I Got a "Faith Stimulus" Check

Thursday of the 3rd week of Advent ( 1: Isa 54:1-10; R: Ps 30:2,4-6,11-13;  G: Lk 7:24-3)

 He comes and His coming creates a new reality in my life. Today He comes in Love.

"My love shall never leave you
nor my covenant of peace be shaken"

A couple of years ago, I remeber receiving a check in the mail from the goverment: it was my economic stimuls check - a bizzare move to invite me to spend more money in order to change the economic situation of this country. Today I feel I am getting a Faith Stimulus from the Word of God, something that God is giving me in order to change my faith situation.

The first reading brings me back to the reason that motivates God to incarnate Himself - He wants me back. He has come so that each one of us can be called back to the "original love" and live a life renewed. The images received a couple of days ago - that of unfaithfulness and prostitution - are completely reversed today: He knows very well my infidelities and yet He calls me back and invites me to enter into an intimate, spousal relatinship with Him.

This is a God who is mad. Completely mad. Totally committed to His "enduring love" that doesn't the unthinkable and reaches out to me in such a way ... becoming like me so that I can become like Him.

He looks at me as married to Him. His love shall never leave me. Yet, this love is so transforming that He says that He won't remember my sins, my infidelities, my "prostitution."

This image is very difficult to comprehend. As a human being I don't forget easily but He does. Quite arrogantly, I immediately thought that my sins are really not that big (really?). And yet, as a "coincidence" I stumbled upon a note written long ago about "invisible" sins.... those little acts of cowardice that fill my everyday life:

• Pride camouflaged as caring and attention to other
• ostentatious piety lived to snatch a word of praise from someone
• fraudulent irritability justified for a holy cause
• calculated avarice justified by hypothetical calculations to defend the common good
• lavish suppers motivated by perceived social conventions
• laziness before our duty motivated by assumed health reason

God has healed and forgotten them all but I have to forget them, too and start living my life as one who is married to God, the Maker (who said that priests don't get married?)

Today, God's word come to me as a faith stimulus. Another invitation to be faithful and live my life concretely with Emmanuel, He-who-comes.

I want to bask and revel in His love today. I want to say Yes and start again.