Today is March 18, the optional memorial of St. Cyril of Jerusalem.
At today’s Mass, we hear: “Come now, let us set things right, says the Lord: Though your sins be like scarlet, they may become white as snow; Though they be crimson red, they may become white as wool” (Is 1:18).
In this passage from Isaiah, we learn that reconciliation takes place within a relationship. God is not out of the picture when we acknowledge our sins, do penance and ask for his mercy. Quite the opposite! God begins the process. He is calling us to repentance. He tells us to reconcile.
God desires the salvation of our souls. Even in our repentance, he is at work.
St. Cyril of Jerusalem reminds us of this. Speaking to the catechumens preparing to enter the Church at Easter, St. Cyril reminds them of how the Holy Spirit is already working in them and that holiness is being worked out in their hearts:
Already there is an odor of blessedness upon you, O you who are soon to be enlightened: already you are gathering the spiritual flowers, to weave heavenly crowns: already the fragrance of the Holy Spirit has breathed upon you.
God is near to us
God has called us into the desert to set things right between us and him. As this is worked out in days of Lent, the odor of blessedness is beginning to fill our hearts. The fragrance of the Holy Spirit is beginning to breathe upon us anew.
Despite our sinfulness and need for repentance, God is working in our hearts. He is not far from us in the desert. No, he is very near to us. As God sets our hearts aright and makes them white as wool, may our minds be enlightened to know more assuredly his mercy and love for us.
Let us pray,
O God, who through the Bishop Saint Cyril of Jerusalem led your Church in a wonderful way to a deeper sense of the mysteries of salvation, grant us, through his intercession, that we may so acknowledge your Son as to have life ever more abundantly. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
