassion.
It feels good to remember that Godde loves me; that all the good that fills my life (people or things) is a Godde-given gift; that I am truly for very little in all that I have.
I feel grateful when I remember that Godde indeed forgives my sins, heals all that has wounded me, has pulled me from my own fire several times in the course of my lifetime, and ‘crowns me with kindness and compassion.’
All this is true. Sometimes, the memory comes to me by itself; some other times, like yesterday, it happens when I take the time to look at the readings of the day. I am then reminded to stop and be, and turn my heart and soul toward the One who loves me.
“Behold Godde beholding you, ... smiling,” suggests Anthony de Mello.
Godde’s mark is indelibly stamped on my being. Nothing can remove it, blot it even. It is there, as it is on everyone alive.
Godde loves me so that I can love her back, love those I live with or come across, and love myself.
“If I had to describe what we mean by original sin,” Henri Nouwen said once to Richard Rohr, “I believe it is humanity’s endless capacity for self-loathing.”
When I read this psalm yesterday, I saw it as a gift — a gift to remind me of Godde’s love and compassion, her mercy, patience, and kindness.
Strange how five short lines can bring back the movie of my life. I can see it unfold in front of my eyes, — good, bad, happy and unhappy times. I feel so fortunate to have reached this age when I can look back and see a rhythm, a flow of passion and sorrow, times when indeed Godde carried me, and, most of all, the gift that life is.
Strange how my mistakes help me love Godde more, because her forgiveness breaks my heart and makes me wish I could be the best person possible.
Godde loves my brokenness. This may be the greatest miracle of all.
Like a salmon returning to where it was originally spawned, I am swimming back up my life to return to the One who gave it to me. All the way, I sing a song of love and gratitude for the sweetness Her love brought to my existence.
Now, all I have to do is to pour out onto those around me that intoxicating love the source of which is inexhaustible.
Today, O sweetest Godde, I pray that every soul on earth may experience the joy of your love.
In Christ’s name.
Art: Gustav Klimt, Mother and Child (detail), 1905
4 comments:
Oh, Henri Nouwen! What a great definition -- and sadly, he certainly knew of what he spoke. :(
How do we loathe that which God has made?
This one now is up there with the Aquinas, Claire, thanks. :)
This post is balm for the soul as I begin my Friday.
Thank you, blessings and peace!
Fran
So very beautiful and moving and true! Thank you, Claire.
"Godde loves my brokenness", you wrote. It brought back a memory of a conference I had with a Benedictine mentor, Richard, now deceased (Godde embrace his soul!). It was about that phrase in Paul's epistle (Ephesians, is it?) where he points out that we are earthen vessels containing something precious. I told Richard that the verse always said to me "we are a crock". We are made of the earth, crude and unfinished, and yet Godde seems enamoured of our beauty. Would that we could see it, as Nouwen's comment above points out. I reminded Richard -- he knew about it already -- the Japanese aesthetic wherein the natural, the unfinished, the asymmetrical has a very poignant beauty. I think wabi sabi is the term for it. We tend to be even more protective of things fragile, like crockery, than shiny stuff of more durable construction. I think of the shards of lovely pottery preserved in museums. It is an image of Godde's love for us. We indeed hold something precious.
Richard asked if he could take that "we are a crock" expression to use in a homily and I gave him permission. ;)
Yes, Christine, Nouwen knew what he was talking about. His quote seems to fit the bill for many of us...
Glad you like this post, Fran :-)
Barbara, thank you for the connection with the Japanese aesthetic that you know so well.
Thank you also for your expression, "we are a crock," Godde being enamored of our crude and unfinished state :-)
I am glad to see you accompanied by kind mentors. What a gift and a grace!
Blessings to all three of you.
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