The Gift We Choose

Readings 071426

It’s one of the most profound questions of faith:  

If Jesus paid the ultimate debt for everyone’s sins on the Cross,  

why does anyone go to hell?

The answer rests in the radical, beautiful,  

and sometimes terrifying gift of human free will.

“Unless your faith is firm, you shall not be firm.”

In today’s Gospel, Jesus reproaches the towns—  

Chorazin and Capernaum—  

places that witnessed His greatest miracles  

yet chose not to repent.  

They saw the light,  

but they would not turn toward it.

Christ’s sacrifice on the cross  

is an infinite fountain of mercy,  

fully sufficient to save every soul.  

But God is love,  

and love never forces itself upon the human heart.

The Church teaches with clarity:  

“God predestines no one to go to hell;  

for this, a willful turning away from God  

(a mortal sin) is necessary,  

and persistence in it until the end.” (CCC 1037)  

Hell is not God abandoning us;  

it is a person definitively refusing God’s mercy.

Jesus paid the debt.  

He placed the keys of the Kingdom in our hands.  

But we must still open the door—  

through repentance,  

through conversion,  

through a faith that stands firm.

So let us not take His grace for granted.  

Let us respond to His mighty deeds in our lives  

with hearts eager to repent,  

ready to love,  

and determined to stand firm in faith.

Prayer

Lord, 

Make my faith steady and sincere.  

Soften every place in me 

that resists Your grace.  

Turn my heart quickly 

toward repentance and love.  

Let Your mercy shape 

my choices and my future.  

Keep me firm in faith, 

firm in hope, 

firm in You.

Amen

How can Love Refuse to Love

Readings 071326 

 

God’s desire is our heart.  

Not our excuses.  

Not our self‑condemnation.  

Not the stories we tell ourselves  

about why we cannot be loved.

Some people say,  

“God could never love me.  

I can never be forgiven.”  

But that is not humility—  

it is a misunderstanding of God.

A person who believes this  

has never truly reached toward Him.  

They are looking more at their own wounds  

than at the One who heals.

God is Love.  

And if God is Love,  

how can Love refuse to love?

Christ tells us,  

“Whoever finds his life will lose it,  

and whoever loses his life 

for my sake  

will find it.”  

He is inviting us to release  

the false stories we cling to  

so we can finally receive  

the truth of His mercy.

Our love becomes false  

when we refuse charity,  

justice,  

or reconciliation.  

When we cling to the external  

without interior conversion,  

we turn our idea of love  

into an idol of self.

So Christ’s lordship  

calls us back to the center.  

“Whoever loves father or mother  

more than me  

is not worthy of me.” 

 

He is not rejecting love—  

He is reordering our love.  

He becomes the axis  

around which everything turns.  

And when He is first,  

every other love becomes  

truer,  

cleaner,  

freer.

Let your heart turn toward Him.  

Not with fear.  

Not with excuses.  

But with the simple trust  

Love always loves.

Prayer

Lord, 

Turn my heart toward Your mercy.

Wash away the fear 

that keeps me from You.

Let Your love reorder 

every part of my life.

Make my worship true, 

my charity sincere.

Hold me close, Lord, 

where Love always loves.

Amen