Daily Catholic Lectio. Mon, 26 Feb 2024. Be merciful

Daily Catholic Lectio

Mon, 26 February 2024

Monday of the Second Week of Lent

Daniel 9:4-11. Luke 6:36-38

Be merciful

In the Sermon on the Mount, according to Matthew, Jesus exhorts, “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Luke replaces the word ‘perfect’ with ‘merciful’ and writes, “Be merciful as your Father is merciful” (Gospel Reading).

Luke presents God’s face as mercy. In ‘being perfect’, there may be a lot of rigidity, expectation, guilt, and fear. But in ‘being merciful’, no ‘strings’ are attached.

Jesus instructs that we must show mercy on three levels:

(a) In the ‘non-judging’ or ‘non-judgemental’ attitude: When we judge someone in our hearts that ‘he is such and such’ we can never show mercy to him. For example, if the Good Samaritan had judged the wounded man on the road, saying, ‘Why did he travel this hour?’ he could not have shown compassion to him.

(b) In ‘forgiving’ others: forgiving those who sin against us and those who hurt us. When injustice is perpetrated on us, our first reaction is usually anger, but when we take a pause and smile at the person who caused the injustice, we respond with mercy. We feel pity for the ignorance, insecurity, and insufficiency of the person who perpetrated injustice on us. Jesus on the cross said, “Father, forgive them.” Here, Jesus’ mercy is revealed. If Jesus had acted here with justice, he could have passed judgement on the people. But he chose mercy.

(c) By giving: “Give; it will be given to you.” We need to connect this sentence with what follows: ‘for with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” We must show mercy, at least for this ‘selfish’ reason that mercy comes back to us. This is the first stage of mercy. In the final or accomplished stage, we will not care about mercy returning to us. The father of the two sons (cf. Lk 15), or the Good Samaritan (cf. Lk 10), never expected that their mercy would be repaid.

In the first reading, Prophet Daniel, who is among the people suffering exile, prays to God, reminding him of his mercy. Daniel realises that God punished the people of Israel out of justice, and he hopes that God will restore them through his mercy.

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Mercy is the starting point of love; it is an act that goes beyond love. Let us begin to be merciful. Today. (Jubilee A. D. 2025, bite 40)

Fr. Yesu Karunanidhi

Archdiocese of Madurai

Missionary of Mercy