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February 23, 2024We find various passages throughout Sacred Scripture exhorting us to practice mercy. We read that mercy triumphs over judgment. Objectively, there is nothing wrong or evil about judgment. We make judgments all the time. Is this car a better one to purchase than that one? Will this doctor provide better care than the other one? These types of judgment are grounded in prudence. The type of judgment the Scriptures denounce are those in which we make ourselves morally superior to another person and forget that we ourselves also sin and are liable to judgment. This kind of judgment gives us the impression that we should expect mercy and forgiveness for ourselves while holding others in judgment.
I visited a convent of Dominican sisters several years ago and noticed the way they prayed the Our Father. When most people pray, “and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us,” there is a pause – often a breath – between the request for forgiveness and the admission of forgiving others. However, the sisters in this convent prayed the entire line in one breath, which changed my way of thinking about that prayer: in the way they prayed, they linked the forgiveness they received from God with the forgiveness they offered others into a single, integrated fact.
The Lord says through the Prophet Ezekiel, “But if the wicked, turning from the wickedness he has committed, does what is right and just, he shall preserve his life; since he has turned away from all the sins that he committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die” (18:27–28). Conversion and repentance are good. When we repent and return to God’s love, we should be happy for the mercy he offers. However, as Christians, we are called to go beyond our own conversion and repentance. We should long for the conversion and repentance of others who have sinned, whether they sin against God, us, or both!
When we embrace God’s mercy with humble hearts and show that same mercy to others, we truly embrace the love of Jesus Christ. This love not only benefits us for our own salvation. It also moves through us to others when we practice mercy over judgment.
[click here for the readings of the day]
