Encountering Oneself in God’s Sight
In this world always look at God and then look at yourself. You will never find that God is without mercy and you are without misery. The mercy of God is favorable to your misery, and your misery is the object of the bounty and mercy of God. (OCL, III, 570 II, p.67)
According to St. Vincent Pallotti, a person must always encounter himself in the sight of God. A person must know who God is before he can know who he is. Therefore, St. Vincent advises that a person, as he lives his life in the world, must always look at God first, after which he must look at himself. Fixing his eyes on God, he comes to know that God is Infinite Mercy and he is never found without mercy. Opening himself to the reality of his own self in the sight of God, the person realizes that he is never without misery. Thus, viewing himself in the sight of the mercy of God, a person understands his state of misery better. But the most interesting aspect of the relationship between God who is full of mercy and the human person who is full of misery, is that the mercy of God is favorable to the misery of the human person. The misery of the human person is the object of God’s mercy. God, reaching out to the human person in his misery, is ready and willing to get him out of his state of misery. In doing so, God showers his abundant blessings on the human person, helping him to rise out of his misery to the level of being his son. Since the human person’s misery is the object of God’s infinite mercy, says St. Vincent, there is no reason for the human person to be anxious about his state of misery. Instead of being anxious, he must surrender himself totally to the mercy of God in order that he may be raised to the privilege of being a child of God.
Do I encounter myself in the sight of God? Do I encounter God as Infinite Mercy? How do I encounter myself? Do I believe that God’s mercy can transform my misery? Do I open my misery to God and allow him to transform me to be his son?
Examine yourselves, to see whether you are holding to your faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you? (II Cor. 13: 5)