Indulge Me

After hearing it praised many times, I finally decided to read St Therese of Lisieux's Story of a Soul.  In it I found a beautiful story of her love for Jesus and His for her.  Something that really struck me was when she spoke of how God indulged her, even spoiled her at times. While I cannot claim to be as holy as St Therese, I can see how God has often indulged me (not always, of course).  Indeed, our God likes to indulge us, I think, though we must be willing to receive such attentions and the ways we are indulged or tried may not be outwardly obvious.

I was thinking of this when I visited the shrine of Our Lady of La Leche recently.  There is an indulgence for visiting the shrine (though I'd actually forgotten that when I decided to visit).  I hadn't thought before of the root for indulgence being indulge, as I'd only focused on the strict definition of an indulgence.  While it's good to know how the word indulgence is used by the Church, I can't help thinking now of how an indulgence really is another way in which God indulges us and draws us closer to Him if we allow it. Even at Mass this morning, as I was gazing at the Tabernacle, I couldn't help thinking of how He indulges us: the fact that I can go to Mass daily is indeed a way in which I am A bit spoiled, since many do not have that luxury.  I thank God for being so indulgent.