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.”
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In the First Reading, Daniel confesses that the calamity that befell Jerusalem in the hands of the Babylonians is due to the transgressions of the Jews. He turns to God who keeps his merciful covenant, asking for forgiveness. In turn, Jesus invites his disciples to imitate God’s mercy: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Lk 6:36). Matthew’s version of this is: “Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48). By God’s “perfection,” we usually refer to his divine attributes: he is all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving, etc. But the Bible speaks of “mercy” as God’s perfection: “He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities” (Ps 103:10, NIV). The disciples imitate God’s perfection or mercy in loving and in doing good not just to people who deserve it, but also to the undeserving, even to one’s enemies. God the Father loves his children all alike. “He makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust” (Mt 5:45). God’s compassion does not discriminate. Jesus assumes this attitude. He is the face of the Father’s mercy. We too are invited to mirror God’s mercy.
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SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord 2021,” ST. PAULS Philippines, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 895-9701; Fax 8957328; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.
