“Be serene and joyful, for my love is greater than your weakness” (Inner Word).
What a wonderful phrase of consolation! How often do we encounter our own weaknesses when we take a realistic look at ourselves? Then, we can become very sad when we fail to achieve our goals or when old weaknesses we have not yet overcome resurface.
But it is precisely here that our Heavenly Father lifts us up again. Our life should not be determined by our weaknesses, the sadness they can cause, or the spirit of excessive self-accusation. Behind this last attitude can even hide a large dose of pride, since we would like to correspond to a perfect image that we have created of ourselves and then we get depressed because we do not achieve it.Our gaze must be fixed on the Lord! His love is our reference, our joy, and our security. Without becoming negligent in the struggle against our weaknesses, we must raise our eyes to our Father.
The serenity and joy suggested by today’s passage come from knowing God and venerating him as our loving Father. We know that his love is greater than our limitations, which sometimes cause us pain. As we immerse ourselves in his love, the self-centeredness into which we can fall and which prevents us from looking to God dissolves.
It is wonderful and healing to know that our Father loves us and does not measure his love by our weaknesses. He loves us always and gives us the joy St. Paul speaks of: “Rejoice in the Lord always” (Phil. 4:4).
When we raise our gaze toward Him without allowing ourselves to be overwhelmed by melancholic feelings, serenity and joy enter our souls, dissipating sadness.