The final point of Pope Francis' reflection on the practical steps to show mercy towards others is forgiveness. "Forgive and you will be forgiven." (Luke 6:37) God shows us his mercy through the forgiveness of all our sins, even the ones we are most ashamed of. At the same time, he expects and even commands us to do the same. Jesus goes so far as to say when we go to worship and recall that we harbor non forgiveness towards another, we must first go and be reconciled. Then when we offer our gift to the Lord, he will receive it. The implication is that our gift is meaningless to the Lord if it does not flow from a contrite and forgiving heart.
Jesus goes on to say that if we refuse to forgive another, then we are telling God not to forgive us. In fact, we say that directly every time we pray the Our Father. "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." We are open to receive God's tender mercy to the extend we are merciful to others through forgiveness.
In a reflection on the need to be merciful, Pope Francis drew from the Gospel three practical steps to help us how to be merciful in our daily life. Yesterday, we reflected on the question of judging others. Today, we look at Luke 6:37 where Jesus says: "do not condemn and your will not be condemned." How do we do this? When we find fault with others, we not only judge them, but we also condemn them. St. Paul says in Romans 2:1: "For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things." In another place in Matthew's Gospel we hear: "the measure you use will be measured back to you."
For many of us, this habit of condemnation has been part of our mode of operation since early on in our life. How enraged are we at the sins of others but at the same time dismiss our sins? How often do we in failing to forgive another from our heart, we condemn them by holding them in bondage? How often do we dismiss another person as hopeless because of the way they are living?
What can I do to change this habit? St. Paul says that we need to take captive our thoughts. We can't prevent thoughts from entering in, but we can prevent them from leading us to judgment and condemnation of another. Since I don't want to be condemned by God, I need to make every effort to refrain from condemning others.
Fourth Sunday Ordinary Gospel A
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him.
· Matthew lists nine “beatitudes”; Luke only includes four.
He began to teach them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
· Luke says: "Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours” What is the difference between the two statements? The “poor in spirit” includes anyone who totally depend upon the Lord for their sustenance, whether they have or do not have. Luke seems to focus on the materially disposed.
Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted.
· Luke states: “Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh.” What is the difference between the two statements?
· The mourning Matthew is referring to is not physical sadness but sadness over the effects of sin in one’s life and in the world. They are blessed because such mourning leads to repentance and return to the Lord.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land.
· Jesus said that he was meek and humble of heart and that we are to learn to imitate him. Meekness is not weakness but an attitude of humility instead of pride or self-righteousness. Meekness sees oneself as one is before God.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.
· Luke states: “Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied.” Luke talks about a physical hunger, while Matthew, a spiritual hunger for God’s will. “Righteousness” is another word for the will of God.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
· Another way of saying this is—the measure by which you measure to others will be the measure that will be used by which you will be measured or treated.
· If we wish God to be merciful to us, then we need to be merciful to others.
Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.
· Another way of saying this is “pure of heart” or “single hearted.” To be clean of heart is have God as one’s focus and to choose to remain at one with God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
· These are the ones who seek to reconcile people, who seek unity rather than division among people. It is not peace at all cost. But it is the willingness to pay the cost of lasting peace, which includes forgives and healing.
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
· We can be persecuted for a variety of reasons. Here the reason for the blessedness is that the person is persecuted because they are following the will of God.
Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me.
· Luke states: “Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man.”
· The reason for the persecution in both statements is their relationship with and commitment to Jesus.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.”
· Make personal each beatitude and see how many reflect your life.
· What response do you want to make as a result of your reflections?
Jesus said that we are to be merciful as the Father is merciful. This virtue of mercy and compassion is essential to the Christian's journey. In a reflection on the need to be merciful, Pope Francis drew from the Gospel three practical steps to help us how to be merciful in our daily life.
In Luke 6:37 Jesus said: "Judge not, and you will not be judged." How often do we find ourselves slipping into the bad habit of judging others in a negative way? I call it a habit because we fall into it often, almost without realizing it. The Holy Father says: "If I want to be merciful like the Father, as Jesus tells me, I must think: how many times a day do I judge?"
Many times we judge from outward appearance without knowing the heart of the person being judged. We draw a conclusion without knowing the real facts that a person may be dealing with. Even if we knew the truth about the person, who am I to judge him? God knows the truth about us, our inner thoughts, do we wish him to judge and condemn us on the spot every time?
It will take the grace of God and our cooperation to begin to change the habit of judging to the habit of mercy and compassion. But when we do, we will be a better person, even to ourselves.
How compassionate are we? The word "compassion" means to "suffer with" someone, in the sense of coming to the person's aid. Jesus showed compassion frequently in his ministry. Take the example of Jesus raising the only son of a widow to life from the dead.
Here are the words of Pope Francis, reflecting on this passage in Luke's Gospel (Luke 7:11-17). It is compassion "that makes Jesus see the ultimate reality of that moment. There was a great crowd following Jesus; there were the disciples; there was the funeral procession; there were the mother and the dead man....Jesus saw the reality and the reality was that woman, stripped of everything because she had lost her only son and she had been left a widow.
"Compassion reveals reality as it is. Compassion is like the lens of the heart: it makes us truly understand the magnitude of a situation....Our God is a God of compassion and we can say that compassion is God's weakness but also his strength. It was indeed his compassion that led him to send his Son to us. Compassion is not a simple feeling of pity. It is involving oneself in the problems of others out of love."
How compassionate are we? Is love the reason for our compassion?
Homily:
Third Sunday Ordinary Time Year A
Reading
1: The Church continues its reflection on Isaiah with a familiar theme we have
seen during the Christmas season. There is darkness in the world and a light
shines forth to dispel the darkness. The darkness is sin and the light is the
person of Christ. Darkness is the absence of light. It is hard to see in total
darkness, but with light we have some visibility.
The
land of Zebulum and Neptalie were in gloom and distress because of the law of
sin, which existed in the lives of the people. But when the light comes, which
is the forgiveness of Christ—grace--, anguish gives way and distressed is
lifted. Joy returns for the yoke of sin has been destroyed by the death and
resurrection of Jesus.
How
aware are we of the prevailing darkness as a result of sin. Life is not is
sacred. But in today’s world it is treated less than sarcred. Abortion,
murders, violence, bombings, lawlessness happen regularly. Darkness engenders
fear and insecurity and revenge and retaliation. Only forgiveness and hope,
love and trust in the Lord brings light into our heart and lives.
Gospel:
Matthew ties us to the first reading indicating that Jesus is the light prophesied
by Isaiah in his Galilean ministry. To respond to Jesus is first to repent of
sin, recognizing that the life Jesus gives us will enable us to live now and
forever in the kingdom of God, if we remain in the light and not live in
darkness.
The
second step is to follow him, to make and live a daily decision to follow him,
to be discipled by him, to stay in the light. We have been baptized in Christ.
Are we now children of the light or have we returned to darkness of sin and
remained there? In that state we cannot freely follow Jesus.
We
can become overwhelmed by the social darkness all around us that seeks to
extinguish the light of the truth revealed by Jesus. That darkness is like a
fog, slowly creeping in and enveloping us in it, unless we choose to stay in
the light, which is Jesus.
Are
we more moral or as moral or less moral as a nation today in comparison to
fifty years ago? Sexual darkness is in our face twenty-four seven. Twenty years
ago the media industry leaders made a public commitment to change the morals of
this country and they are succeeding unfortunately.
The
good news is that Jesus has defeated the power of darkness and his light will
not be extinguished. We are called to choose each day to live in the light of Christ,
so that the darkness cannot permanently overtake us.
Reading
2: Paul identifies one of the effects of the darkness of sin in the life of the
Corinthian community. Though they had received the light of the message of the
Gospel through Paul’s preaching and ministry, they allowed darkness to come
back—the darkness that comes from division and separation, of pride and
self-importance.
Paul reminds them
that they were baptized by and in Jesus, not by the human instrument used by
Jesus. Jesus is the one who set them free and united them to himself and to the
community of believers. By their division and disunity they were not living in
full relationship with Jesus, whose prayer is for unity among his followers
Third Sunday Ordinary Gospel A
When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee.
· Jesus had gone down to the Jordan in Judea where John was baptizing. Now, he returns to Galilee to begin his own ministry. It was safer for Jesus to minister in Galilee rather than Judea.
· John’s official ministry ends and Jesus’ begins. John had already realized this when he said: “I must decrease and he must increase.”
He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali, that what had been said through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled: Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death light has arisen.
· One of the characteristics of Matthew’s Gospel is to show that Jesus fulfills the prophetic word of the Old Testament.
· Zebulun was the 10th son of Jacob and Naphtali was the 6th son. The area of Galilee was the portion of the Promised Land given to these two tribes.
· Isaiah was prophesying about the coming of the future Messiah as a light to a land of darkness.
From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
· John the Baptist proclaims a message of repentance in anticipation of the immediate coming of the Messiah. Jesus preaches a message of repentance in order to enter into the Kingdom of heaven.
As he was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen.
· In Matthew’s Gospel this is the first encounter between Jesus and the future disciples. In John’s Gospel, Jesus has already evangelized Andrew and has encountered Simon. It must not have been a life-changing experience because he goes back fishing.
He said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him.
· What was different with this encounter? Jesus gave them an invitation to become his disciples and to join him in the work of evangelization.
· Matthew said they immediately left all and followed Jesus. Another Gospel indicates that it was more dramatic than that. It was after the marvelous catch of fish that convinced them to follow Jesus.
He walked along from there and saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They were in a boat, with their father Zebedee, mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left their boat and their father and followed him.
· Jesus has called us to be his disciples. How quickly and totally have we responded?
He went around all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness among the people.
· The ministry of Jesus was simple and straightforward. He taught wherever he could, he preached the message of truth and he healed as a sign of the full salvation to come.
· Having reflected on this passage what application do we make in our lives?
