Be merciful, just as also your Father is merciful


REFLECTIONS TODAY

Gird your loins

Sometimes we might think that the perfection God is asking from us is to do things flawlessly and with precision. We struggle to be the super responsible parent, exemplar employee, devout parish worker, and the like. But Jesus makes it plain that the perfection God wants from us is way beyond our version of it. He stretches our human capacity to its limits and asks us to love our enemies, which literally means, to “do good to those who hate” us, “bless those who curse” us, and “pray for those who mistreat” us (vv 27-28).

Indeed, he seems to be asking too much. But he gives the reason too: we have to “expand our identity” and remember that we are “children of the Most High,” who is “kind to the ungrateful and the wicked” (v 35). The secret in achieving this kind of perfection in our interpersonal relationships with the “difficult others” is to remember that many times in our imperfection, we too have received mercy and forgiveness from our heavenly Father and from the significant others. We who are deserving of judgment and condemnation have been set free from punishment. We have received overflowing graces, beyond our imagining. 

Let us ask the intercession of Mary, whose Holy Name we celebrate today, to guide and assist us in our desire to be “merciful, just as also your Father is merciful” (v 36).

First Reading • 1 Cor 8:1b-7, 11-13 

Brothers and sisters: Knowledge inflates with pride, but love builds up. If anyone supposes he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if one loves God, one is known by him. 

 So about the eating of meat sacrificed to idols: we know that there is no idol in the world, and that there is no God but one. Indeed, even though there are so-called gods in heaven and on earth (there are, to be sure, many ‘gods’ and many ‘lords’), yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom all things are and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things are and through whom we exist. But not all have this knowledge. There are some who have been so used to idolatry up until now that, when they eat meat sacrificed to idols, their conscience, which is weak, is defiled. 

Thus, through your knowledge, the weak person is brought to destruction, the brother for whom Christ died. When you sin in this way against your brothers and wound their consciences, weak as they are, you are sinning against Christ. Therefore, if food causes my brother to sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I may not cause my brother to sin.

Gospel • Luke 6:27-38 

Jesus said to his disciples: “To you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other one as well, and from the person who takes your cloak, do not withhold even your tunic. 

Give to everyone who asks of you, and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do the same. If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? 

Even sinners lend to sinners, and get back the same amount. But rather, love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back; then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as also 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.”

Source: “366 Days with the Lord 2024,” St. Paul’s, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; E-mail: publishing@stpauls.ph; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.