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We Partake of God’s Tenderness

Mark Dohle

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We Partake of God’s Tenderness

St. Peter writes that Christians are to have a “tender heart.”[269] With Mary, we receive and respond to God’s tenderness in our encounters with Him—in His Word, in the Eucharist, and in the Love Crucified Community.

The Simple Path to Union with God (p. 278). Kindle Edition.

When we pray and give time to Our Lord, something profound begins to unfold. In the depths of our souls, the Holy Spirit works in secret. We may not feel it, see it, or even believe that we are experiencing God’s healing love. Yet prayer deepens our self-knowledge, bringing us face to face with our own woundedness, which can be painful. Still, prayer is doing its work. God is light, truth, and healing fire—something we must endure as we draw closer to the ‘Burning Bush’.

This journey is about a relationship with Jesus, who leads us into the mystery of the Holy Trinity. Growth is slow, but in our depths, much is happening. It is hidden, because if we were aware, we might interfere. How we treat others, how we see and judge them, becomes a reflection of the healing taking place within us. We are called to tenderness toward all. This is a gift of God’s grace—not a product of willpower, which eventually fails and teaches us that we cannot do it on our own.

Self-knowledge brings us to a place of humility, where we begin to understand that we all struggle and fail. The road to inner freedom—the death to self—is a lifelong journey.

—Br. MD