Salesian Sunday Reflections
Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
October 23, 2022
Today’s readings remind us that God responds without delay to the cry of those who repent of their wrongdoing. Saint Francis de Sales notes:
“With unrivaled mercy, God opens the door of the penitent’s heart. This soul would have remained lost if God had not come to its assistance. To be truly sorry for not living up to the image of God in us, we must empty our hearts of all things in order to enable Our Lord to fill them with Himself. Alas, all the nooks and corners of our hearts are cluttered with thousands of things unworthy to be seen in the presence of Our Savior. It seems that we thus tie His hands in order to prevent Him from giving us the gifts and graces that He is ever ready to shower on us if He finds us prepared.”
Yet in repentance, the wonderful humility of our dear Savior enters our hearts. Humility of the heart makes us aware of God’s goodness that is worthy of supreme love. Humility of the heart also gives us knowledge of our inability to love perfectly, and thus the need for our Savior who will raise us up from our lowliness until He makes us one with His greatness.
The value of the virtue of penitence is that it leads us to wholeness. We must be like the archer who in discharging a large arrow draws the string of his bow lower, the higher he wants it to go. We aim at the highest, to be united to God. Thus we must lower ourselves by letting go of our self-sufficiency, and opening ourselves to God’s help. Let us pour out all our tribulations before our ever-caring Savior so as to submit our whole being completely to Him. When we give our consent to let God love us the way God desires to love us, God will receive us in mercy, as well as reinvigorate and restore us completely to our true spiritual health, that is, sacred love.
(Adapted from the writings of Saint Francis de Sales.)
