Fourth Thursday of Lent

Let your blazing wrath die down; relent in punishing your people. Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, and how you swore to them by your own self, saying, "I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky; and all this land that I promised, I will give your descendants as their perpetual heritage." So the LORD relented in the punishment he had threatened to inflict on his people.

We are all sinners in one way or another. We all deserve God's Wrath for the evils we've done and the good we've failed to do. It is only by the saving grace of God's Divine Mercy that we have the opportunity to be spared condemnation. However, God doesn't just give us salvation without us work towards it. He wants us to be loving and merciful as He is loving and merciful. He wants us to be good and faithful as He is good and faithful. He wants us to be contrite and penitent as He is forgiving and just. He is willing to let His blazing wrath die down, if we are willing to come to Him in the sacrament of reconciliation and make amends for our sins and failings.

What are our sins? Are we genuinely contrite for the wrongs we've done and the goods we've failed to do? Are we making use of the sacrament of reconciliation as often as we should?

O Lord, we come to you with contrite hearts. Relent and grant us your mercy.

Amen.