MERCILENT 2016 - 16th February

BE GOD'S : Believe and belong to the Lord your God.

Tuesday in the First Week of of Lent
Is 55:  10-11; Mt 6: 7-15

Yesterday we were invited to reflect on being Godly and today we are reminded of our fundamental nature of belonging to God: we are God's own...God's sons and daughters. 

At times we get so busy with all that we involve - things, persons, activities, dreams, plans and projects - that we forget to whom we belong. It is like a player in the midfield playing so vigorously that he forgets for whom he is playing. Funny, isn't it? That is what happens with us, so regularly and so unwittingly. Most of our problems in life crop up from this situation...our frustrations, our competitions, our anxiety to prove ourselves, our arrogance, our pride, our self conceit, they come from the fact that we are not mindful of the fact that we are all God's. 

God's word, God's plan, God's design, God's reign - these are the overriding principles that should govern our lives if we are convinced that we are God's.

The Mercilent Attitude for today: Belong to God, in all that you are and in all that you do.

MERCILENT 2016 - 15th February

BE GODLY: Unconditional in your giving

Monday, 1st Week of Lent

Lev 19: 1-2,11-18; Mt 25:31-46

Be Holy, for I am Holy, invites the Lord today. We are called not only to be God's people, but also to be Godly people. That explains the motto of the year of Mercy: Merciful like the Father. It is not only about showing mercy to others, but doing it as God does! That is where the key is. The Word today gives us clearly what to do (the Gospel), what not to do (first reading), what not to fail in doing (Gospel) and what to abstain from (first reading). All of them put together, the call is to become like God; to be Godly.

Observe the quality that is underlined in the Word - it is about giving and not to worry about getting it back, it is about doing good and not being worried about receiving good, it is about loving and not insistent about being loved  in return...St. Francis' prayer strikes a chord here: Grant that I may not seek so much to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love, to be forgiven as to forgive! I cannot have conditions in the good that I do: how much; to whom; under what circumstances; why they...these analyses will make our giving conditional. The Lord instead gives and gives, never counting the cost nor the consequences. Can I grow to be as unconditional as that - that is being Godly.

The Mercilent Attitude for Today: Give, without laying conditions for it!