A Surprising Love

Lenten Reflection # 9

God's love is a surprising love. It is so unlike ours that it surprises just when we think we have him figured out.  I finished reading the lengthy reading for today's daily mass on the great story of Susanna who was unjustly accused of adultery.  She is saved by the Daniel's wise words and God's mercy.  She was saved because she was innocent.  Surprisingly the guilty women in the New Testament from yesterday's Gospel got the same treatment from God.  She was accused of the same crime- adultery.  Why did God give the two the same treatment? My Magnificat answers the question: "The Lord hears not their deeds but their plight and rescues them from their accusers."  Amazing! God doesn't look at our sins, only at our plea for forgiveness.  Could our minds be any more different from God's??  I am so quick to look my neighbor's sins and judge the severity of them.  I might say- that's a pretty bad sin, or that one's not too bad, or that sin is just unthinkable! But what does God say? He doesn't even look at the sins when the sinner has asked for forgiveness. They are forgotten- no matter how bad they are.  I am surprised by the extent of God's love when I think of all he forgives and forgets and I am reminded that I have a long way to go, especially during this Lenten season, to make my heart like His.