OCEAN OF MERCY
A catechist was
concluding her class on forgiveness of
sins and the sacrament of reconciliation. She asked a question to her children,
"Tell me, what we must do first, to obtain forgiveness of sins?" An
innocent child replied, "Sin!"
A young woman, who
led a sinful life, became thoroughly depressed and decided to commit suicide by
jumping into the sea from a tall rock on a sandy beach. As she walked along the
beach towards the rock, she felt that she should write her sins on the sand
before ending her life. She sat down and wrote her major sins on the sand and
stood up to read it. Suddenly a strong wave washed the shore and erased her
words completely. Seeing the blank beach, she recalled and realized the power
of God's forgiveness. She rushed to a church and confessed her sins. She
started a new life of peace and hope.
St. Anthony of Padua was in the confessional. A penitent person came for
confession, but he was overcome with repentance, sorrow and nervousness and so
could not utter even a word. The saint advised him to go home, write his sins
on a piece of paper and return with it. When he returned, he was asked to read
the sins one by one. As he read out each sin, the inscription of the sin
vanished from the paper miraculously. Finally, at the end of the confession the
paper became blank. The saint asked him to burn the paper showing him that God
has forgiven and forgotten all his sins.
A young man approached Archbishop Fulton. J. sheen and asked him how he
could be sure that his sins would be forgiven by God after the Sacrament of
confession and reconciliation. The Archbishop led him to a beach and asked him
to collect a handful of sand. He then asked him to throw the sand into the
sea. Then he asked the young man if he
could recover or recognize the grains of sand he had thrown away. The man
understood the power of God's forgiveness. When God forgives our sins, he casts
our sins into an ocean of mercy, kindness, forgiveness and forgetfulness. St.
Isaac the Syrian taught, "Our sins
are as so many grains of sand cast into the ocean of God's mercy."
The Lord says, "Now, let us
settle the matter. You are stained red with sin, but I will wash you as clean
as snow. Although your stains are deep red, you will be as white as wool"
{Isaiah 1:18}.
...............................................................................................................
© By: Dr. Babu Philip,
Professor, Cochin University of Science & Technology, Fine Arts Avenue,
Kochi-682016, Kerala, India, Prof. Mrs. Rajamma Babu, Former
Professor, St. Dominic's College, Kanjirappally and Leo. S.
John, Maniparambil, Ooriyakunnath, Kunnumbhagom, Kanjirappally,
Kottayam-686507, Kerala, India.
For more moral stories, parables and anecdotes for
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