Our Lord is patient, merciful, loving and kind.
In the days of the week leading up to today, I was dismayed that once again I had fallen back into sin!
I was remorseful but yet felt very empty and void, so I made it to church this evening and sat first in line for the Sacrament of reconciliation, the priest who normally ministers the Sacrament of reconciliation is usually early, but today he must have forgotten and as a time drew closer for mass to begin, I was anxious, thinking that I would not have a chance to be fully reconciled.
But then he came, and once again the Lord received me with open arms.
Just before he arrived though, the Lord put it on my mind to pray for
a recently widowed auntie named Eva, even though she was not in church yet.
The husband Adrian who had just passed on was once a sacristan in our church and was also in charge of the bookshop before he Retired. He was a very hardworking man and always extended a helping hand as needed.
It was late last month or beginning of this month that I had prayed over him. I had asked him how he was doing and had shared that he wasn’t doing too great. He was thankful that I prayed for me.
So immediately after reconciliation, I looked in the direction that he and his wife would usually sit. And there she was. So I walked up to her and asked how she was doing, and she shared with me that Uncle Adrian had peacefully passed on and finally there was no more suffering for him as he had returned to the Lord.
And as she was speaking, I could see the love in her eyes that even though she missed her husband, she had the faith that the Lord has received her husband in His heavenly embrace.
So I prayed for her that our Lord would fill her with His presence and also a prayed to our dear Mother Mary to at her side.
Also earlier when as I was waiting for my turn for reconciliation. I saw a Chinese lady a regular at our church in her sixties limping pass me in pain. I didn’t think the Lord was highlighting her to me at the time.
After Mass had ended, I went to McDonald’s to buy dinner for my daughter.
It was across the road from the church and after my making my way back to the bus stop, which was across the road at the church end I happened to see that lady again, I could tell that she spoke little English from brief encounters from the past, but I reached out to her and asked her how she was and that I noticed that she had leg pains and was struggling.
She said, it was very painful and she was suffering for almost a year already. So I asked her name and she told me it was Agatha.
So I prayed for her healing there at the bus stop.
As I dwell a little this evening, I have come to realize that. That If I did not open my eyes, or if they were closed by sin, then I would not see the Lord’s highlights, and I would not be able to pray for them.
In the Sacrament of reconciliation, he had lifted the guilt of my sin so that I was free once again in His love. And my eyes were once again open to see my brethren through His eyes.
Thank you, Jesus.
Thank you, God my Father.
Thank you, Holy Spirit.
Amen.
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