Thought of the Day October 16, 2019 Give Jesus everything
A legend involving St. Jerome and the Infant Jesus. That one Christmas night,
right in the very grotto at Bethlehem, St. Jerome was praying and thinking
about the birth of Jesus. Suddenly our Lord appeared to him as an infant
surrounded by a dazzling light. “Jerome,” the Infant asked, “what are you
giving me for my birthday?” ‘Divine Infant,” replied the saint, ‘I give you my
heart.”
“Yes,
but give me something more.” “I give you all that I am.”
“There
is still something more that I want.” “Divine Infant, I have nothing more. What
is that I can give you?” “Jerome gives me your sins. Give me your sins that I
may pardon all of them.” “Divine Babe,” exclaimed the saint, “You make me
weep.” And the saintly man, filled with love of the Infant Jesus, wept for joy.
If Jesus is to be the Lord of our lives, he wants everything, even our sins. Sounds strange. Sometimes we hold back our sins because we feel that we have to do something to make up for our failures to love. We forget that Jesus has died for all of our sins. He bought them by his blood. They no longer belong to us, but to him as the Lord. Hold nothing back. Give Jesus everything in fact, otherwise he is not yet the Lord of our lives. Something else is more important to us than him, namely trying to make up for our sins, because we are saying by our action that what he did on the cross was not sufficient. Isn't that akin to heresy?
About the Author
0 comments