Praising the Lord

“How can this great thing happen to me, that the Mother of my Lord should come to visit me?” (Luke 1:43)

In this post, I would like to address the Lord, who is the theme of my praise, rather than you, my dear readers. So please bear with me as I proceed through this exercise..

My Jesus, You came to visit me, a poor wretch while I lay sick and paralysed. I was truly like the man who lay by the pool of Bethsaida, “who had been ill for 38 years”. He could not get into the pool by himself; and when the water was stirred, no one would help him. In his wretched and pitiable state, You, Divine Love, visited him. You asked him, “Do you wish to be well again?” And on hearing what he had to say, You told him, “Get up, pick up your sleeping mat, and walk around.” My Jesus, I read in the Scriptures that “the man was cured at once” and “he picked up his sleeping mat and began to walk around.”

Lord, You visited me and cured me. My paralysed soul, which could not move on account of its sins, was healed in an instant when You spoke your words to me. What can prevent me from jumping up, picking up my mat and walking around? Nothing and no one! My praise to You, Lord, is my life. My every action is a joyful proclamation of Your saving power and Your Love.

Lord, as I look at myself, I see Your grace, Your goodness, which is present within me, and which You have poured out upon me in so much abundance. Lord, in my ignorance, I have thought that this goodness was mine; and that I was the owner of what I saw in me. Lord, protect me from sinking back into the vice of ignorance, the vice of darkness, which fails to see You and which fails to acknowledge You, Lord, as the source. Protect me from the vice of forgetfulness of favours (Wisdom 14:26) but grant me a grateful heart that will treasure the memory of your Divine favours to me forever!