The Stable And Massabielle Have The Same Message
By Robert
J. Hermley, O.S.F.S.
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Could it
be that our sins and mistakes, once confessed and repented of, can actually
help us to understand the weakness of others?
Could our sorrow and pain over our faults aid us in reaching out and
feeling others’ anxiety as they go about their way—as they stumble on their
daily road to Calvary? If Longinus had
not pierced the side of Christ, maybe no one would have ever taken note of the
Sacred Heart.
It very
well might be that offenders become the best lovers of God, because they have
so much to regret. Perhaps it is only
when we experience God’s forgiveness that we realize how much we owe. Reformed sinners cling closer to the Cross
of Christ, because, like Magdalene, they know their part in the tragedy of
Calvary. Their repentance, then, far
outstrips their weakness in the sight of God.
You did say, Lord, that it was the sick who need the physician.
Dear God,
you chose the stable and made it a shrine.
You were born amid the smells of beasts, yet You made the manger a
Tabernacle by Your Divine presence.
Could You not then, drive out from the stable of my heart my foul sins
and the beasts of evil that I have permitted to dwell there? Can You not come to my repentant heart and
clean it out with Your love and forgiveness.
Your
Blessed Mother chose a dumping ground at Massabielle in Lourdes, France with
all its filth and refuse, as the place of her appearance to St.
Bernadette. Perhaps both You and Mary wanted
to show us that all You want is a place in our lives. It doesn’t matter if the place is perfect or sparkling clean –
that You just want some room in our hearts and lives; and, once You enter with
your love and peace and forgiveness, You show us that all else is a waste and
vast emptiness. We then see that only
when united to You are we truly happy, and that it’s You we’re looking for all
the time. And, perhaps, it is only then
that we can bring that strength and hope to others who have really forgotten
how good they can be.
Lord, take
the stable of my heart – clean it up and come to dwell forever.
Mary, pray
that Christ will change the dumping grounds of my soul into a kind of Lourdes where
You will always have a dwelling place in the niche of my heart.