I’m Enough for God

Around the feast of St. Faustina (Oct. 5th), I read a number of sections from her journal which was published and titled, “Divine Mercy in My Soul”. Although I’m quite Polish, her works never really struck out to me. I enjoy praying the Divine Mercy chaplet in Lent, I have an image of Divine Mercy in my office that I’ve probably come overly accustomed to seeing, but never hit me deep in my prayer life. But a few weeks ago, during my holy hour, reflecting on my sin, Divine Mercy hit me in a particular way. I’m certain this experience was because of the intercession of St. Faustina. The core of the idea was that “I am enough for God”.

During that time, my prayer has been around the theme of “enough”:

• I’m enough for God
• I have enough things/friends/support
• I have enough talent/intelligence/whatever to do what’s asked of me and do it well

The story of the Prodigal Son has the father running out to the younger son who’s returned after being ritually unclean and generally sinful. Yet the father does not care. The father doesn’t scold or ask questions, but runs out to embrace the son. That’s the overwhelming love of the father, which I’d argue not everyone experiences here on earth. St. Bonaventure talked about the grace of God as an overflowing fountain that cannot be contained. And I “get” that from reading the Gospel of the Prodigal Son. But I never felt it or understood it till praying with the writings of St. Faustina.

A lot of peoples’ prayer is asking for things, which is not bad in itself, but if leads to thinking that they’re not enough for God, it’s simply not true! There’s nothing we can do to earn God’s love because God already loves us totally and completely. It is good to ask for more virtue or a particular need or whatever it is, God loves to give, but that does not make us insufficient in any way.

Prayer has to be about a relationship with God, which is a relationship with a person. Someone who loves you would never ask for you to be smarter or taller or more of whatever in order to maintain that relationship. God certainly asks us for continual conversion, but we don’t need the conversion to achieve the relationship, but the conversion should flow from the relationship. Like a husband or wife loves their spouse, they want to “do better” for them because of that love.

This recognizing that we are enough for God while maintaining the idea we need to grow deeper in our relationship is sometimes or often understood as illogical or a contradiction. But it is only because the grace and love of God that we can grow in conversion, deepen our faith with and in God. God is the one who reaches out first, it is always us responding to that love.

This idea that we’re not enough for God cuts us off right at the start. The apostles and a lot of the saints never looked like they had an entirely put together. And we don’t have to either. But we must go towards God.

Jesus, I trust in you.