March 2020

How does our loving God feel
When we keep infecting ourselves
Passing it on to our neighbors
Causing widespread suffering and death
Because we want our freedom
To taste the forbidden fruit?

How does the Almighty God feel
To be constrained from perfect justice by His perfect mercy and compassion
Made silent in His solitary suffering
Because it’s the only way we’ll listen…
To set us free from the snares of Satan,
He would endure any torment, rejection, agony, including His sacred, pierced Heart

What other cure for our sinful sickness can there be
But to acknowledge our guilt, our humanly unpayable debts to God?
And to be made clean again, welcomed into the Father’s open arms…
In the eternal plan of God, His sacramental grace is the cure, the vaccine
Offered to us from the moment Jesus entered this contaminated, broken world
He said He would give us living water (cf. John 4:10-14; John 7:37-39), and true to His promise,
On the Cross, blood and water poured forth, every last drop of His life, His love for us

The forces of evil are too strong for me, Lord
Breaking my spirit, my body, my heart
Except for You, I don’t know whom to trust
But as long as You’re with me, the enemy can never prevail

Maybe I should say, “as long as I’m with You”?
Because Your faithfulness is unceasing
While I’m like a ship sailing without a compass
Navigating without the stars, seeking my own superstitious luck

I keep making the same mistakes, keep gambling with a losing bet—
Me, myself, my pride, my crazy selfish ways
How often do I consult You, for the big decisions or the small ones?
Is Your Word engraved in my soul—Your perfect wisdom, Your eternal laws of life?

Seems like I’m committing slow suicide in habitual sin
Only Your forgiveness restores me to hope again
And Your sacraments of grace sustain and make me into a semblance of a saint
Still have so far to go, but may I never stop believing, praying, loving, and serving You