Food For Thought

I woke up this morning just as I always do, saying the Hail Mary. My thoughts wandered to why it is that I always awake this way. Have I done this so many years just as a matter of course or is it because my morning can't begin until I call upon our Lady to pray for me? I would like to believe that It's because I want her to pray for me.

My thoughts then wandered to other gifts I am offered by God and I began to focus on the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Every night I go to bed saying the Act of Contrition. I ask God for forgiveness for sins I had committed that day and I go to bed hoping the next day will be better and the sins I committed would not be experienced again. Then I began an examination, not of my conscience, but of my personality and how I use or do not use the sacraments.

You see I take forgiveness of my sins for granted. Yes, I TAKE IT FOR GRANTED! Jesus Christ died on the cross so that I might be redeemed. I'm asked to "Love the Lord my God with all [my] heart, with all [my] soul and with all [my] mind. And I am to love [my] neighbor as [myself] (Matthew 23:36, 39).

It is simple. It is not a book with 200 laws and regulation. No, and the words are simple. They are not complex. It is not so complicated that I have to say, "I don't understand." If I follow his simple instructions all will follow all the rules and regulations ever written. If the laws are morally right and focus on the law of love I will not sin.

Now I am wondering why it is I make it so difficult to follow these two simple laws...

1. I'm selfish.
2. I'm jealous.
3. I'm greedy.
4. I'm religiously lazy.
5. I'm impatient with others.

That's only the beginning. I think if I start working on these five flaws, perhaps I will become a better follower of Christ. I should not take the Sacrament of Reconciliation for granted. When I accept its graces, I should do it with gratitude to a God that loves me, not necessarily for who I am, but for whom I can become.

~~~^j^~~~
Thanks be to God~