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The Forward Day by Day Meditation for March 18, 2023

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SATURDAY, March 18 CYRIL OF JERUSALEM, Bishop and Theologian, 386

John 8:54 Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, he of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’”

I still have a hard time saying, “You were right, I was wrong.” I sometimes think this limitation is my personal version of original sin. The Holy Spirit has tried to plane and sand this edged ego of mine into humility, and to be sure, it matters far less these days whether I am right or wrong than it used to. I’ve learned that being right versus wrong is a zero-sum game, and life is not zero-sum. Not black and white.

This is why I tried to teach my children to say these hardest of words: “I dropped the ball.”

Owning one’s failures or errors or humanity is a part of the sin-repentance-growth dynamic, the cycle through which the Holy Spirit leads us to deeper places, or higher places, or whichever direction you consider growth to be. When Jesus mounts the cross for the sin of the world, he takes ownership of all our failures. But it is not, thanks be to God, a zero-sum game.

MOVING FORWARD: How are you acknowledging your mistakes? Are you willing to ask the Holy Spirit for help?

PRAY for the Diocese of Rockhampton (Australia)

Today the Church remembers .

Ps 87, 90 * 136 | Jeremiah 13:1-11 | Romans 6:12-23 | John 8:47-59