Every Wednesday I attend the Catholic young adult event called Cor Jesu, held at St. Robert Parish in Shorewood. This weekly event usually led by Fr. Luke Strand, Vocations Director for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and Fr. John Burns, associate pastor at Christ King Parish in Wauwatosa, draws a great crowd of young adults to participate in a Holy Hour and Mass.
In his homily this past Wednesday, Fr. John reminded us that Jesus fully surrendered to His Father's will, giving up everything in order to take away our sins. Fr. John encouraged us to follow Jesus' example to hold nothing back from our Heavenly Father, to put our stubbornness aside and learn to place all of our trust in Him.
This homily reminded me that even though we are people of God, we don't always trust in God's love and mercy. We know that God wants us to give up everything that we struggle with, all of our sins and failings, yet we are so afraid of opening up to Him. Just as in any other relationship, being an open book can be scary sometimes. We don't want to become vulnerable. We don't want to pour out our hearts to someone, only to be hurt in the end. We so often say to God, "Here, take me as I am. Help me to grow closer to you. I hold nothing back......except for this incident that happened to me where I didn't do what would have wanted me to do.... Don't take this from me, God. I can handle that on my own. I don't really trust in Your love and mercy."
What we often fail to realize time and time again though, is that God's mercy knows no limits. He wants every ounce of our trust. If we want to be a follower of God, then we can't hold anything back. God will constantly forgive us of our past transgressions as long as we lean on Him completely. We need to start learning to let our guards down.
