"GOING TO HIM,
ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE"
ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE"
"If You, O Lord, mark
iniquities, Lord, who can stand?
But with You is mercy and forgiveness" (Ps 130:3-4).
But with You is mercy and forgiveness" (Ps 130:3-4).
Ezekiel emphasizes,
we can choose either good or bad; on the other hand, we don't seem able to do
all that is asked of us. We don't always make the right choices in our lives.
The words of Jesus in Matthew's Gospel are pretty dire in their warnings about
the consequences of our failures. When our own weaknesses and failures continue
to take control of our lives, vice grows like weeds and chokes the life out of
us. Jesus addresses the issue of keeping God's loving commandments. The Scribes
and Pharisees equated living a godly life to satisfying the demands of law. But
Jesus shows them a much better way to live a good life. Jesus points to the
heart as the seat of desire, choice, and intention. Unless sinful desires are
uprooted and cut out, the heart will not be whole, and sin will take over.
The true antidote
for overcoming what is not true to the heart is virtue: mercy, forbearance, and
kindness which all spring from hearts full of love and forgiveness. If our
minds and hearts must be as free as Jesus asks of us, our thoughts free of
vengeance, resentment, ill will, and so on, then who can be saved? Jesus tells
us that "for God, all things are possible" (Matt 19:26). We do need
to hold unto hope. The solution to our inability to live up to the high ideals
of the Gospel life is solid trust of God's forgiveness and saving grace.
Today we pray in
the responsorial psalm, "If You, O Lord, mark iniquities, Lord, who can
stand? / But with You is mercy and forgiveness" (Ps 130:3-4).