Sister Ruth Burrows, o.c.d.

We find it hard to accept how involved God is with us, how vital we are—by his free choice—to his complete happiness. Scripture encourages us to find our analogies in human images. We are adopted children. Consider a blissfully happy couple finding all they need in one another. For no other reason than generosity and the desire to share their happiness, they decide to adopt children as their own. From then on their life undergoes a profound change. Now they are vulnerable; their happiness is wrapped up in the welfare of the children; things can never be the same again. If the children choose to alienate themselves and start on the path to ruin, the couple are stricken. They will plead, humble themselves, make huge sacrifices, go out of themselves to get their loved ones to understand that the home is still their home, that the love they have been given is unchanging. This perhaps gives us some insight into redemption. In a mystery we cannot fathom, God "empties," "loses" himself, in bringing back to himself his estranged, lost children. And this is all the Father wants. This is the only remedy for his wound. God is no longer pure God, but always God-with-humanity- in-his heart.