Liturgy & Devotions | Daily Meditations

I will say a heartfelt act of contrition

by Catholic.net | Source: Catholic.net

Luke 15: 1-3, 11-32

 

Introductory Prayer:

Lord, I can´t see you with my eyes, I believe you are present now, in my innermost being, and that you know me far better than I know myself. I also know that you love me more than I love my own self.

   Thank you for loving and watching over me, though I don’t deserve your love. In return, I offer you my sorrow for my sins and my hopes to love you more each day. Father Almighty, all-loving, all forgiving, lead me to a deeper understanding and experience of you and your all-consuming love for me. May your love consume me and fill me with true compunction and a total childlike trust in you.

Petition:

Jesus, enlighten me with your Holy Spirit. Guide me to reject completely sin in my life.

 

1. Love:

The Double-Edged Sword understanding the Personal and Intimate Love of the Father. Place yourself in the father's shoes. He loves his sons, sacrifices himself for them, and has tremendous hope and fatherly pride in them. He intensely wants them to be happy and seeks what's best for them. Above all, he wants them to respond to his love for them with the same generosity, the same intensity of self-giving.

   There is nothing more painful for a lover than unanswered, ignored or scorned love. Imagine how much God loves us, to the point of sending: he sends his only begotten Son into the world, to become man –with all the limitations and suffering this entails– to die on a cross, in our place, because of our sins.

 

2. Forgetting to Count Your Blessings:

Consequences of Failing in Love. The minute the son begins to think about himself and turn his attention away from the father's love is the minute he begins to have problems that will leading to spiritual and material bankruptcy. Asking for his inheritance was tantamount to wishing his father's death, since an inheritance is only bestowed only after the death of one’s parents.

   How many times have I asked God to die, by choosing my own will over his? Self-centeredness leads to ingratitude, forgetting that I have received everything from God through no merit of my own and that it will all return to him. It Self-centeredness also leads to trying to find happiness anywhere except the one place it is truly to beis found: God.

 

3. A Rude Awakening:

Coming to Our Senses. Anytime we turn away from the love and grace of God and turn to sin, we lose our senses and leave God for a “distant country.” God's will is our home, even if on the surface it may seem unpleasant. Sin blinds the intellect and weakens the will. But every moment is a point of departure. Every  saint has a past and every sinner has a future. I can turn back to God right now. He is with me  right here, right now, pouring out his grace. He ardently longs for me to respond him, just as the father in the parable must have longed for the return of his son. I can stand up. I can return to my Father. I can bury my past in Christ. I can go to him for forgiveness.

Conversation with Christ:

Heavenly Father, I clearly see the many times I have said “No” to you and chosen my self. I give thanks for having such a patient and forgiving father as you. I am sorry for my lack of love for you. Now I reject sin once more and turn back to you, confident of your mercy and forgiveness.

 

Resolution:

I will say a heartfelt act of contrition, relishing God's love and mercy for me.