“Return With Your Whole Heart”

God does not reach out to his lost sheep with a tepid and distracted effort. He uses all of his godly love and strength to draw us back; he knows that eternity is at stake. And God demands a full response from us. 

Today’s morning prayer, mass readings and meditations (ref. Magnificat, 2-21-24) were a powerful litany of how God desires all men to come back to him and spend eternity with him. God rushes to his creation seeking to bring them back into the fold. It’s like the parable of the of the prodigal son… the father seeking and searching for his wayward son and then running to embrace him and restore him to full life. (Luke 15:11)

Here are a few excerpts from today’s  scriptures, illuminating God’s tender heart:

• God’s mercy is greater than our sin or our desire for forgiveness. O happy the man to whom the Lord imputes no guilt, in whose spirit is no guile.(Ps. 32:1-7)
• If (the wicked man) turns away from his sin and does what is right and just…. he shall surely live, he shall not die. None of the sins he committed shall be held against him; …. he shall surely live. (Ezekiel 33:14-16)
• When God saw by their actions how they turned from their evil way, he repented of the evil that he had threatened to do to them; he did not carry it out. (Jonah 3:1‑10)
• A humbled, contrite heart you will not spurn. (Ps 51:19)

St. Peter Damian calls each of us to take advantage of God’s wonderful mercy and “return to him with our whole heart”:

• “Rouse yourself, I tell you, arise and be awake, you who were overcome by the sleep of sin; come alive at last, you who fell before the deadly sword of your enemies.
• The apostle Paul is here. Listen to him as he briskly demands a hearing, knocking at your door and calling to you in clear cut words: Wake up from your sleep, he says, and rise from the dead, and Christ will revive you (Eph. 5:14). 
• If you hear Christ who restores life, why do you feel uncertain of your restoration? Listen to his own words: If any one believes in me, he says, even though he dies he will live (Jn 11:25). 
• If life-endowing Life itself seeks to raise you up, why do you further tolerate lying dead? So beware of drowning in the depths of despondency. 
• Your heart should beat with confidence in God’s love and not grow hard and impenitent in the face of your great crime. It is not sinners, but the wicked who should despair; it is not the magnitude of one’s crimes, but contempt of God that dashes one’s hopes.
• Then, if your impure flesh has deceived you, if it has stolen the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, if it has extinguished not merely the light of your countenance but that of your spirit, do not be depressed and utterly despair. 
• Once again collect your forces, bestir yourself, dare to perform great deeds, and by so acting you will have the strength, through the mercy of God, to triumph over your enemies.” (ref.“Return With Your Whole Heart”, St. Peter Damian, Magnificat, 2-21-24)

God’s love demands a response from each of us. We must not allow the Lord’s gracious invitation to lie dormant. At times I may think, Gee, I’m not sure I like how God is responding to my trials and tribulation and requests… Lord, I would handle things differently… if you really loved me, you would do things my way.  Well, perhaps we should consider that maybe the Lord does know better than me. “Dave, where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.” (Job 38:4) “Let us not be like children sitting in the market place.” (Mt. 11:16-19)

So, here we sit in our tiny corner of this vast world in our fragile body of relatively few years…. pretty vulnerable. But the good news is that the mighty creator of the universe knows our name and loves us and has a future filled with hope awaiting us. He just asks that we listen and respond to his love and return to him with our whole heart. Let’s not delay another moment.