Remove the Root

When a weed grows in a garden, we want to remove it root and all. If we just cut it down, and leave the root, it will grow back. However, if we remove the weed, root included, it will no longer grow, ruining the garden.

This same concept applies in our lives, to our sinfulness, to our failures. A few Sundays ago the Gospel came from Jn 21:1-19. In this Gospel, Peter and the disciples had decided to go back fishing. They returned to an old way of life, the way they were before they knew Christ, before they knew truth, before they knew love. So often, especially in the early stages of conversion, we are tempted to do as these men did, to fall back to that old way of life. This is because there is still a root in our hearts, that spikes up and catches us, pulling us down again, killing our garden - and the beautiful flowers that have grown in our hearts, our souls.

A few weeks ago one of my friends called me, needing someone to talk to, to help her through a tough time. And a week later she called me again, feeling so much better than she had the previous time I talked to her. I have several friends who struggle with depression/anxiety in some form. This particular friend I have seen come farther than many of my other friends, in her struggle with this illness, and large reason for that is she went through counseling, where she sought to find the root of the problem, with a trained professional - who could help her seek healing in these problems. Through the help of her counselor, she did discover the root of her pain, and has been much more peaceful, even just knowing where this originated from. And she is also able to take steps to heal, and mend relationships where they may need mended.

This friend pointed out a parallel to me. In Jn 18 Peter denies Jesus three times - and they are standing before a fire warming themselves. In Jn 21 Jesus asks Peter if he loves him three time - just as Peter denied him three times - and again he is before a charcoal.
Jesus takes us to the roots, to a place familiar, to where the sin, the failure occurred. Peter denied Jesus before a charcoal fire. Jesus asks Jesus if he loves him before a charcoal fire. They go to where the failure initially took place.

You see, Peter failed. The one who was the rock of the Church - he failed, many times. As do we.
Day in and day out we fail. We fail to love, we are selfish, we hurt others, we deny Jesus' love. The rock of the Church failed, how can we be expected not to?

We are expected to fail. Jesus knows this. Original sin is a reason for this. Therefore, we must seek the mercy of Christ. We must seek his love, his kindness, his forgiveness. He wants to resolve our problems. He wants to make us whole. He wants to heal us.

My dear friends, do not be afraid to turn to Jesus and go those places that keep you from knowing his love. Give him every bit of your heart. Maybe there was an experience your life that took away your dignity - I once heard a man talk who had essentially been molested as a child and he thought he could never be loved, and that Christ could never forgive him. It tore this man apart, and lead him into more sin in his life - though he had been an innocent little boy, and this did not happen to him by his own choice. He shut this memory off, and locked it away. It was not until he brought this to Christ and sought Christ in this that he could start to come out of the sin he had gotten into because this sin - the molestation as a child - lead him to greater sin and he had to back to the root, the source of hurt in order to be healed.


Go to Jesus and take him your wounds, your hurts, especially those that you have hidden away and not wanted anyone to know of. Jesus knows of them anyway because he knows all. He wants to heal you, and in his mercy, he is waiting on you to run into his open arms of mercy.