COULD I DO MORE ???

Not all of the readers have the highlighted experience, but I am sure we all have similar experiences. We can all relate that sunny morning in our childhood when we were playing soccer in the neighborhood and when the ball reached you, you gave it a cool shot to the goal. A few seconds later, the noice of shattered glasses was heard and upon looking, you discovered that you had broken your neighbor’s window. All your playmates looked in shock as the furious man came towards the window blazing with wrath. No one said a word. The hole in your heart was evident on your face and the thought of ‘ He will report me ’ only deepened the wound. One by one your playmates scattered as the man approached. You stood there ready to cry at anything. Before he spoke, you already said,

“ Please don’t let my mum know this, I’m really sorry Mister….. I’m sorry sir, I’ll do anything..” And between your tears you kept pleading. The man looked at you and said,

“ It’s OK, be careful next time. Go home now.”

Tell me in the comments below, what did you feel every time you met this man later? I’ll tell you mine, I felt my ‘sorry’ was not enough. I still needed to do more… Worse was the feeling if you saw him repairing the broken window.

Well, more often after we have left the confessional, the guilt is gone but there is a feeling of, I need to do more… The penance was not enough… Much more is needed to compensate for this error, for this sin, for that omission or the other. More often, the resolution to sin no more, is supported by the desire to compensate for the already committed sins, which is justified. This brings into play the idea of redemptive suffering or penance.

God wants us to offer Him sacrifices for the conversion of sinners and in reparation of our sins, as revealed in the apparitions in Fatima. This can be done as recommended by a spiritual director but most basically, in accepting cheerfully the little pinpricks that God allows in our lives. In accepting God’s will and not forcing our own, and then reminding our Lord that we are offering this things for love of Him, the atonement of sins, conversion of sinners etc…

The virgin most pure will help us seek to purify ourselves through constant self denial.