Cuddles and Kisses from God....we are children too!

Gospel Reading today Luke 15:1-32
"I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you;  I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired servants. And he arose and came to his father. But while he was yet at a distance, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him." Luke 15:18-20

Lately I feel like I have been in a spiritual wilderness.  This verse brings such refreshment to me.  As I am so tired and grouchy, pregnant with my fourth and chasing three little ones, I admit that I haven't been on top of my game of motherhood/wifehood.  Last week I was maybe the worst mother on the planet and I fell to my knees in tears before the dishwasher.  I asked God, "and you think I am cut out for this?  Well, let me just tell you....you have chosen the wrong person!" ( I love that we sometimes think we know best! :) I think sometimes during our spiritual pilgrimage on earth, there are times we might feel distant from God.  One of the fruits from this, I believe, is that it makes us yearn for God's presence even more and it is a good thing when we realize that we are wondering lost in the dark.  We realize that all we need is God and nothing else.  He brings us the peace, joy and self-fullment that the world can not give to us.  I am so excited to receive spiritual nourishment from Heaven this morning in Mass.  What a gift we have in the Eucharist.  Not knowing what is going to happen in our crazy world in this lifetime, I am so comforted to know that if all I have is the Eucharist, than I have everything I need.

I am so happy to know that even though we are all sinners and fall from time to time, we have a loving God who will run to us with compassion and a kiss the moment we repent of our sins.  This sounds familiar in motherhood as well.  These little souls are so forgiving.  The moment I ask for forgiveness or put myself in the naughty corner for acting up, they embrace me with a kiss and say, "it's okay mama!"  And we do the same as mothers, the moment our child says they are sorry, we kiss them and forgive them and move on with the day.  Forgiveness is also such a gift.  What would our hearts and this world be like without it.  Forgiveness brings such freedom of the heart.

Through quiet prayer time this morning and reading the gospel today, I already feel embraced by Our Loving Shepherd.  He cuddles us and kisses us, just as we do to our little ones.  We are not alone on our walk of motherhood.  He gently picks us back up and leads us back to Him. Rejoice today in our loving and merciful God!  We can learn a great lesson from the gospel reading today....being forgiving of ourselves and of others.  None of us are perfect and we are all going to stray and fall to our knees but lift your eyes to Heaven and be thankful, for when we repent, all of Heaven rejoices! 
Have a blessed Sabbath.