Monday of the Second Week of Lent
(Daniel 9:4b-10; Luke 6:36-38)
Abraham’s Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address assigns responsibility
for the Civil War to both sides in the conflict. It does not justify the actions of either
government but accepts the punishment as fairly given. Similarly, as the Church was about to
celebrate the bicentennial of Jesus Christ, Pope St. John Paul II confessed
sins of the past. He asked pardon for such
outrages as persecution under the Inquisition, violence during the Crusades, and
extermination of Jews. Today’s readings
encourage such humility and even more promotes human mercy.
The first reading would be extraordinary if done today. A great nation admits guilt for disobeying its
constitutional principles. Nothing in
the passage asks directly for mercy.
Nevertheless, the people have been so humbled that they cannot but ask
God’s forgiveness. In the gospel Jesus exhorts
his disciples to imitate God the Father by readily showing mercy. He goes so far as to say that God’s mercy to
them is contingent upon their mercy to others.
We have as much difficulty showing mercy as we have asking
forgiveness. We see mercy as a sign of
weakness and want to be perceived as strong.
The truth, however, is the opposite.
Mercy becomes us. As the heroine
says in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, “’T is the mightiest in the
mightiest.”
