Love Does Not Keep a Record of Wrongs

I often read St. Paul's description of love from 1 Corinthians 13 and ask the question, "How 
am I doing, Lord?" Sometimes well; too often not so well:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

For me, one of the most challenging issues is not to keep a record of wrongs. I have a melancholic temperament and that comes with the temptation to remember every personal mistake and sin. That's not such a bad thing if it draws one to repentance and gratitude for God's forgiveness. But the negative side is that I tend to remember every bad thing done against me by others. I dreamed for years about negative things that happened to me in high school. Really! If one gives in to that, the likelihood of keeping grudges and freezing others in those particular times when they hurt me is a serious stumbling block. How often does it trip me up in my spiritual journey? That's when I need to run to God and to the Blessed Mother like a little child after a fall. 

God promises to forgive us "as we forgive those who trespass against us." But, let's face it, we are, every single one of us, selfish and self-focused. That's part of the inheritance from Adam and Eve's original sin. We are more likely to look at the sins of others than at our own, like the Pharisee in the parable. How hard I often am on others for not being perfect. It would be better to look at my own faults and beat my breast saying, "Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa." That's what St. Francis de Sales encourages us to do. 

During this month of the Sacred Heart I want to join my heart more and more to the heart of Christ. The hot embers on a fire easily catch on the seasoned log that's ready for the flames. I want to be that log and become a burning furnace of charity. 

Today, whenever I think of someone who's wronged me, I want to bless and thank them for the opportunity to unite that little pinprick of suffering to the Cross of Christ. And then I want to say a prayer for them in gratitude. Suffering is hard, and we tend to see it as a curse. But it is really an opportunity and a grace as so many of the saints, especially the martyrs, realized. The more we embrace suffering, the closer we are to the suffering Sacred Heart of Jesus. And what a great place to be!

O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, burning furnace of love, make my heart like unto Thine.