The Merciful
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Reading (Luke 6: 27-36)
Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other as well. Give to everyone who asks of you, and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back.For if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do as much. Rather love your enemies and do good to them. Then your reward will be great and you will children of the Most High, for he himself is good to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful as your Father is merciful.
Song (Isaiah 53)
Even as many were amazed at him,
So marred was his appearance,
So shall he startle many nations.
Because of him kings shall stand speechless.There was in him no stately bearing
To make us look at him.
He was spurned and avoided by men,
A man of suffering, accustomed to infirmity,
One from whom men hide their faces,
Spurned, and we held him in no esteem.Through his suffering he will justify many.
Because he surrendered himself to death
He shall take away the sins of many,
And win pardon for their offenses.
Reflection
When Jesus told his disciples to love their enemies, he gave them a commandment that was unheard of. He gave them - and us - a completely new way to conduct human affairs. He commands us to disregard the distinction between friend and enemy, between countryman and foreigner, between those who are like us and those who differ from us, and instead to be merciful to all as our Father is merciful.Jesus took this commandment to its limit in his own life. He submitted to the ultimate injustice of being put to death in innocence; and he even went so far as to forgive his persecutors at the point of death.
By submitting to his Father's will Jesus shows us the way to eternal life. Just as the Father upheld him when he gave himself into the hands of his enemies by raising him from the dead and exalting him at his right hand in heaven, so he upholds us when we follow his commandment of love and mercy.
Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, you showed mercy even to your worst enemies, and thus overcame hatred and sin and reconciled all people to yourself. May we follow your example in showing mercy to our enemies, that we may be worthy of the salvation you have won for us.