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"Cuanto más le miremos, más le amaremos" -S. Vicente de Paúl-

"The beginning of salvation is to condemn oneself" (Evagius)

Repentance marks the starting point of our journey. The Greek term metanoia, signifies primarily 'a change of mind'. Correctly understood, repentance is not a negative but positive. It means, not self-pity or remorse, but conversion, the re-centering of our whole life upon the Trinity. It is to look, not backward with regret, but forward with hope -- not downwards at our own shortcomings, but upwards at God's love. It is to see, not what we have failed to be, but what by divine grace we can now become; and it is to act upon what we see. To repent is to open our eyes to the light. In this sense, repentance is not just a single act, an initial step, but a continuing state, an attitude of heart and will that needs to be ceaselessly renewed up to the end of life. In the words of St Isaias of Sketis, 'God requires us to go on repenting until our last breath'.

Christ our God has loved His own to the uttermost. Because of love He created the world, because of love He was born into this world as a man, because of love He took up our broken humanity into Himself and made it His own. Because of love He identified Himself with all our distress. Because of love He offered Himself as a sacrifice, choosing at Gethsemane to go voluntarily to His Passion: 'I lay down my life for my sheep... No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself' (John 10:15, 18). It was willing love, not exterior compulsion, that brought Jesus to His death. At His Agony in the garden and at His Crucifixion the forces of darkness assail Him with all their violence, but they cannot change His compassion into hatred; they cannot prevent His love from continuing to be itself. His love is tested to the furthest point, but it is not overwhelmed. 'The light shines on in the darkness, and the darkness has not swallowed it up' (John 1:5). To Christ's victory upon the Cross we may apply the words spoken by a Russian priest on his release from prison camp: 'Suffering has destroyed all things. One thing alone has stood firm -- it is love.'

You may wonder why Jesus would heal this particular man using dirt and spit, when as God he can clearly do miracles without the aid of any substance, and all his other recorded miracles were done without this process.

"The Eucharist is the Sacrament of Love; It signifies Love, It produces love." - #SaintThomasAquinas #ThirdSundayofLent