“I DO CARE”

George went to confession regularly. And, he was more faithful than most. But, whenever he went, he expressed no feelings of remorse or change of attitude, and his behavior showed no signs of repentance.

His priest was concerned that there was no sorrow for his sins or feelings of guilt for his shortcomings. It hurt the priest because he loved George deeply. He baptized him when he was an infant and had known him from his childhood.

One day in his frustration, he said, “George, please go into the cathedral. Near the altar is a statue of Christ on the cross. Get down on your knees, look into the face of our Lord, raise your fist and say, ‘Jesus, you did all this for me, but I don’t care! It’s just not that important to me.’ Will you do that for me, please?”

Reluctantly he agreed and went into the cathedral. He slowly walked to the cross, dropped to his knees, looked up into the face of Jesus, and began to repeat the words of the priest: “Jesus, you did all this for me…Jesus, you did all this for me…Jesus, you did all this for me.” Suddenly he began to sob loudly and shouted, “Jesus, forgive me please, forgive me for my sins. Now that I see You, I really do care.”

Once we finally see and feel, understand and care, realize and accept what Jesus did for us on the cross of Calvary, our lives will change.

 Prayer:  Lord, may we come to that place in our lives where we will in some small way realize the depth of Your suffering, the price of our salvation, and the debt we owe You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Scripture For Today: My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20