Be gracious, O God. I am a great and immeasurably burdened sinner. I carry my sins and the sins of others. I flee to Your mercy, which is promised to me in and through Christ. I, who am dead in sin, draw near to the Life. I, who am erring in the way of sin, draw near to the Way. I, who because of sin am worthy of damnation, draw near to the Salvation. Make me alive. Direct and save me for eternity, my true Life, Way, and Salvation! - Blessed Johann Gerhard, Meditations on Divine Mercy, p. 43
Pr. Weedon:
ReplyDeleteWhat does he me by carrying "the sins of others?"
Barbara Szofran
He had earlier confessed: My neighbor dies a physical death, and I mourn and groan day and night, though physical death brings no harm to a godly person because it provides a transition to the heavenly kingdom. My neighbor dies a spiritual death by committing mortal sins and I watch my neighbor die without concern.
ReplyDeleteIt was this sense of not caring enough about our neighbor to correct his sins, to ask God's mercy on him, and so on that make his very sins by own.