He Wants to Take Away That Heavy Weight

January 22nd, 2009
by Monsignor Dennis Clark, Ph.D. ·

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.