Monday, December 15, 2014

Third Monday of Advent: Remembering Goodness

“Remember that your compassion, O LORD, and your kindness are from of old. In your kindness remember me, because of your goodness, O LORD.” – Ps. 25:6-7b,c

This past Saturday, I was very blessed by a gathering of young adults who attended the previous Caritas 34 Retreat. We came together to reconnect and to remember. Four people shared stories of their experience on the retreat and how it has impacted their lives since. I was deeply moved by their honesty and vulnerability. Not only did I recall what happened but realized with greater depth and meaning God’s goodness to me on that retreat. God’s aching desire to be with me and to come closer to each of us became more personal, profound, and magnified.

Remembering goodness does not solve the challenges that I’m facing or take away the concerns themselves. But it does shift my perspective and attitude. I can approach these matters with greater receptivity and hope. We often cajole God and others to remember their promises to us and to do good to us. Yet, when we allow ourselves to remember their goodness to us, we are not just recalling the past, but living fully the present into a future of greater hope. In remembering goodness, we grow in goodness and live out goodness.

Give yourself a few minutes to remember an experience of deep goodness in your life. Let Audrey Assad’s song, Good to Me, trigger this reconnecting.

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