Monday, April 18, 2011

Felix culpa...

"In Lent, the liturgy recalls the effect of Adam's sin in the life of man. Adam did not want to be a good son of God; he rebelled. But we also hear the echoing chant of that felix culpa: o happy fault, which the whole Church will joyfully intone at the Easter vigil.
Let us be happy. I am happy. I shouldn't be, looking at my life, making that personal examination of conscience which Lent requires. But I do feel happy, for I see that the Lord is seeking me again, that the Lord is still my Father. I know that you and I will surely see, with the light and help of grace, what things must be burned and we will burn them; what things must be uprooted and we will uproot them; what things have to be given up and we will give them up.
It's not easy. But we have a clear guide, which we should not and cannot do without. We are loved by God, and we will let the Holy Spirit act in us and purify us, so that we can embrace the Son of God on the cross, and rise with him, because the joy of the resurrection is rooted in the cross.
Mary, our Mother, "help of Christians, refuge of sinners": intercede with your Son to send us the Holy Spirit, to awaken in our hearts the decision to go ahead confidently, making us hear deep in our soul the call which filled with peace the martyrdom of one of the first Christians: "Come, return to your Father," he is awaiting you" [St. Ignatius of Antioch, Epistola ad Romanos, 7, 2 (pg. 5, 694):Veni ad Patrem.
--St. Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer, Christ is Passing By, Homilies (1982), Four Courts Press Limited, Dublin, Ireland; The Conversion of the Children of God, [Homily given the first Sunday of Lent, March 2, 1952] pg. 94-95.

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