A reading from the holy Gospel of Luke 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.”
REFLECTION: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful."
We are asked to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:48)
We are asked to “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful."
We are made in the image of God and we are asked to be perfect and merciful just as God.
God's perfection consists in His being merciful.
In today's gospel we are told that judging, condemning, forgiving and giving will be paid back to us as we have done. When Pope Francis was sixteen, he was on his way to a picnic and thinking about proposing to his girlfriend at the picnic. He came across a church and met a young priest. He went to confession with this priest and there in the confessional had an encounter with God who had been waiting for him. He experienced the powerful mercy of God for him and for all people. He adopted the motto, "miserando atque eligendo" or "having been shown mercy and therefore chosen to show mercy".
In the Mass we cry out for mercy in the Kyrie Eleison (Greek for "Lord, have mercy."). We are begging God for mercy. Every offense against God, our Creator, requires our humble petition for pardon and mercy. Mass is a moment of mercy--the power of confession flows from the Eucharist. Jesus makes the greatest act of love, His life giving death and resurrection. We are standing at the foot of the Cross receiving His mercy.
We, too, are asked to grow in that same quality of mercy. Praying that our priests will have a "Bergoglio encounter" and be filled with pity, compassion and mercy; seeking out the lost, the hurt, and forsaken; to have a true love for the poor. Please pray the Prayer for Priests
God be with you.
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