Salve, Regina, Mater Misericordiae.
Praised be Jesus and Mary.
So Holy Mother Church brings to our attention, during this period of Lent,
the parts of Sacred Scripture that talk about conversion,
about asking for and trusting in God's mercy,
and repenting for our sins.
But it's not to have us finish there,
just to simply stay focused on our sins and our unworthiness,
but to have that transformed into love,
into heroic love for God.
And for this reason, as our Lord points out in the Gospel,
many, well I won't say many, but very often,
those who have experienced some kind of radical conversion
often surpass those who have been brought up in the faith,
surpass those in zeal for the faith,
in love for God, in striving for sanctity, in fervor.
You know, we see those who have come into the church,
maybe they began their lives starting outside as Protestants or
no faith whatsoever, and then have found the truth, and they're filled with such gratitude
for having found the truth, such joy, that they go to all kinds of lengths and spend their lives even in some cases,
seeking to enlighten others of the truth, and to bring them into the faith, and to win converts, and they go door to door and
do all kinds of work.
Whereas many of those who are brought up in the faith, and even in good Catholic families who pray every day, and pray even the rosary,
very often, you find mediocrity, and a lack of zeal, and a real interest in the things of the world, and all of this.
And our Lord explains why that's the case.
In today's Gospel, the woman, the sinner, comes to his feet, and she is kissing his feet, and anointing him with oil,
and wiping it with the hair of her head, all of these exterior signs of sincere, interior contrition and conversion.
And our Lord explains that she has loved much, she has loved more than the Pharisee,
who seems not to have been forgiven much, at least by the context, he was probably a relatively just man,
you know, maybe living according to the law his whole life.
But our Lord says, you know, who has been forgiven much, loves much.
And so, I remember also a commentary by Don DeLindo on the Scripture.
He says that the souls who have cooperated with the grace, because we must remember that there's also a grace going on here to draw the sinner,
to conversion, but those who have been open to it and cooperated with it, often are souls who are like soil,
that good soil, in which grace can flower and grow and surpass the holiness of those who have not experienced the grace of conversion.
The great grace, but have perhaps lived in the state of grace their whole lives, but with mediocrity.
We know that that's not the case in St. Therese of the Child Jesus, okay?
There can always be exceptions.
In fact, she based her fervor on the fact that she was preserved from the big falls and from becoming the big sinner,
and felt more indebted to God.
She felt more indebted to God for that greater grace, for not having fallen.
But you see, she recognized where her gratitude should lie and how thankful she ought to have been to God and converted that into great fervent love.
And so, that's the goal for wherever we might find ourselves.
Whatever our motivations might be.
For great heroic love for God, that is where we should all strive to arrive at.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.