119th Meditation
“The Lord your God is in your midst, the warrior-Saviour. He will rejoice over you with happy song, he will renew you by his love, he will dance with shouts of joy for you” (Zeph 3:17).
Our Heavenly Father addresses these words to His chosen people and particularly to Jerusalem. He wants to have compassion and renew His love, in spite of all the transgressions of the people.
Thus, humanity is no longer threatened by a merciless “sword of Damocles” , but is watched over by a loving and just Father, who calls us back home, especially in the midst of the dense shadows of the present time.
Without pretending to relativize the danger that threatens people who embark on ungodly paths and the terrible consequences they entail, it must be emphasized again and again that God’s desire for “all to be saved” (1 Tim 2:4) remains unshaken and unshakable. We have repeatedly stressed this in previous meditations, because the Lord, our God, is a loving Father and not an avenging and punishing God. We can see this in the history of the People of Israel, in the history of the Church (the People of the New Covenant) and in each individual soul.
The Lord exults with joy when people turn to Him! What joy reigns in heaven when a sinner is converted (Lk 15:7) and what a day of celebration it is for God when His people cease to close themselves to grace and accept His salvation!
God does not allow Himself to be won over in His mercy. To Peter, who had denied Him three times, the Risen One gives the opportunity to make amends for his sin, allowing him to express his love for Him three times (Jn 21:15-18).
St. Thomas Aquinas describes it in these beautiful terms: “If the soul, even after a serious fall, has a burning contrition that corresponds to the degree of grace it lost, it will recover that degree and can even surpass it if it possesses an even stronger contrition” (Thomas III a q. 89, a.2).
What happened to Peter? The Lord established him as the head of His Church!
Let us understand that God does not abandon anyone nor does He tire of fighting for them. His greatest joy is that we reciprocate His love. If we ourselves have become negligent in our path of following or have even fallen into sin, we can pick ourselves up again and move forward.
St. Thomas even encourages us by telling us that the soul will not have to begin its ascent from the beginning, but will be able to resume it at the point where it was before it fell. He who takes a wrong step half way up gets up immediately and continues his ascent (Thomas III a q. 89, a.2).
The Lord renews His love…