A Willingness To Be Of Help To "A Leper" In Need Of A Compassionate Hand

In today's Gospel, Matthew 8: 1-4, a leper approaches Jesus, does Him homage, and said to him: "'Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.'  He stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, 'I will do it. Be made clean.' His leprosy was cleansed immediately."

Lepers were considered unclean and had to warn people of their approach, so as to avoid contact of this highly contagious disease.  Lepers were social outcasts, separated from their families and all of society.  To push through a crowd and kneel prostrate before Jesus was an extremely courageous act on the leper's part. But there was no way that this man was not going to approach Jesus and ask for mercy: "Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean."  Jesus stretches out his hand, touches him and says: "I will do it. Be made clean."  Jesus risks becoming a leper! And without hesitation, says to the man: "Be made clean."

At every Eucharist, when Catholics receive the Body and Blood, soul and divinity of Jesus, Jesus becomes one with each one of us and says to you and me: "Be made clean." 

To whom, today, have I, have you, stretched out a hand of comfort, of caring, of hope, of faith, and thus restored that person's hope and faith in themselves and in humanity in general? As I reflect upon my past work in the community in which I live, to which persons shunned and ostracized by social prejudice and discrimination have I reached out?   To whom in my own family have I stretched out my hands to help in particular struggles, be those emotional, psychological, financial, marital  problems that have caused them to be ostracized by family members? Is there someone in my life who has said, or is now saying, to me: "If you wish, you could help me!" Am I listening? Am I hearing? Am I responding?'

The Infinite Mercy of God

In today's first reading, Micah 7:L 14-15, 18-20, Micah stands in awe of our God, asking: "who is there like you, the God who removes guilt and pardons sin for the remnant of his inheritance, who does not persist in anger forever, but delights in clemency, and will again have compassion on us, treading underfoot our guilt?"

The mercy of our God is brought home to us again in today's Gospel, Luke 15: 1-3, 11-32, in the story of the Prodigal Son.  That parable features a father whose son squandered his inheritance on a promiscuous lifestyle and faced starvation when a famine struck the land.  So "he hired himself out to one of the local citizens who sent him to his farm to tend the swine. ...[H]e longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed, but nobody gave him any. Coming to his senses he thought, 'How many of my father's hired workers have more than enough food to eat, but here I am dying from hunger.'"  Desperate, he returns to  his father's house and is determined to say to his father: "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as your would one of your hired workers."  His father sees him coming from afar and excitedly asks his servants to prepare a banquet for his son, to clothe him in the best of clothing, to put a ring on  his finger and slaughter a fattened calf. He welcomes him back with open arms and celebrates to the chagrin of his older son, who is furious at his father for showing mercy to his brother. When his father asks him to come in and join the celebration, he angrily says to his father: ""Look, all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your orders; yet you never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends. But when you son returns who swallowed up your property with prostitutes, for him you slaughter the fattened calf.'" 

How many of us are into rigid obedience to laws and use the law to condemn our brothers and sisters? The law does not save us; it gives us what we think is our right to judge others.  Jesus teaches otherwise. When a disciple asked Jesus what more he needed to do to enter heaven, Jesus answers him with the story of the Good Samaritan and says to him: "Go and do likewise. It is mercy that I want of you."

Faith Demonstrated by the Centurion

In today's Gospel, Luke 7: 1-10, we learn of the centurion whose slave is at the point of death. The centurion sends Jewish elders to Jesus, asking that he come to heal his slave whom he valued highly.  The elders beg Jesus to respond to the centurion's request because he "deserves to have you do this for him, because he loves our nation and he built a synagogue for us."  As Jesus is approaching the centurion's house, the centurion says to him,  "Lord, do  not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof. Therefore, I do not consider myself worthy to come to you; but say the word and let my servant be healed. For I, too, am a person subject to authority, with soldiers subject to me. And I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to another 'Come here,' and he comes; and to my slave, 'Do this,' and he does it."

Jesus is absolutely amazed by this man from Rome and heals his slave.  He's never met such a person in all of Israel with the faith of this centurion.  Would Jesus say this of you, of me?  Have you, have I developed the kind of character this centurion has developed?   

God's Delight in His Children's Return to Him

Today's Gospel, Luke 15: 1-3, 11-32, presents the story of the prodigal son, who, after his father "divided the property between [his two sons],...collected all his belongings and set off for a distant country where he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation..... A severe famine struck the country, and he found himself in dire need. So he hired himself out to one of the local citizens who sent him to his farm to tend the swine. And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed, but nobody gave him any. Coming to his senses he thought, 'How many of my father's hired workers have more than enough food to eat, but here am I, dying from hunger. I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you."

We know the rest of the story:  The father sees his son returning and is absolutely elated. He embraces him, kisses him and orders that a feast be prepared to celebrate his son's return. Royal clothing and a ring is put on his finger.  Meanwhile his older brother returns from the fields, hears the music and inquires what is going on. He is indignant and refuses to join the celebration. His father pleads with him and tries to figure out why he is so angry when, all the while, everything the father possesses has been his all along.

All of us can relate to this story in some fashion. We may be the prodigal son/daughter or the one who has been faithful all along but resent a family member who squanders everything and when returning to the family is welcomed back as though nothing happened.  We may say: "No way will I have anything to do with him/her" or, to one's parents or siblings,  "How can you have anything to do with him/her when he/she treated you and us so badly."

Lord, open our eyes and hearts to those who have gone astray, who have caused us, or anyone else, intense suffering, alienating him/herself from others by their sinful behaviors. May we be willing to welcome back those who turned from evil and embrace the good. Let us celebrate their return to grace. Let us not stand in judgment over them but, like the father of the prodigal son, rejoice in their return to You. And, Lord, thank you for treated each of us as the father in this parable treated his wayward son.  Thank you, Lord, for you compassion, love and mercy and for waiting for us to return. Thank you, also, for searching for us when we squander your goodness to us in a life of selfishness and sin. I offer this prayer in Jesus' name! Amen.

The Lord: Our Allotted Portion and Our Cup

In tomorrow's Entrance Antiphon, we pray: "O Lord, my allotted portion and my cup, you it is who hold fast my lot.  For me the measuring lines have fallen on pleasant sites; fair to me indeed is my inheritance."

That inheritance is not something you and I deserve. The inheritance of life forever with God in heaven is an inheritance for which an immense ransom was paid: the human birth, life, sufferings, death and resurrection of Jesus from the dead.  The Incarnate God poured out his blood, became the sacrificial lamb, for you and me! The "Lord [is our] allotted portion and [our] cup" at the price of Jesus' life and death on the cross.   It is a free gift of God's unconditional love for you and me!

Like Jesus, you and I pass "from death to life" in loving our brothers and sisters (compare tomorrow's first reading, 1 John 3: 11-21).  John reminds us that "[w]hoever does not love remains in death. Everyone who hates his brother [or sister] is a murderer and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him [her]. The way we came to know love was that he [Jesus] laid down his life for us; so we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers [sisters]. If someone who has worldly means sees a brother [sister] in need and refuses him [her] compassion, how can the love of God remain in him [her]? Children," John says to us, "let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth."

John puts it on the line for us! And God Himself has written this law of love on everyone's heart. We have no excuses for walking by someone in need and not helping if we have the means to help, whether that be financial means, material means or spiritual/psychological means to make a difference in that person's life by acts of love, by caring, by acting compassionately.

How do you and I measure up to what God is asking of us?

God's Compassion and Ready Response to Human Need

In today's Gospel, Matthew 15: 29-37, Jesus "went up the mountain, and sat down there. Great crowds came to him,  having with them the lame, the blind, the deformed, the mute, and many others.  They placed them at his feet, and he cured them...." 

Every time we take time for prayer, for participating in the Eucharist, we, too, ascend the mountain of the Lord.  Whenever we "go up that mountain," let us take with us and lay down at Jesus' feet the lameness, the deformities, the blindness and deafness, and any other "diseased" parts of ourselves, of our world, of other people that need healing. Jesus will heal all in need of healing, if we acknowledge our brokenness and the "dis-eases" that cause divisions in our families, our nation, our world and within ourselves.

We are told in the Gospel that when Jesus looked out at the crowd that had  gathered before Him and simply stayed with him he said: "My heart is moved with pity for the crowd,  for they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat (think of Jesus in the tomb for three days following his death and then coming back to life)."  He would not not dismiss the crowd without giving them something to sustain them on their journeys back home. The disciples ask Jesus how they could possibly feed so many. Jesus asks: "'How many loaves do you have? "Seven,' they replied, 'and a few fish.'" And we know the rest of the story. Jesus took the loaves and the fishes, "gave thanks, break the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn game them to the crowds. They all ate and were satisfied. They picked up the fragments left over--seven baskets full."

Scripturally, seven represents an abundance. It also reminds us of the seven sacraments whereby God's abundant blessings flow into our lives, sustaining us and making us whole, as God, now, as then, "is moved with pity" for us and does not want us to collapse on our way to the Kingdom!  He wants us to arrive safely!  He wants us to be well fed for the journey!

Obviously, this is not just about Jesus reaching out to human needs, it is also a call to us to go and do likewise!

Being a Person of Compassion,Love and Concern for Others in Need

Today's Gospel, Luke 10: 25-37, presents the story of the Good Samaritan.  We may think of the Good Samaritan as Jesus and the wounded person as ourselves. By being caught in Satan's web of constant lies and being slaves of sin--selfishness, greediness, lustfulness, deceitfulness, pride, hatred, racism, judgementalism and other sinful behaviors--we lie in the ditches of life half dead, bleeding, beaten down, wounded, weakened and in need of healing. Jesus, the Compassionate One, the second person of the Blessed Trinity, sent not condemn the world but to save it, is not going to walk by us, ignore us, or be too busy or too holy for us.  No! Jesus stops, binds up our wounds and cares for us so that we may be made whole again, provided that we co-operate with His efforts.  Are we willing to change our behaviors, our attitudes and walk the Way God points out to us through Jesus Christ in the Holy Gospels?

We may also read this Gospel story and see ourselves as the Levite, the priest or the Samaritan.  The Levite and the priest past the wounded man, the person in need--in fact they cross the road and walk on the other side--not wanting to become unclean, according to Jewish law, and not be able to perform their religious duties!  Do we find excuses to not help our neighbors in need? Or are we, in fact, the good Samaritan who renders assistant to the wounded in our midst: in our homes, our streets, our churches, our places of employment?

God's Justice

Today's liturgy opens with the following antiphon:  Give me justice, O God, and plead my cause against a nation that is faithless. From the deceitful and cunning rescue me, for you, O God, are my strength (cf. Ps 43 (42): 1-2).  In light of those who have recently been stripped of their jobs , I paraphrase this antiphon as follows:  "Give them justice, O God, and plead their causes against faithless leaders. From the deceitful and cunning rescue them, for you, O God, are their strength."

In today's responsorial psalm, we pray to God as follows:  "Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness; in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.  Thoroughly wash me from my guilt and of my sins cleanse me. A clean heart create for me, O God, and a steadfast spirit renew within me. Cast me not out from your presence, and your Holy Spirit take not from me. Give me back the joy of your salvation, and a willing spirit sustain in me...."

May God have mercy on those unjustly firing their employees. May God have mercy on the "deceitful and cunning" and "in the greatness of [His] compassion wipe out [the offenses of those doing the unjust firing]."  It is more difficult to apply the rest of the psalm to the persons who dominate our news today, yet we know that Jesus forgave the good thief on Calvary when he turned to Him and asked to be remembered. "Remember me, Jesus, when You get to Your kingdom" and Jesus responded: "This very day you shall be with me in my Kingdom."  Jesus does not rejoice in even one sinner, you or me or anyone else, being lost. All sin was destroyed on the cross and all sinners saved. I pray for this salvation and for God's saving graces to transform the evil we are seeing in our own lives and in the world of today!  God, have mercy on  us all!

The Call to Be Merciful, not Sacrificial

In today's Gospel, Matthew 12: 1-8, the Pharisees confront Jesus about his disciples picking grain and eating it on the sabbath.  Your "disciples are doing what is unlawful to do on sabbath," they complain.   Jesus tells them that he "desires mercy, not sacrifice" of his followers.  Yes, the disciples could have sacrificed themselves and not satisfied their hunger, but that is not what God was asking of them in Christ Jesus.  At other times, throughout His earthly  ministry, Jesus performs acts of mercy toward the sick and, then, too, the Pharisees rebuked Him.

In our spiritual or religious formation, many of us had it drummed into us that sacrifice is very important--in fact, I believe that I was led to perceiving sacrifice as far more important than mercy. "Mortify yourselves," we have been told.  "Make sacrifices for Jesus," was an oft repeated refrain. How often did we hear: "Be merciful," toward others. "Be understanding!"  "Be compassionate." And, as importantly: "Judge not!"

As I was bearing down upon myself for not spending more time in prayer, putting off meditation as I chose to relax in other ways and pray later, a friend said to me: "Dorothy, be gentle with yourself."  In other words: "Dorothy, God desires mercy, not sacrifice."  If I am harsh with myself, forever demanding more and more and more of myself, how am I am to be understanding, compassionate, merciful toward others?  How about you?

Active Faith and Jesus' Response

In today’s Gospel, Mark 5: 21-43, a woman who has been ill for 12 years,  exhausted her savings and experienced painful treatments to no avail, approaches Jesus quietly, hoping to simply touch the hem of His garment, knowing in faith, that she will be healed. And she is!  Jesus turns around and asks: Who touched me?  The disciples think he’s crazy to ask such a question when they were surrounded by a crowd of people so “thick” it was impossible not to rub against one another. Yet, Jesus knew that healing  power had flowed out of Him.  The woman who was healed and who would have been considered unclean because of her condition comes forward and acknowledges that she is the one who touched Him.  In love and compassion, Jesus commends her for her faith, saying to her: “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affliction.”

Jesus waits, also, for you and I to approach Him in faith, unafraid to come forward. Jesus will not shame us, as others might do for being “unclean,” for being considered unworthy by some, by being ostracized and excluded by many. We may have even been treated badly, such as being told to “get outta here. You don’t belong here.”  This woman knew that she was considered unclean and that anyone who touched her would also be labeled unclean and would need to submit to the legal ramifications of ignoring the Mosaic laws that applied to such individuals. Yet she approached Jesus!

To Jesus, what mattered were love, compassion, understanding and mercy. God is a loving God, a compassionate God, a kind God, a God of understanding and mercy.  Legalism was not part of Jesus’ vocabulary or behaviors. Over and over again, Jesus challenged people of His day who adhered rigidly  to ritual and laws at the expense of responding lovingly to human need. He does so today, also.

How do you and I relate to others? Are we slaves to rigid boundaries? Are we legalistic, denying others the compassion, the mercy, the love of God that dwells within us? Or do we, like Jesus, rise above legalism and challenge the rigid application of set rules/structures, playing it safe to look good in the eyes of authority outside of ourselves?

The Baptism and Mission of Jesus and Ours

Today we celebrate the baptism of our Lord. Jesus arrives at the place where John is baptizing, as told to us in today’s Gospel, Matthew 3: 13-17.  He approaches John and asks for baptism.  John resists, saying to Jesus: I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me?”  Jesus says to him: “Allow it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”  So John allows the baptism. As Jesus exits the Jordan, “the heavens were opened for him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending, like a dove and coming upon him. And a voice came from the heavens, saying, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
 

The first reading of today’s liturgy, Isaiah 42: 1-4, 6-7,  presents the prophesy concerning Jesus’ mission. God says to us through the prophet Isaiah that Jesus is God’s “servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am pleased, upon whom I have put my spirit; he shall bring forth justice to the nations, …A bruised reed he shall not break, and a smoldering wick he shall not quench, until he establishes justice on the earth; the coastlands will wait for his teaching….”  Jesus, Isaiah tells us,  is “a covenant of the people, a light for the nations.” He is “to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.”

That prophesy holds  true in 2017 as it did 2,017 years ago.  To this very day, Jesus continues the work for which He was sent until “justice” has been brought forth to the nations,” until “the blind” see, until “prisoners” of Satan’s snares are set free, and until “those who live in darkness” are brought into, and live by, the Light!

As disciples of Jesus, you and I are either among those who, with Jesus set prisoners free, radiate the light of justice, truth, humility, love, reconciliation, and forgiveness, thus being a light in the darkness of our world; or we are among those needing to be set free and brought into the light of living justly, humbly, lovingly, mercifully, and compassionately. As human beings, we can easily vacillate between being true to our baptismal vows or violating them to a lesser or greater degree, repenting and coming back into good graces!

What will I choose today?

Compassion and Forgiveness: God's Saving Gifts

In today’s first reading, Ephesians 4: 32-5:8, Paul states clearly what the Lord asks of us, namely, to be compassionate and forgiving of others as God is of us.  We are asked to imitate Jesus, who gave his life for us. For whom am I giving my life today? Whom will I uplift today through my acts of love and forgiveness? Will I be a source of strength, hope and love for others today or will I burden others today by attitudes of selfishness, stinginess and disdain or  by deceitful ways and speech, through gossip and the like?  Paul goes on to say: “Immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be mentioned among you, as is fitting among holy ones, no obscenity or silly or suggestive talk, which is out of place, but instead, thanksgiving.”  Just in case we do not get it, he says furthermore: “No immoral or impure or greedy person, that is, an idolater, has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God.”

My thoughts immediately went to what we witness during the campaigns for presidency of the U.S.  But that, in itself, draws Paul’s rebuke, as am  I not  engaging in silly talk about our politicians. Am I not then being divisive, looking at a “them versus us” categorization?   Is such talk not dragging others down to the level to which I lowered myself? Today’s Scripture opens with the invitation to be “kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God  has forgiven you in Christ.”  My thoughts then would be: “Lord, forgive me my trespasses as I forgive others theirs.”  I would, like the republican in Sunday’s Gospel, be saying to the Lord: “O God, be merciful to me, a sinner” (Luke 18: 14). 

May you and I heed Paul’s admonitions and follow the way that truly leads us to the “inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God,” that Jesus won for us by His death on the cross for our salvation and salvation of the entire world, including the politicians of today and forever!

God's Compassion and Mercy

In today’s first reading, Micah 7: 14-15, 18-20, the prophet Micah prays to God as follows: 

Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance.…, as in the days when you came from the land of Egypt, show us wonderful signs. Who is there like you, the God who removes guilt and pardons sin for the remnant of his inheritance; who does not persist in anger forever, but delights rather in clemency, and will again have compassion on us, treading underfoot our guilt? You will cast into the depths of the sea all our sins; You will show faithfulness to Jacob,[Leah and Rachel], and grace to Abraham[and Sarah], as you have sworn to our fathers/[mothers] from days of old.

That message is given to us today as well as to the people of old.  We are “the flock” of God’s “inheritance.”  The land of Egypt symbolizes the places and times when we, like the Israelites, were/are victims of, or perpetrators of, sin:   selfishness, abuse of power and control, the sins of oppression and injustice, the exploitation of the poor and oppressed, persons engaging in deceitful behaviors and so on.  In today’s world slavery abounds, as it did in Egypt when God rescued His people. Today’s slavery includes  slave labor, making children and women slaves of the sex industry, of  drug trafficking, of those abusing their power, and so on.

Micah reminds us that when we lower ourselves to evil schemes and sin against others and against ourselves,  God “will again have compassion on us, treading underfoot our guilt.”  God does not condone our sinful behaviors but He does pardon us, has compassion on us, and, yes, “cast into the depths of the sea all of sins.”  This does not mean that we will not suffer the consequences of our sinful, selfish actions whereby the rights of others are trampled upon.  It does mean that, when we turn to God in repentance, God is merciful and forgiving!

With the psalmist in today’s responsorial psalm, Psalm 85,  we pray: “Restore us, O God our savior, and abandon your displeasure against us….Show us, O Lord, your kindness, and grant us your salvation.”

Glorious Triumph of our Savior

In the Entrance Antiphon for today’s liturgy of Thursday of the Third Week of Easter, we pray: “Let us sing to the Lord, for he has gloriously triumphed.”  In the Collect, we ask the Lord to “let us feel…[His] compassion more readily during these days when, by…[His] gift, we have known…[God’s compassion toward us] more fully, so that those…[the Lord has]  freed from the darkness of error may cling more firmly to the teachings of [His] truth.”

How aware am I that God the Son, Jesus, has “gloriously triumphed” in my life and will continue to triumph in my daily life, alerting me to the good I am invited to do, opening my eyes to His Love at work in my life and in the life of others around me as well as lifting me up from hopelessness, fear, apathy, discouragement, sin itself, deceitful patterns and so on, over and over and over again?  Am I aware that I have truly been “freed from the darkness or error” in my past and that God will do so in my future? Believing in Christ Jesus and humbly acknowledging my weaknesses and sinfulness, repenting of my sins in the sacrament of confession and in communication with those against whom I have sinned puts me on the path to eternal life! What a gift and what a challenge in living this truth day by day, clinging “more firmly to the teaching of [His] truth” every day!

Be Merciful and Compassionate; Put on Love

In yesterday's first reading, Col 3: 1-11 Paul outlines a life that is contrary to God's will; namely, that in our "nature [which] is rooted in earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desires, and that lust [for power over others achieved by deceitful and coercive means, wealth that is hoarded at the expense of the poor, material things accumulated as God substitutes, and so on],which is idolatry."  In today's first reading, Col 3: 12-17, we are given "the recipe," if you will, of synchronizing our will with the will of our Father/Mother God, our  Creator:  "Because you are God's holy ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with heartfelt mercy, with kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another; forgive whatever grievances you have against one another. Forgive as the Lord as forgiven you. Over all these virtues put on love, which binds the rest together and makes them perfect."

We have examples of persons who clothed themselves in the virtues Paul mentions: Nelson Mandela,  who forgave his enemies, lived a life of kindness toward those who had him imprisoned for 26 years for working for the equality of all peoples;  a woman who pinned a prayer on the lifeless body of a child killed by terrorists that read: "Remember, Lord, those of good will and those of evil will. Do not hold the evil against those who did this but may all of the fruits born of this evil deed  be their forgiveness"; Mother Frances, the Foundress of my religious community, who forgave those who, in her absence, deposed her from the office of Superior General, replacing her with another person; and, above all, Jesus on the cross, who said to His Father: Father, forgive  them for they do not know what they are doing.

In  what ways am I, are you, taking seriously Paul's message?

Disciples of Jesus: Persons of Reconciliation

St. Paul, in 2 Cor 5:19, reminds us that God was and is reconciling the world to himself in Christ Jesus and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.  As quoted in today’s Gospel, Mt 12: 14-21, the Prophet Isaiah prophesies Jesus’ way of reconciliation:  “A bruised reed he will not break, a smoldering wick he will not quench until he brings justice to victory. And in his name the Gentiles will hope.”

The first reading of today’s liturgy speaks about the 430 years that the Israelites were slaves of the Egyptians and how God freed them, brought them to the promised land.  We, too, will encounter suffering in our lives, as did the Israelites, as did Jesus.  With the Lord, we will walk the road to Calvary, be scourged by burning, scorching words,  by injustices and heartbreaks. We will be “nailed” to crosses of pain and suffering from which there is no escape except death. We will be crowned with the thorns of verbal and emotional abuse (many times coming from the way in which our self-messages lack compassion). The very pain we suffer with, in and through Jesus will lead to resurrection, to being reconciled with ourselves and others. When we peer into our pain and suffering, look for lessons we need to learn, only then will “a bruised reed... not break, a smoldering wick... not [be] quench[ed]." In seeking wisdom from what we suffer, we are enabled to bring "justice to victory". We then open the way to experiencing the resurrection, that is, newness of life, new hope and new ways of loving self and others.

Honesty with the Lord

The Gospel for today, Luke 6: 36-38, opens with the challenge to “[b]e merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful.”  The image comes to me of Mary of Magdala washing the feet of Jesus and Simon, the Pharisee, thinking to himself: “If this man were a prophet, he would know who this woman is that is touching him and what a bad name she has.”  Jesus immediately confronts Simon and says to him, among other things, “…I tell you that her sins, her many sins, must have been forgiven her, or she would not have shown such great love.”  The situation in which we find ourselves is no different from the woman who washed Jesus’ feet, as acknowledged in the first reading of today’s Mass, Daniel 9: 4b-10.  Daniel says to the Lord: “ Lord,….we have sinned, been wicked and done evil; we have rebelled and departed from your commandments and your laws.” Yes, each of us has transgressed against the Lord. We have done so individually as well as collectively, as we are one Body in Christ, brothers and sisters in the Lord. The sin of one is the sin of many and the repentance of one is also the repentance of many.  In Christ Jesus we are all one.  We rise with one another in God’s mercy and grace and we fall with one another in dis-grace. And thus Daniel says so rightly: “O Lord, we are shamefaced, like our kings, our princes, and our fathers [and mothers], for having sinned against you…[W]e [have] rebelled against you and paid no heed to your command, O Lord, our God, to live by the law you gave us through your servants the prophets.” And, so we pray in today’s responsorial psalm: “Lord, do not deal with us according to our sins”   and help us to be merciful toward one another as you are merciful toward us,.

The "Jonahs" and "Ninevehs" of Today's World

In today’s first reading, Jonah 3: 1-10, Jonah reluctantly goes through Nineveh prophesying that in forty days Nineveh will be destroyed unless they repent of their wrongdoing, stop doing the violence they intended to do, cease doing evil and return to the Lord.  As far as Jonah is concerned these are a hardened people bent on evil, wicked to the core and not deserving of God’s mercy.  In fact when they do repent, put on sackcloth and enter into a severe fast—partaking of neither food nor water—and calling loudly upon the Lord for mercy, God relents of the punishment he was going to inflict upon them. Nineveh is not destroyed and, as we know, Jonah vents his  anger at God for being compassionate.  How could He be merciful and kind to such a wicked lot, Jonah must have reasoned.

As we look upon our world this day, we may be today’s “Jonahs,”  saying to ourselves: “How, Lord, can you show mercy to Isis, Al-Quaeda,  Putin, Assad,  those who are engaged in human trafficking, drug trafficking, human slavery of any kind, and/or all forms of violence. How, Lord? Warn them? Why, Lord? They are a wicked people bent on evil.”  We may be thinking that they deserve to be destroyed for all eternity.    God, however, does not give up on no one, not even you and I in our sinful way of thinking. Every human being is a child of God, created to further the Kingdom of God here on earth, sent here to accomplish a good, to carry out, in His name, a specific mission entrusted to no one else. Each of us is precious in God’s eyes, a son or a daughter made in God’s image and likeness.  In agony, Jesus intercedes for each of His Father’s children and asks us to do the same, to never give up. It may be those last moments of life that “the thieves” of this world become the “good thieves” and beg for God’s mercy,  as they “hang” on the cross of their death and turn to God because of the power of your  intercessory prayer.  May it be so! May it be so, is my prayer!  What is yours?

                                                                                                                                                                                            

The Compassion of our God

“I turn to you, Lord, in time of trouble, and you fill me with the joy of salvation.”  In today’s first reading, Lev 13: 1-2, 44-46, and the Gospel, Mark 1:40-45, we are told the story of the fate of a leper. In the Old Testament as in the New, a leper was considered unclean and had to declare him/herself so.  That did not necessarily mean that the leprosy left that person, however. In the Gospel, Jesus reveals to us God’s compassion. When the leper approached Jesus and said “If you wish you can make me clean,” Jesus, “Moved with pity, …stretched out his hand, touched him, and said to him, ‘I do will it. Be made clean.”

Jesus wills that you and I be made clean, purified from all of that which ostracizes us from becoming one heart and one mind with others in the search for Truth, in efforts to assist the poor and oppressed, in our desire for wholeness and in whatever we do to make the world as better place.  When, like the leper, we approach Jesus and ask to be made clean, to be purified, to be reconciled with our deepest self (our God-self, the Spirit of God within us), to be cleansed of sin and its effects, Jesus says to us: “I do will it. Be made clean.” May we have that confidence in approaching the Sacrament of Reconciliation where the Lord awaits to make us whole.