Tag: mercy

“The Lord our God is Lord alone!” | Friday of the Third Week of Lent

From the responsorial psalm: “‘If only my people would hear me, and Israel walk in my ways, I would feed them with the best of wheat, and with honey from the rock I would fill them.’ I am the Lord your God: hear my voice.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark (Mk 12:28-34)

Jesus replied, “The first is this: Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.”

In response to the scribe’s question, “Which is the first of all the commandments”? Jesus replies with the Shema Yisrael, a prayer read aloud in Jesus’ time and still recited by Jewish people today. The second, Jesus tells the scribe, is love of neighbor. When the scribe agreed with Jesus, saying, “Well said, teacher,” Jesus said to him, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.” Today’s Communion antiphon summarizes the Gospel passage, where the scribe’s words complement those of Jesus perfectly: “To love God with all your heart, and your neighbor as yourself is worth more than any sacrifice.”

God, help me stop for just a moment to anticipate all that I will encounter today in light of two commandments: to love you with all my heart, understanding, and strength, and to love my neighbor as myself. These two commandments encompass every decision I will make today. Give me the grace to remember these commandments and to hold myself accountable to them. As I move throughout the day, choosing the way that I should go, let me call to mind the words of Hosea: “Straight are the paths of the LORD, in them the just walk, but sinners stumble in them.”

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.

“The Kingdom of God has come upon you.” | Thursday of the Third Week of Lent

From the verse before the Gospel: “Even now, says the LORD, return to me with your whole heart, for I am gracious and merciful.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 11:14-23)

“But if it is by the finger of God that I drive out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man fully armed guards his palace, his possessions are safe. But when one stronger than he attacks and overcomes him, he takes away the armor on which he relied and distributes the spoils. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”

The language Jesus uses to describe exorcism clearly shows his divine identity and connection with the Father. Even more, by giving evil a name, Beelzebul, he leaves no doubt about the reality of demonic powers at large throughout the world. Although strong, Beelzebul does not have power over the undivided authority of God to cast him out. Jesus is the stronger one who overcomes him, eliminates his armor, and distributes the spoils of victory. In Christ’s initiative to unite himself to us with our free consent of the will, the Evil One’s power to divide falls to dust. Like the mute man Jesus exorcises, when we align ourselves with Christ, the stronger man, we proclaim his holy name: “Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD; let us acclaim the Rock of our salvation. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.”

Father in heaven, by your finger Jesus drove out demons and restored people to wholeness. Let me ponder for a minute the areas of my life where I am mute, unable to speak of you in gratitude and praise. The spoils I have, Lord, I would count as meager, yet you attack and overcome anything in me that guards the possessions that belong to you—joy, freedom from sin, my desire to know and do your will. Give me the grace to open the door to your mercy so you can enter and cast out from me what does not belong.

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.

“I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.” | Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent

From the verse before the Gospel: “Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life; You have the words of everlasting life.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 5:17-19)

Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.”

“Until heaven and earth pass away,” Jesus goes on to say, “not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place.” The law Jesus speaks of refers to his present day and to the time of the new heaven a new earth after his resurrection. In fulfilling the law and the prophets, Jesus brings to completion what is already present during his life and fulfilled through his death and resurrection—perfect obedience to the will of the Father. Therefore, Jesus teaches, “whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.”

God, help me understand that Jesus Christ your Son is the capstone. Through his life, death, and resurrection, he fulfilled the law and the prophets—all of salvation history—as the Messiah, the incarnate Word. With Christ comes a new heaven and a new earth, salvation for all and the hope of the resurrection. Lord, just as Moses spoke to the Israelites about your statues and decrees, urging them to observe your commandments, help me keep these words in mind today, which find their fulfilment in Christ: “However, take care and be earnestly on your guard not to forget the things which your own eyes have seen, nor let them slip from your memory as long as you live, but teach them to your children and to your children’s children.”

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.

“Not seven times but seventy-seven times.” | Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 18:21-35)

When [the king] began the accounting, a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount. Since he had no way of paying it back, his master ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, his children, and all his property, in payment of the debt. At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said, “Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.” Moved with compassion the master of that servant let him go and forgave him the loan.

Jesus tells Peter a parable in response to his question: “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?” After Jesus relates the story of the king who shows compassion and forgives the servant, he then reveals the shadow side of the servant, which emerges as he encounters a fellow servant who owes him a much smaller debt. “Pay back what you owe,” he demands. And although the fellow servant begged for him to be patient in paying back the debt, the servant refused and had him put in prison. When the fellow servants reported to the king what they had witnessed, he had the servant brought before him and, as Matthew tells us, handed him over to torturers until he paid back his entire debt. Jesus finishes by saying, “So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart.” Can the words of Jesus on the necessity of forgiveness be any clearer?

God, from what I have learned through experience, complete forgiveness is impossible when I rely only on my own capacity. In those moments when I meet with unforgiveness, complete what I can’t accomplish if left to myself. Give me the grace needed to be merciful with others just as you are merciful with me. How often, Lord, must I forgive my brother? I can’t fathom the number; let me trust in the constant aid of your mercy.

From the responsorial psalm: “Remember that your compassion, O LORD, and your kindness are from of old. In your kindness remember me, because of your goodness, O LORD. Remember your mercies, O Lord.”

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.

Monday of the Third Week of Lent

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 4:24-30)

Jesus said to the people in the synagogue at Nazareth: “Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place. “

In his hometown at the synagogue in Nazareth, Jesus has just read from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, proclaiming that through him the scripture is fulfilled in their hearing. But when Jesus reminds the people of the prophets Elijah and Elisha, they become angry because Jesus makes clear that God’s grace is meant for all people, including non-Israelites. They rise up to drive Jesus out of town to hurl him headlong over the edge of a hill, but his time had not come. “But he passed through the midst of them,” Luke tells us, “and went away.” The inclusive nature of God’s plan meant that even among his closest family and neighbors Jesus faced opposition and hard-heartedness even as God is so willing to pour upon his people grace and salvation.

God, open my heart today to the opportunities you present to me to receive your grace and be a means of grace to others. Just as Naaman wrestled with pride and his own expectations before being healed in the Jordan by your grace, I have to confront and renounce my own expectations about how you operate through the ministry of others, especially through the people closest to me. Help me see beyond the mundane that in my own hometown, abroad, and within my family I will find the opportunity both to bear and to hear your message—”to bring glad tidings to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free.” Give me your grace, Lord, to receive it and give it away.

From the responsorial psalm: “Send forth your light and your fidelity; they shall lead me on And bring me to your holy mountain, to your dwelling-place. Athirst is my soul for the living God.”

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.

“The temple of his body.” | Third Sunday of Lent

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 2:13-25)

The Jews said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and you will raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. Therefore, when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they came to believe the Scripture and the word Jesus had spoken.

As Jesus drives out the merchants and money changers from the temple, he drives out with them what they sold: oxen, sheep, and doves. To those who sold doves, the offering of the poor, he said: “Take these out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.” In order to identify himself as the new temple, Jesus cleansed the temple of its baggage. “Destroy this temple,” he says to the Jews who look for a sign from him, “and in three days I will raise it up.” Jesus is the sign and the signified, the temple of the body, the one who points to the Father and the temple where the Father dwells. John concludes the passage by bringing the context of the Passover to Jesus’ actions in the temple. During that time, John tells us, “many began to believe in his name when they saw the signs he was doing.”

Father in heaven, help me recognize in Jesus the temple of the body. True God and true man, Jesus knows human nature and from that nature spoke the command to love you above all else and love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Teach me, Lord, to see that wherever you dwell, there is holiness unblemished by material concerns and a call for true reverence and worship. Give me the grace to comprehend what I have in the Blessed Sacrament—that the body of Christ is there in the real presence. Keep me in your care, Lord, with the conviction to keep holy what is holy and worship you in reverence with my whole heart.

From the responsorial psalm: “The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the command of the LORD is clear, enlightening the eye. Lord, 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.

“He was lost and has been found.” | Saturday of the Second Week of Lent

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 15:1-3, 11-32)

The father said to him, “My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours. But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.”

In the Parable of the Prodigal Son, Jesus responds to the Pharisees in a way that is relevant for all of us. As the passage begins, the Pharisees criticize Jesus because of the tax collectors and sinners who are drawn to him and listen to him. In the parable, the son demands his inheritance and then squanders it within days, living loosely and sinfully. After spending all he has, a severe famine strikes and the son finds employment tending swine. Far from home and at last coming to his senses, the son says to himself: “I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.'” While the son is a long way off from his house, the father sees him and runs out to meet him and embraces and kisses him. Then they begin celebrating with a feast. The older son, disturbed by what this might mean, questions his father. The mercy the father shows for both sons is just and proportional. So it is with God: his mercy is inexhaustible and available to all who humbly seek him and repent.

God, this message is meant for all; it is a universal call to repentance, not for the sake of wallowing in weakness but to see and experience the mercy you extend to all. Help me see that this story is meant for all but also your word speaking to me personally. The prodigal son recognizes wrongdoing and the need to return home to the father; the father forgives the son and celebrates his return in the joy of reconciliation. Thank you, Father, for your mercy; in your mercy restore me!

From the responsorial psalm: “He will not always chide, nor does he keep his wrath forever. Not according to our sins does he deal with us, nor does he requite us according to our crimes. The Lord is kind and merciful.”

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.

Friday of the Second Week of Lent

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 21:33-43, 45-46)

Therefore, I say to you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit.” When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they knew that he was speaking about them. And although they were attempting to arrest him, they feared the crowds, for they regarded him as a prophet.

The parable Jesus tells the Pharisees represents the repeated rejection and mistreatment of God’s chosen messengers throughout salvation history. The servants in the parable sent by the landowner represent the prophets who were sent to the people of Israel to reconcile them with God through repentance. Instead of responding positively to their message, though, the tenants respond with violence and disregard for their authority, just as the religious leaders rejected the landowner’s son, Jesus the Messiah. In this parable, Jesus calls us to be receptive to his word and to be faithful disciples in obedience to the Father as his people.

God, help me understand the meaning of this parable as it relates to me in the modern day. Throughout salvation history, you have spoken to your chosen people through the prophets and through your commandments. Jesus is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets. Give me the grace to see the big picture: you sent your messengers first, and they were mistreated. In the fullness of time, you sent Jesus, whom they rejected and killed. Jesus paid the ultimate price for us; what greater love is there? Help me listen out for you in the scriptures and as you speak to me through the events of this day. Let me hear your voice, Lord!

Verse before the Gospel: “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son; so that everyone who believes in him might have eternal 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.

“If someone should rise from the dead.” | Thursday of the Second Week of Lent

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 16:19-31)

And [the rich man] cried out, “Father Abraham, have pity on me. Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am suffering torment in these flames.” Abraham replied, “My child, remember that you received what was good during your lifetime while Lazarus likewise received what was bad; but now he is comforted here, whereas you are tormented.”

In this parable directed to the Pharisees, Jesus paints a stark contrast between the lives of two men: a rich man and a beggar named Lazarus. Lazarus, covered in sores, longs for the scraps discarded by the rich man. But after their deaths, their fates dramatically reverse. The rich man ends up in the netherworld, a place of torment, while Lazarus is carried by angels to the bosom of Abraham and exists in comfort and peace. The rich man, in his torment, sees Lazarus in the distance and calls out to Abraham for mercy, but Abraham explains that a great chasm separates them, making it impossible for Lazarus to help him. Abraham affirms that if the brothers of the rich man do not listen to the teachings already available to them—just as some who witnessed Christ’s resurrection are not persuaded—even a miraculous sign would not convince them. The reversal of fortune that the rich man experiences is a reminder that however great earthly wealth and status become, they count for nothing in one’s eternal destiny.

God, just as Lazarus lay at the door of the rich man unnoticed, opportunities large and small lie at my feet day after day, placed there by you, which I can choose to see or not see. The poverty that Lazarus experienced, though punishing to the body and to spirit, was nothing like the absolute state of destitution that the rich man experienced after death. Lord, give me the grace today—and whenever you present the opportunity to me—to recognize in the moment the need for compassion, justice, and attentiveness to your teachings. Teach me your mercy, Lord!

From the responsorial psalm: “Blessed are they who hope in the Lord. He is like a tree planted near running water, that yields its fruit in due season, and whose leaves never fade. Whatever he does, prospers.”

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.

“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” | Monday of the Second Week in Lent

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 6:36-38)

Jesus said to his disciples: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. 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 the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.”

Jesus calls the disciples—and all of us—to perfect mercy by being merciful just as his Father is merciful. He gives examples of what mercy is: not judging or condemning but rather being forgiving and giving in relationships with others. To be merciful in this way seems an impossible task, yet that is exactly the way of life that Jesus invites us to adopt. When we ourselves, undeserving of mercy, receive it from God, Father of us all, it seems natural that we adopt the Spirit of the Father and do the same when encountering his sons and daughters. The gift he gives us becomes the gift we give away.

God, help me be merciful. I am quick to judge, and draw back from judgment and criticism only when I stop to consider what I am doing. Judgment is a two-edged sword that comes back to me time after time in some form. Instead, Lord, give me the grace to stand up against the dysfunction of judgment and forgive the faults of others or past hurts, not for the sake of self-gain but simply to stop judging. When I struggle to be merciful and forgiving, help me call to mind the words of Jesus and the result of being merciful: “Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give and gifts will be given to you.” Lord, open my eyes today to the opportunity to be merciful.

From the responsorial psalm: “Remember not against us the iniquities of the past; may your compassion quickly come to us, for we are brought very low. Lord, do not deal with us according to our sins.”

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.