“‘…There is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.’” (Luke 15:10).
I recently read a story about a US priest called Father O’Malley. Now, I do not know if the story is actually true, but the message in the story is very beautiful. And so bearing that in mind I thought I would re-tell the story…
Once, Father O’Malley received a call in the middle of a stormy night that a man in hospital was in his final hours and was in need of a priest to receive the final Sacraments to prepare himself for his journey to Heaven. And so the priest bundled himself up and went straight to the hospital and entered the room of the dying man. He spoke with the man for a while, and asked the man if he would like to receive the Sacraments. The man replied that he would not receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation because God would never forgive him. He had lived a bad life – drunken and disorderly – and had contributed very little in a positive way in the world.
Father O’Malley assured the dying man that his sins could indeed be forgiven and he asked the man to tell his story.
The man told the priest that one night, thirty-two years earlier he had been drinking on his job at the railway. It was his job to change the train signal. And he was so drunk that when the train was approaching, he accidentally shifted the signal in the wrong direction. And because of this mistake, the train went through an intersection and the car at the intersection was crushed, killing a husband and wife and their two little girls.
Father O’Malley was shocked by this story. And after some time of silence, he responded, saying, “God can forgive you, because I forgive you. In that car were my father and mother and my two sisters, who died that night.”
And I have been reflecting on the importance of forgiveness…
“The Pharisees and the Scribes murmured, saying, ‘This man receives sinners and eats with them.’ So he told them this parable: ‘What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? ...I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.’” (Luke 15:1-10).
For Christ forgave and then embraced the sinner. He did it in the Gospels and He does it with me every single day. And when I stop to think about what that means and how much that costs Him, then I can only stand and marvel. For Christ gave everything to forgive my sins. He bled His Blood and even His Water from His body for love of me. And He forgives my sins over and over and over again. And all I can do is sit around and make excuses about why I like to collect those taxes and why my sins are just another part of me…
Poor God. Poor, poor God…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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