Yesterday, we celebrated Divine Mercy Sunday. In his homily for the Mass, Pope Francis said this: "Jesus said to Saint Faustina: 'I am love and mercy itself; there is no human misery that could measure up to my mercy' (Diary, 14 September 1937). At one time, the Saint, with satisfaction, told Jesus that she had offered him all of her life and all that she had. But Jesus’ answer stunned her: 'You have not offered me the thing which is truly yours'. What had that holy nun kept for herself? Jesus said to her with kindness: 'My daughter, give me your failings' (10 October 1937). We too can ask ourselves: 'Have I given my failings to the Lord? Have I let him see me fall so that he can raise me up?' Or is there something I still keep inside me? A sin, a regret from the past, a wound that I have inside, a grudge against someone, an idea about a particular person… The Lord waits for us to offer him our failings so that he can help us experience his mercy."

When Jesus says he wants to be the Lord of our lives, he means that everything is his, even our sins and failings. We must lay all at his feet in total submission and surrender as a sign of our belonging to him. The lie within us, wants to withhold something for ourselves as a sign of being in control. We forget that Jesus said: If you want life, you must give it away. Basically, this means that what we hold on to, first of all, is not ours and, secondly, it will be of no value in the end. Paradox and mystery! But God's ways are paradox and mystery!