REVIEW -- #1132 from Good Friday, April 10, 2020

 #1132  Good Friday,  Apr. 10,  2020       7:45 am,     at home.

Cry not one tear at My Death.  

Rejoice that you know that My Death led to Resurrection --- for your precious soul.

I do not chastise you if you cry when you consider My Passion, done for you and every individual ever.

However, I do not want you to mire yourself in sadness.

You will not be able to serve Me if you stay in sadness.

A contrite heart I do accept.  

A contrite heart has realized what it has done, how it has added to My Passion and Death.

But, it is much more contrite when it lifts its eyes to Me and says “How can I serve You, Lord?”

A contrite heart does not want to continue to sin.  

That is how you will see if you have a contrite heart.  

Do you continue in anger, gossip, licentiousness, moaning and feeling sorry for yourself?

Well, do you?

A contrite heart realizes what it has done to the Lord and is most, most grateful for what He has done for us.

Which is more important, is infinite, my contrite heart or His Passion and Resurrection?

We must stop looking inwards and measuring this and that about ourselves.  

We really have to be focused on the Cross, Christ’s Passion yet more importantly His Resurrection.

We cannot get mired in mea culpas – that is so self-serving, that makes some of us feel we are doing such a great job as Christians.

Yet, a true follower of Jesus is never afraid to admit his/her sins, THEN, run to Jesus and ask “How can I serve you Lord?”

Do you see the difference here?

In one case we wish to stay within ourselves, beating ourselves up, trying to do enough penance to show how sorry we are for having sinned.  

Do you see who you are worshipping here?  You.  

You want to be the most sorrowful sinner!

Had you thought of it as that before?

You will never be able to serve Me if you stay locked in a world of self-punishment, penance for your sins.

It indicates you do not believe Me when I said “Father, Forgive them for they know not what they do.”

It is as if we are refusing the Father’s Forgiveness because we want to show Him how sad and sorrowful we are and until we have done enough penance, laid on by ourselves, we will not, we refuse to receive His Forgiveness!

It is a very dark road we go down when we focus on our penances instead of His Forgiveness and Resurrection.

His Resurrection puts a whole new light on our sins.  

HE HAS PAID for our sins.  

So why would we feel we can do even more to make amends?

A contrite heart, I tell you most solemnly, does not dwell on repenting for their sin, but brings their sins to God in recognition that He Forgives and, even more, that this freedom of Forgiveness allows us to have the Joyful attitude of service.

If we do not feel Forgiven, we will not ache to serve.

If we do not believe we are Forgiven, then we do not believe in God.

How does that sound?  

So, a person who believes they are Forgiven no longer beats themselves up, but turns their full attention to serving the Lord.

The more we serve the Lord, the less we sin.  

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