“For since God is most desirous of our salvation, He will not delay to pardon us. With a father’s fondness, He embraces the sinner the moment he enters into himself, turns to the Lord, and, having detested all his sins, resolves that later on, as far as he is able, he will call them singly to mind and confess them.” (Roman Catechism)
When we keep this in mind, God’s desire should deeply move us. Although we may hesitate or be negligent in thoroughly carrying out conversion in our lives, we must remember how much our Father longs to live in unity with us. This certainly applies first and foremost to our general abhorrence of the state of sin, our response to His kind, fatherly invitation, and our reception of absolution through the Sacrament of Penance.
However, this does not fully satisfy God’s desire, as He also wants us to be as close to Him as possible in both time and eternity. His love will always lead us further so that we may become like Him and our lives may bear fruit.
Perhaps we are sometimes sad that we do not yet love our Father as much as He deserves, and this grieves us. While this may serve as an incentive to choose love again and again, we sometimes find ourselves stuck in the same place, as if we are not making any progress.
It may help, then, to focus more on our Father and His longing for us and allow ourselves to be set ablaze by His love rather than fixating on our limitations. “Father, set my heart ablaze with Your love and draw it out of all self-consciousness.”
Let us allow ourselves to be loved by God so that we may learn to love!