Catholic Exchange

He Wants to Take Away That Heavy Weight

Written by

Monsignor Dennis Clark, Ph.D.

in

Heb 7:25-8:6 / Mk 3:7-12

As we grow older, many of us lament that our memory is not what it used to be. Even those of us who aren’t very old frequently fumble for names, miss half the items we were planning to pick up at the market, and miss appointments we really wanted to keep. There are, of course, a lot of things we’d just as soon forget forever: foolish mistakes, bad choices, gratuitous cruelties, and so much more.

A lifetime collection of sins and errors, when laid end to end, can be depressing, to be sure. And when we have to face the continued recurrence of old failures, it can seem almost more than we can bear. As the opening prayer at Mass so often acknowledges, our sins can cause us to lose hope. That is not what God wants.

God Who made us has no illusions about us. As the psalm says, “He knows when I sit and when I stand.” He knows our confusion and our weaknesses; He knows how much we desire to do what is right, and He knows the surprise, frustration, and sadness we feel when our best efforts go awry. He desires to save us from ourselves, not because we have earned it, but because He is our Father. Why else would He have sent us His only Son?

God is much bigger than all of your failures, even if they were laid end to end. Let Him lift them from your heart and give you the joy and freedom of His own dear children.

Comments

6 responses to “He Wants to Take Away That Heavy Weight”

  1. Guest Avatar
    Guest

    It sounds so good…God overcomes may past litany of failures and sin. But it is so hard to just let it happen. Especially now as I look back on my myriad of failures in the light of Christ, I can see what I should have done, how I should have been. I see all the pain and sadness I caused others..it’s like I can’t get it out of my mind! Maybe I shouldn’t expect to do so. There is an abiding sense of self- loathing here because even before converting to the Church ( 1997) I was still a Christian, supposedly, and I really knew better! What to do?

  2. Guest Avatar
    Guest

    These reflections made me realize that one of the reasons why God gives us a chance to be fathers is so that we may understand His love for us, how His love is greater than our weaknesses and how much He wants us to live holy lives. Isn’t that how we feel for our children?

  3. Guest Avatar
    Guest

    Having been there, too, I’d just like to say that God IS bigger than our past failures. I found great comfort through the sacrament of Reconciliation, the message of Divine Mercy, adoration, and recalling the words of the Lord’s Prayer: “…forgive us our trespesses AS we forgive those who trespess against us”–even if that someone IS us. A spiritual director may also be helpful. May God bless you and heal you, lwall.

  4. Guest Avatar
    Guest

    Thanks for your reply. I’ve begun to think that this ever-present awareness of past failures will never go away, and perhaps it is serving a purpose in my spiritual journey. I just don’t know.

  5. candeo Avatar
    candeo

    It is very tempting to be discouraged or ashamed when we look at our past failures. But one of the most beautiful and healing things is when we surrender even our memories to God. If we do that, He will slowly show us how, despite our weaknesses and failures, He brought–and continues to bring–greater good out of them.

  6. baptizedsoul Avatar
    baptizedsoul

    We all know that sin separates us from God, however, repentance reunites us again with Him. God is merciful, He will forgive us our sins, but His forgiveness is conditional. God will forgive us our sins only as far as we forgive others their sins against us. It makes no sense nor does it pay to be separated from God simply because a person has offended or hurt us. We are called to Live in God, in doing so we will discover the peace and power of His Holy Spirit within our lives, being enabled to live the Gospel of Love. (Matthew 6:12)

    I know that I have sinned every day of my previous life, and unfortunately still struggle with sin even now. No matter how small a sin might be, it is still sin. Since I know that I am a sinner it is useful and important to understand just how much I am dependant upon God to forgive others so that I can be forgiven. In learning this I have been comforted, for I know on my own I am weak and doomed to failure. I used the following from an instructive article from HSI, I hope you too will find this useful and instructive.

    I used the arbitrary number of 70. Every less than pure and loveless thought, word or deed is sin. Most of these are discovered no where else except in our mind and our heart at any given moment, thus I used the number 70 to represent the number of times I commit sin daily even if I am not fully aware of them.

    Thus 52 years times 365 times 70 translates to 1,308,400 sins that I at a minimum have committed against, self, others and God during the course of my lifetime. It is this same number and perhaps much more that I am hopeful that God has forgiven of me and my sins.

    Since I am confident that God’s mercy is wider and deeper than the oceans and knowing that He loves me and has indeed been extremely merciful to me beyond imagination, then the very least I can do is forgive those who have sinned against me once or even a hundred or thousand times, which is insignificant to what God has already forgiven myself.

    Try it your self and use a number that you think best fits your temperament and see just how much God has forgiven your self, thus discovering how much more you ought to forgive others.

    I think this is a good visual an example which can be helpful in recognizing how good and merciful our God is and how good and merciful he expects us to be. As Jesus tells us, “Be you perfect as my heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:48)

    Sincerely in Christ, with Joseph & Mary

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