DAILY PRAYER #1: MARCH 18, Monday, 2nd Week of Lent Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

GOSPEL: 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.”

MEDITATION:

We meditated yesterday on the transfiguration and on the conditions for entering into the eternal joys and glory of heaven. The liturgy helped us understand that we need to conform ourselves to the mystery of the Lord’s passion and cross so as to enter his glory in heaven.

However, an honest and a critical examination of our life- which this holy season invites us to make- shows us that sometimes we live as “enemies of the cross of Christ.” St. Paul deplored this dangerous and self-destructive tendency in yesterday’s second reading. Yes, we have failed and we still fail to embrace our cross and follow Christ. Conforming ourselves to the mystery of the passion and cross of our Lord Jesus Christ in view of the eternal glory of God means loving according to the Commandments, the Beatitudes and the theological virtues of faith, hop, and charity. But sometimes, if not often, we fall short.

Today, we read the candid admission of guilt in the Book of the prophet Daniel and we make it our own. “We have sinned, been wicked and done evil; we have rebelled and departed from your commandments and laws,” A sincere and thorough examination of conscience let us know how much we have failed in living up to our Christian vocation. But we do not stop there. Our goal is not simply to confess our guilt. The important thing is to take the next step, to turn the Lord with sorrow of our sins and go to meet him in the Sacrament of Penance.

Our loving God is not a cruel judge but a merciful Father, as Jesus tells us in today’s Gospel. God is a God of mercy; he is ready to forgive us our sins. In order his forgiveness and mercy, we need to show mercy to others and forgive their offences towards us. Just as we ask the Lord, “do not deal with us according to our sins, “so we are not to deal with others according to theirs sins. Jesus teaches us, “Forgive and you will be forgiven.”

Certainly, it can sometimes be very hard to show mercy to other people and to forgive them, but this is part of the challenging call to carry our cross and follow our Lord. The One whom we follow prayed from the Cross. “Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing” (Lk 23:34). As we contemplate ‘Jesus’ passion, we are strengthened by his witness and the grace he has won for us. We receive the power to love as he loves, for the Father wants to fill our hearts with divine love, “a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing…”

Ultimately, the power to forgive comes from God, not from us. If we choose to do as God does, if we are merciful as he is merciful, if we use his “measure” of mercy rather than our own- then we will find the strength to forgive. Through the merits of Christ’s passion, and by the power of his Spirit, our weak and sinful hearts can be transformed into channels of his divine mercy.

*THANKS FOR READING!

#ANNE :-)