“I DO CARE”

George went to confession on a regular basis. He was more faithful than most. But whenever he went, his attitude expressed no feelings of remorse, and his behavior showed no signs of repentance.

His priest was concerned that there was no sorrow for his sins or shame for his shortcomings. It hurt the priest because he loved George deeply. He had known him since 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 really care! It’s just not that important to me.’ Will you do that for me?”

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 understand 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 of the debt we owe You by the care we show others. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Scripture For Today:   My old self has been crucified with Christ.[a] 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