A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke
Jesus said to his disciples: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
In today’s reading, Jesus speaks not to the scribes and Pharisees but to his disciples. He speaks privately to them about mercy, forgiveness, and generosity. He tells them to stop judging and stop condemning, which echoes the proscriptions of the Ten Commandments, such as “You shall not steal” and “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” Then Jesus goes on to name other ways to be merciful: “Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap.” For every act of mercy, mercy is returned. “For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.”
God, help me understand the overflowing measure of your mercy. It isn’t the result of a kind of recompense, where the measure of mercy given comes back as a reward for being merciful to others. Instead, you invite us to be merciful as you are merciful and to forgive as you forgive. You set the standard high yet are merciful when we fail to reach it. “So be perfect,” Jesus says, “just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Yet for every wrong I acknowledge in my heart and in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, you restore me to your grace and friendship in forgiveness. And the measure of it you give is “packed together, shaken down, and overflowing.” There is no greater model for this kind of mercy than Jesus your Son.
From the Gospel acclamation, let me remember today: “Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life; you have the words of everlasting life.”
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.