Lent Week 2: Monday
Approach God in his mercy
What are the options for someone who commits a sin? There is denial, blaming others, or numbing the conscience. We catch ourselves falling into sin yet we fail to confront it. Thus, we do not experience forgiveness, healing, or new life. Often we go through life pretending sin has never happened but we are also certain that we are deceiving ourselves.
The first reading is amazing in its depiction of hearts full of acceptance of their responsibility for wrongs committed, humility in admitting this to themselves and to God, and remorse for the harm their actions have resulted in.
Why are these people so bold in their transparency and vulnerability? It is because they find that there is no need to hide, to run away, or to conceal secrets in their hearts. They have found a healthy image of God, a true image of God as merciful and just. When sinners repent, the justice of God is his own mercy.
This is far from the commonly mistaken image of God as frightening in his anger, condemnation, and punishment. The Lord Jesus supports this image in the Gospel and enhances it further. God is merciful because he is Father, because he is love, because he is our origin, and thus, he is not a stranger to human weakness, daily struggles, and personal battles.
As we receive his mercy through acts of penance and sacrifice in this Lenten season, and above all through Confession, the Lord calls us to be transformed into the Father’s likeness. We must be vessels of mercy, too. The best way to show gratitude for God’s forgiveness is to have a merciful heart towards others, like being able to forgive another person who has hurt us.
God of mercy, my loving Father, forgive me, your sinful child. God of mercy, make my heart a reflection of your compassion.
