{"id":41856,"date":"2013-10-08T20:47:04","date_gmt":"2013-10-09T01:47:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.austincnm.com\/?p=41856"},"modified":"2013-10-08T21:51:06","modified_gmt":"2013-10-09T02:51:06","slug":"fresh-start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2013\/10\/fresh-start\/","title":{"rendered":"A Fresh Start"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve been thinking a lot about the mercy that God has on His children despite how terrible they are to Him. We are totally undeserving of the salvation that was achieved for us through the greatest suffering that the world has ever known. For this love is totally illogical: that a deity would make a creation that is totally useless to Himself, and that He would make them for the sole purpose of \u00a0being complete in Himself.<\/p>\n

What is even more astounding to me is that His forgiveness would constantly be unwavering and lacking in surprise by the sin that would come to plague His beloved creation. To save us He would come down among us and absolve us of our sins. He would love us so much that he would endure the weight of the world on His shoulders just for the sake of a damned creation. He would suffer and die. But for the sake of His sorrowful Passion, this good God was not done yet. He rose from the grave defeating giving His children eternal life.<\/p>\n

What a powerful thing it is to say “I absolve you of your sins in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.” By the grace of God, we are absolved of our wrong doing. We have a clean slate, a fresh start, to, by God’s grace, attempt to live a life of holiness. With a God who is so merciful towards us, how dare we be hard on ourselves when we sin? God is always ready to hold you once again? Why treat ourselves with shame to the point of self-hatred when the One-Above-All calls us beloved? And who are we, to not give out \u00a0this Love and forgiveness and patience to all who have not experienced truth?<\/p>\n

Let us accept the Incarnation and the Church intimately so that we might be who we are truly supposed to be: a product of the will of Love.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The Empyrean<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“But already my and my will\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>were being turned like a wheel, all at one speed,<\/em><\/p>\n

by the Love which moves the sun and the other stars.”<\/em><\/p>\n

–<\/b>Paradiso<\/i>, Canto XXXIII, lines 142-145, C.H. Sisson\u00a0translation<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve been thinking a lot about the mercy that God has on His children despite how terrible they are to Him. We are totally undeserving of the salvation that was achieved for us through the greatest suffering that the world has ever known. For this love is totally illogical: that a deity would make a… [Read More]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":167,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[1227,267,1106,2013],"class_list":["post-41856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-blog","tag-incarnation","tag-reflection","tag-universal-call-to-holiness","tag-unworthy","entry","has-post-thumbnail"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t