MERCILENT 2016 - 2nd March

BE BLESSED: obey the Lord and receive life

Wednesday, 3rd week in Lent

Dt 4: 1, 5-9; Mt 5: 17-19

Life is a gift, it is not something that we earn for ourselves! If it is a gift it is received; if it is received it is given! Life is given; if it is given, it is given for a purpose! The most loving sign of God's care for us is expressed in God's words through Jeremiah: 'For I know the plans that I have for you!' (Jer 29:11). God has a plan, God has a purpose, all that I need to do is just walk in the way that the Lord shows! There are times when the way shown agrees with my wishes and I am enthusiastic about it. But when the way shown does not agree with my whims, I begin to whine and complain! How childish of me!

Obeying the Lord will not be a grudging act, if only I understand it is the Lord who gives me life and God alone knows what I can make of it. Once I begin to absolutise my wishes in life, set up my own races, create my own pathways, hold on to my own goals as if nothing else matters in life, I am bound to undergo frustrations and failures. But the moment I surrender my life in the hands of the Lord and wish to live the way that the Lord leads, seek after goals that the Lord sets, achieve purposes that the Lord offers me, then I will have life, in all its fullness. It is in obeying the Lord that I find the fullness of my life.

The Mercilent Attitude for today: Listen to the Lord, hear his commands, obey them and you will have life, life to the full!

Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy #6

# THE GAZE

One of the intriguing elements of the logo is the gaze of the two persons depicted... two pairs of eyes but one shared between two. There have been even some anti-catholic elements which have attributed some diabolic interpretations to this. They are only to be pitied, for having missed the depth of the meaning offered here.

We are aiming at being merciful like the father. Being Merciful like the Father, is possible only when we understand the Father fully - how do we understand someone whom we have not seen? John explains it in the prologue to his Gospel (Jn 1:18): "No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known." It is Jesus, the Face of the Mercy of God who has made God known to us. It is Jesus who showed us, what it means to be merciful like the Father. It is Jesus who reveals to us, how the Merciful God sees and invites us to SEE AS GOD SEES! 

God sees every one as God's sons and daughters, however unworthy we might be. To see as God sees would mean that I see everyone as my brother and my sister, without judging them to be deserving or not of my love and acceptance. It means to be loving, forgiving, forbearing, patient and kind as God is. I am challenged to see as God would see, to think as God would think, to love as God would love, to do good as God would do, to be merciful as God is.

The Call here is to share the eye of Christ, to share the vision of Christ, to share the mind of Christ: To see as God sees!

MERCILENT 2016 - 1st March

BE GRATEFUL : a grateful heart is a holy heart

Tuesday, 3rd week in Lent

Dan 3: 25, 34-43; Mtt 18: 21-35

One fundamental quality of people who are evil, who plot the ruin of others or who do not love others enough, is ingratitude. Showing mercy to others will be an automatic outcome, if a person is mindful of all the good that he or she has received. St. Paul would ask a very poignant question: 'what do you have that you have not received?" (1 Cor 4:7) If we have received so much good and we acknowledge that we have received them all, will we not be considerate that we have to reciprocate the same to others around me: that is the connection between being grateful and being good.

The parable that Jesus narrates today is a such a beautiful depiction of how we behave at times: receiving in such abundance but so calculative while giving! The man was forgiven an amount that was equal to 15 years wages while he refused to forgive one day's wages someone owed! What a contrast Jesus presents here... Be mindful of how good the Lord is to you and your goodness will be augmented. In the first reading we see a cry for help to the Lord but even in that dire situation we do not see or feel any desperation on the part of the one who is making the invocation. There is only trust that stands out. That is a heart that was so mindful of the good that the Lord had done till then. 

A truly grateful person will grow easily to be holy. Gratitude is, never to take anything for granted: once a person acknowledges every small good that the Lord does to oneself, the person will grow conscious of how indebted one  is. That is the beginning of the commitment to repay the goodness of the Lord: can we really do it? The starting point of holiness has to be this: because God is so good, I have to be good; because God is so forgiving, I have to forgive; because God is so holy, I have to be holy!

Mercilent Attitude for today: Thank God, thank God every moment of the day, for we can never thank God enough.