“How do I receive the grace of God?”
Last week our Holy Father Pope Benedict visited the monastery where Martin Luther studied for the priesthood and was ordained.
The Pope spoke with admiration about the depth of Luther’s desire for God:
‘How do I receive the grace of God?’ The fact that this question was the driving force behind Luther’s whole life never ceases to make a deep impression on me.
The Holy Father went on to outline how different we are now. The contemporary attitude effectively declares: ‘God doesn’t care about my foibles. If He actually does judge me, He magnanimously overlooks all my small failings.’
But, the Pope asked, are our failings really so small? “Is not the world laid waste by the corruption of great and small alike? No, evil is no small matter.”
The Pope went on to say:
We need God; we were created to have a relationship with Him. The more the world withdraws from God, the clearer it becomes that man, in the hubris of his power, in his emptiness of heart and his longing for satisfaction and happiness, increasingly loses his life.
Luther asked himself, “Where do I stand before God?” We must ask ourselves the same question. And when we do, Scripture provides us with the perfect prayer to make:
Justice is with the Lord, our God, and we are filled with shame…
We have been only too ready to disregard the Lord’s voice…
and each of us went after the desires of his own wicked heart.
Luther found himself paralyzed by his own inadequacy before the glory of God. But we need not so find ourselves. We believe in the forgiveness of sins ministered by the Church. God has plans for us involving happiness and not woe. A perfectly fresh start is never more than a good Confession away.
In The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien, once the hobbits reach Rivendell, Samwise Gamgee has the idea that they will be able to give the Ring of Power to some greater and more consequential individual. He packs his bags, and his master Frodo’s.
The sun was rising over Rome as we passed through metal detectors in the colonnade of St. Peter’s Square and made our way towards excellent seats near the foot of the Basilica steps. We tried to keep warm in the crisp air. From the microphone next to the Pope’s chair, an American Monsignor welcomed all the pilgrim groups from the United States, including St. Mary of the Assumption, Upper Marlboro, Maryland!
Greetings to you from the neighborhood of Santa Maria Maggiore. After an afternoon stop in Orvieto, we have arrived in Rome.
Tomorrow, when we receive the Pope’s blessing, he will be blessing all those we represent, too–the entire parish of St. Mary of the Assumption and the whole loyal readership of P & BD.
Father Mark White Blog 