Great Is Your Mercy Towards Me

Great is your mercy towards me
Your loving kindness towards me
Your tender mercies, I see
Day after day

Forever faithful towards me
Always providing my needs
Great is your mercy towards me
Great is your grace
-Great is Your Mercy, by Donnie McClurkin


I really have been enjoying Donnie McClurkin's, "Great is Your Mercy," lately. Fantastic song, simple, but definitely a message worth repeating. I think God's mercy has been more than evident to me this summer. With two weeks left before I hit the road and head back to the Nash, it is becoming more apparent to me that I need to weigh in on the greatness that has been this summer. I was somewhat dreading returning home this summer, wanting to stay in Nashville and work and hang out with friends, but God, with the infinite wisdom that can only be ascribed Him, saw where I really needed to be. Perhaps the most important lesson I've learned over this summer is that we're called to be disciplined in virtuous practices. Reading through the bible, it is interesting to see when Jesus would go away by Himself to meet with the Father, and then, at the Transfiguration, his disciples are witnesses to what happens when he goes away. He is transfigured and shining gloriously, he breaks the barriers of time and communes with Elijah and Moses. A beautiful picture of, at once, both the oneness with the Father Christ shared, as well as the oneness with his followers. Seeking that kind of oneness with God and others has become more real to me this summer. There were some dark times, some trying times, but through it all, and with the help of Mr. Thomas Merton's phenomenal, life changing, pure and humbly written, "The Seven Storey Mountain," I came to know what it is like to thirst, not only for the knowledge of truth, but for the presence of truth.

It is one thing to know the truth, but quite another altogether to live it out. Sitting in God's presence day after day, praying the rosary and the chaplet of divine mercy, reading scripture and spiritual books have done my soul and my body good. Learning that contemplation is a key aspect of communing with God has changed my whole approach to living. Learning that prayers of the heart said repeated and remembered throughout the day really do help to focus and realign me, or justify me, if you will. Discovering the mysteries of the rosary has been quite mind blowing, I must say. While on a mental level I had, for the most part, accepted Mary's role as a mediator of graces, but in praying the rosary I truly felt those graces imparted to me. Such joy! Unspeakable joy, when I consider my mother praying earnestly for my soul to be more fully conformed to the image of her son-- when I am captivated by new ways of thinking about Christ's life and mission as well as the Church's and my own.

Thank God for His mercy, for letting me fall when I get prideful. For bringing true repentance that is accompanied by penitence. Thank God for His mercy and grace in allowing me to continue to struggle and fight for what I know is desired for me, holiness, love, oneness with God.

Great is Your Mercy, indeed.

"That they all may be one as the Father art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us."- John 17:21