Posted on 03/09/2015 9:43:32 PM PDT by Salvation
Matthew | |||
English: Douay-Rheims | Latin: Vulgata Clementina | Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000) | |
Matthew 18 |
|||
21. | Then came Peter unto him and said: Lord, how often shall my brother offend against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? | Tunc accedens Petrus ad eum, dixit : Domine, quoties peccabit in me frater meus, et dimittam ei ? usque septies ? | τοτε προσελθων αυτω ο πετρος ειπεν κυριε ποσακις αμαρτησει εις εμε ο αδελφος μου και αφησω αυτω εως επτακις |
22. | Jesus saith to him: I say not to thee, till seven times; but till seventy times seven times. | Dicit illi Jesus : Non dico tibi usque septies : sed usque septuagies septies. | λεγει αυτω ο ιησους ου λεγω σοι εως επτακις αλλ εως εβδομηκοντακις επτα |
23. | Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened to a king, who would take an account of his servants. | Ideo assimilatum est regnum cælorum homini regi, qui voluit rationem ponere cum servis suis. | δια τουτο ωμοιωθη η βασιλεια των ουρανων ανθρωπω βασιλει ος ηθελησεν συναραι λογον μετα των δουλων αυτου |
24. | And when he had begun to take the account, one was brought to him, that owed him ten thousand talents. | Et cum cpisset rationem ponere, oblatus est ei unus, qui debebat ei decem millia talenta. | αρξαμενου δε αυτου συναιρειν προσηνεχθη αυτω εις οφειλετης μυριων ταλαντων |
25. | And as he had not wherewith to pay it, his lord commanded that he should be sold, and his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. | Cum autem non haberet unde redderet, jussit eum dominus ejus venundari, et uxorem ejus, et filios, et omnia quæ habebat, et reddi. | μη εχοντος δε αυτου αποδουναι εκελευσεν αυτον ο κυριος αυτου πραθηναι και την γυναικα αυτου και τα τεκνα και παντα οσα ειχεν και αποδοθηναι |
26. | But that servant falling down, besought him, saying: Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. | Procidens autem servus ille, orabat eum, dicens : Patientiam habe in me, et omnia reddam tibi. | πεσων ουν ο δουλος προσεκυνει αυτω λεγων κυριε μακροθυμησον επ εμοι και παντα σοι αποδωσω |
27. | And the lord of that servant being moved with pity, let him go and forgave him the debt. | Misertus autem dominus servi illius, dimisit eum, et debitum dimisit ei. | σπλαγχνισθεις δε ο κυριος του δουλου εκεινου απελυσεν αυτον και το δανειον αφηκεν αυτω |
28. | But when that servant was gone out, he found one of his fellow servants that owed him an hundred pence: and laying hold of him, throttled him, saying: Pay what thou owest. | Egressus autem servus ille invenit unum de conservis suis, qui debebat ei centum denarios : et tenens suffocavit eum, dicens : Redde quod debes. | εξελθων δε ο δουλος εκεινος ευρεν ενα των συνδουλων αυτου ος ωφειλεν αυτω εκατον δηναρια και κρατησας αυτον επνιγεν λεγων αποδος μοι ει τι οφειλεις |
29. | And his fellow servant falling down, besought him, saying: Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. | Et procidens conservus ejus, rogabat eum, dicens : Patientiam habe in me, et omnia reddam tibi. | πεσων ουν ο συνδουλος αυτου εις τους ποδας αυτου παρεκαλει αυτον λεγων μακροθυμησον επ εμοι και αποδωσω σοι |
30. | And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he paid the debt. | Ille autem noluit : sed abiit, et misit eum in carcerem donec redderet debitum. | ο δε ουκ ηθελεν αλλα απελθων εβαλεν αυτον εις φυλακην εως ου αποδω το οφειλομενον |
31. | Now his fellow servants seeing what was done, were very much grieved, and they came and told their lord all that was done. | Videntes autem conservi ejus quæ fiebant, contristati sunt valde : et venerunt, et narraverunt domino suo omnia quæ facta fuerant. | ιδοντες δε οι συνδουλοι αυτου τα γενομενα ελυπηθησαν σφοδρα και ελθοντες διεσαφησαν τω κυριω εαυτων παντα τα γενομενα |
32. | Then his lord called him; and said to him: Thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all the debt, because thou besoughtest me: | Tunc vocavit illum dominus suus : et ait illi : Serve nequam, omne debitum dimisi tibi quoniam rogasti me : | τοτε προσκαλεσαμενος αυτον ο κυριος αυτου λεγει αυτω δουλε πονηρε πασαν την οφειλην εκεινην αφηκα σοι επει παρεκαλεσας με |
33. | Shouldst not thou then have had compassion also on thy fellow servant, even as I had compassion on thee? | nonne ergo oportuit et te misereri conservi tui, sicut et ego tui misertus sum ? | ουκ εδει και σε ελεησαι τον συνδουλον σου ως και εγω σε ηλεησα |
34. | And his lord being angry, delivered him to the torturers until he paid all the debt. | Et iratus dominus ejus tradidit eum tortoribus, quoadusque redderet universum debitum. | και οργισθεις ο κυριος αυτου παρεδωκεν αυτον τοις βασανισταις εως ου αποδω παν το οφειλομενον αυτω |
35. | So also shall my heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not every one his brother from your hearts. | Sic et Pater meus cælestis faciet vobis, si non remiseritis unusquisque fratri suo de cordibus vestris. | ουτως και ο πατηρ μου ο επουρανιος ποιησει υμιν εαν μη αφητε εκαστος τω αδελφω αυτου απο των καρδιων υμων τα παραπτωματα αυτων |
The ethical symmetry of the parable is enhanced here by the visual symmetry of the icon, where Christ is shown two times to offer both mercy and justice.
Thanks for the note. That was the first thing that I noticed and it drew a question mark with no answer in my mind.
St. Simplicius
Feast Day: March 10
Died: 483
St. Simplicius was the son of Castinus a citizen of Tivoli in Italy and was elected to succeed St. Hilary as pope in 468. He was raised up by God to comfort and support his Church through very difficult times caused by the fall of Rome in his eighth year as pope.
Sometimes he felt that he was all alone trying to correct evils that were everywhere. Barbarians had taken over most of Italy. Even Rome itself was occupied by invaders. The people were hungry and poor and had lost all happiness. They had been taxed and robbed by former Roman officials.
Pope Simplicius tried in every way to uplift his people and to work for their good. He was always there for them, no matter how small his efforts seemed to him. And because he was holy, he never gave up. More than by words, he taught with the example of his holy life.
Besides spending his time comforting the suffering, Pope Simplicius was busy sowing the seeds of the Catholic faith among the barbarians. Like the experienced pilot he was, he guided the Church through the troubled waters of a stormy sea.
St. Simplicius suffered because some of his own Christians stubbornly held on to wrong beliefs. With great sorrow, St. Simplicius had to put them out of the Church. When he corrected people who were doing wrong, he was kind and humble.
St. Simplicius built four churches in Rome and set up many useful rules for the Church to follow during his reign. Simplicius was pope for fifteen years and eleven months. Then the Lord called him to heaven to receive the reward of his labors. St. Simplicius died in 483 and was buried in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.
Tuesday, March 10
Liturgical Color: Violet
Pope Pius VII returned to Rome on this
day in 1814. Because of his resistance to
French intrusion into Church affairs,
Napoleon had the Pope arrested and held
in exile for 5 years. He was released
when Napoleons empire collapsed.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/3266151/posts?page=27#27
Could something similar happen in the U. S. with Obama arresting Bishops?
|
15 Then the Pharisees went and took counsel how to entangle him in his talk. 16 And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodi-ans, saying, "Teacher, we know that you are true, and teach the way of God truthfully, and care for no man; for you do not regard the position of men. 17 Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?" 18 But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, "Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? 19 Show me the money for the tax." And they brought him a coin. 20 And Jesus said to them, "Whose likeness and inscription is this?" 21 They said, "Caesar's." Then he said to them, "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." 22 When they heard it, they marveled; and they left him and went away.
23 The same day Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection; and they asked him a question, 24 saying, "Teacher, Moses said, If a man dies, having no children, his brother must marry the widow, and raise up children for his brother.' 25 Now there were seven brothers among us; the first married, and died, and having no children left his wife to his brother. 26 So too the second and third, down to the seventh. 27 After them all, the woman died. 28 In the resurrection, therefore, to which of the seven will she be wife? For they all had her."
29 But Jesus answered them, "You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. 30 For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. 31 And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God, 32 I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not God of the dead, but of the living." 33 And when the crowd heard it, they were astonished at his teaching.
A coin: A "denarius" stamped with a profile portrait of Tiberius Caesar, the Roman Emperor (A.D. 14-37). This tax was especially offensive to the Jews, who knew that God forbade the fashioning of graven images in the likeness of any created thing (Ex 20:4).
There is no resurrection: A denial at odds with mainstream Judaism (cf. Acts 23:8). Their apparent acceptance of the doctrine in 22:28 is only a façade; they hope to stump Jesus with an unanswerable question.
Lent Day 21 – Do Unto Others
by Fr. Robert Barron
The Ten Commandments are divided into two sets. The first three deal with our relationship to God and how to worship him, and then, following from these commandments, comes a whole series of commandments concerning our relationship with other people.
As we enter into the heart of Lent, reflecting on how we keep these commands can become the impetus to deepen our commitment to the Lord.
“Honor your father and your mother.” What is the quality of your relationship with those who are nearest and dearest to you? If things are off there, they are probably off everywhere else.
“You shall not kill.” Very few of us have actually killed another person, but what is the role that violence plays in your life? What is the quality of your temper? Have you effectively killed people, that is to say, rendered them lifeless? Do you enhance the lives of those around you, or are people less alive after they’ve been with you?
“You shall not commit adultery.” The Bible is not obsessed with sex, but it does recognize the importance of our sexuality in the moral sphere. Much of our popular culture wants to teach us that sex is basically amoral, a matter, finally, of indifference. As long as you’re not hurting anyone, so says the culture, anything goes. But sex, like every other part of us, is meant to serve love, to become a gift. Is your sex life self-indulgent, simply for the sake of your pleasure? Do you lust after others, using them for your own sexual satisfaction? Do you practice forms of sex that are simply perverse?
“You shall not steal.” Do you steal other’s property, even very small things like little amounts of money? Do you steal someone’s good name and reputation through gossip?
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” What is the quality of your speech? How much time do you spend inveighing against your neighbor, even making things up to make him look bad?
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house or wife.” The philosopher René Girard suggests that we imitate other people’s desires, wanting things simply because other people want them. This can easily lead to conflict and dysfunction. What is it that you are coveting in your life, especially that which others have or desire?
This Lent, suppose that Jesus has made a whip of cords, knotted with the Ten Commandments. What would he clear out of you?
You Are Perfect, Really
Though Christ tells us to “be perfect” (Matthew 5:48), we tend to think of perfection as an impossible, unrealistic standard. “Nobody’s perfect.” “She thinks she’s so perfect.” Perfect is ‘done’, ‘finished’, ‘no more work needed’, ‘as good as can be’.
This causes confusion in our souls. Satan twists Christ’s own words within us until we aren’t sure whether we should try harder to be more perfect, or try harder to let go of perfectionism! This wrestling can wear us out. Giving-up-on-ever-knowing is barely recognizable as despair, but it is. In fact, it is just to plant little seeds like this that the evil one lures us into such confusion. Despair leads to sin. Don’t go there!
To get you out of this tangle, and others like it, as quickly as possible, I offer three principles.
So, you’d be still long enough to realize there’s a diabolic twist here somewhere. Then, in prayer, God would help you to look back up at the first premises, definitions, and assumptions that you carried into the struggle – exposing them to the light of truth.
Here you’ll find that you’ve accepted a definition of perfect that applies to man-made things, and there’s the key to resolving this tension. Things made by God are perfect at every stage of their being. Have you ever looked at a baby and thought him an imperfect adult? A seed is absolutely perfect, but has more ‘becoming’ to do. The Church, for all its imperfections, is still the perfect vehicle for the realization of Christ into the world.
I’ve noticed that this kind of twist in our thinking often involves the difference between ‘really’ and ‘fully’. Let’s look at that. Satan always uses something true to make a case against us, like a prosecuting attorney uses evidence. If it weren’t true, it would have no power to get us started on our case for the defense! If you stub your toe and have a ‘less than perfect’ reaction, the obvious verdict is, “GUILTY! Of not really being good, perfect, holy.” Now, in truth, this moment shows that you are not fully perfect. You already are perfect, in the sense that the real, true, Presence of Christ is really and truly in you now. He is never imperfect, to any degree. So, to possess His life within you is to possess perfection.
To “grow up in all things unto Christ” (Ephesians 4:15) is to possess Him and correspond to Him more and more fully. We’re told, “Be perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Christ has accepted a perfection that will not be fully realized until the end of time. Just as Christ is, in a sense, even now growing into the fullness of His own perfection – His Body, the Church, is more and more wholly revealing Him and corresponding to Him every day – so are you growing into the full and whole perfection that is already really, truly present in you!
Satan likes to flatten three-dimensional reality so that you can’t see ‘higher’. Time is a reality with three dimensions: Christ has come, is coming, and one day will finally have come. His work has been accomplished, is being accomplished, and someday will be wholly complete (perfected). You are perfect, are being perfected,
and one day will have become perfect. Meanwhile, remember it is God himself who works in you to perfect the work He began in you. (cf Philippians 2:13, 1:6)
Relax, and ask Him to clarify anything you need to bring to confession, change, or act on in some other way. If nothing comes to mind, let it go. It is not presumption to trust in His perfection, and to believe He will move you toward your perfection in His own way.
Daily Readings for:March 10, 2015
(Readings on USCCB website)
Collect: May your grace not forsake us, O Lord, we pray, but make us dedicated to your holy service and at all times obtain for us your help. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
RECIPES
ACTIVITIES
o Christ the Sower: Lenten Seed Sowing
o Pretzels for God: Lent and the Pretzel
PRAYERS
o Prayer for the Third Week of Lent
o Book of Blessings: Blessing Before and After Meals: Lent (2nd Plan)
o Traditional Novena Prayer to St. Joseph
· Lent: March 10th
· Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent
Old Calendar: The Forty Holy Martyrs
Today is the feast of St. Marie-Eugénie de Jésus, a religious sister who founded the Congregation of the Religious of the Assumption in 1839. On June 3, 2007, she was canonized in Vatican City by Pope Benedict XVI.
According to the 1962 Missal of St. John XXIII the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, today is the feast of the Forty Holy Martyrs of Sebaste, a group of forty soldiers who suffered a martyr's death for their steadfast faith in Christ, by freezing in a lake near Sebaste, in the former Lesser Armenia (now Sivas in central-eastern Turkey).
The Forty Holy Martyrs of Sebaste
The Forty Martyrs were soldiers quartered at Sebaste in Armenia, about the year 320. When their legion was ordered to offer sacrifice to idols, they refused to betray the faith of their baptism, and replied to all persuasive efforts, “We are Christians!” When neither cajolings or threats could change them, after several days of imprisonment they were chained together and taken to the site of execution. It was a cruel winter, and they were condemned to lie without clothing on the icy surface of a pond in the open air until they froze to death.
The forty, not merely undismayed but filled with joy at the prospect of suffering for Jesus Christ, said: “No doubt it is difficult to support so acute a cold, but it will be agreeable to go to paradise by this route; the torment is of short duration, and the glory will be eternal. This cruel night will win for us an eternity of delights. Lord, forty of us are entering combat; grant that we may be forty to receive the crown!”
There were warm baths close by, ready for any among them who would deny Christ. One of the confessors lost heart, renounced his faith, and went to cast himself into the basin of warm water prepared for that intention. But the sudden change in temperature suffocated him and he expired, losing at once both temporal and eternal life. The still living martyrs were fortified in their resolution, beholding this scene.
Then the ice was suddenly flooded with a bright light; one of the soldiers guarding the men, nearly blinded by the light, raised his eyes and saw Angels descend with forty crowns which they held in the air over the martyrs’ heads; but the fortieth one remained without a destination. The sentry was inspired to confess Christ, saying: “That crown will be for me!” Abandoning his coat and clothing, he went to replace the unfortunate apostate on the ice, crying out: “I am a Christian!” And the number of forty was again complete. They remained steadfast while their limbs grew stiff and frozen, and died one by one.
Among the forty there was a young soldier named Meliton who held out longest against the cold, and when the officers came to cart away the dead bodies they found him still breathing. They were moved with pity, and wanted to leave him alive, hoping he would still change his mind. But his mother stood by, and this valiant woman could not bear to see her son separated from the band of martyrs. She exhorted him to persevere, and lifted his frozen body into the cart. He was just able to make a sign of recognition, and was borne away, to be thrown into the flames with the dead bodies of his brethren. Their bones were cast into the river, but they floated and were gathered up by the faithful.
Excerpted from Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on Butler’s Lives of the Saints and other sources by John Gilmary Shea (Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894); Vie des Saints pour tous les jours de l’année, by Abbé L. Jaud (Mame: Tours, 1950).
Things to Do:
St. Marie Eugenie of Jesus
Anne Marie Eugenie was born in 1817 in Metz after Napoleon's complete defeat and the restoration of the Monarchy. She belonged to a non-believing and financially comfortable family and it seemed unlikely that she would trace a new spiritual path across the Church of France.
Her father, follower of Voltaire and a liberal, was making his fortune in the banking world and in politics. Eugenie's mother provided the sensitive Eugenie with an education, which strengthened her character and gave her a strong sense of duty. Family life developed her intellectual curiosity and a romantic spirit, an interest in social questions and a broad world view.
Like her contemporary, George Sand, Anne Eugenie went to Mass on feast days and received the Sacraments of initiation, as was the custom but without any real commitment. However, her First Communion was a great mystical experience that foretold the secret of her future. She did not grasp its prophetic meaning until much later when she recognized it as her path towards total belonging to Jesus Christ and the Church.
Her youth was happy but not without suffering. She was affected when still a child by the death of an elder brother and a baby sister. Her health was delicate and a fall from a horse left serious consequences. Eugenie was mature for her age and learnt how to hide her feelings and to face up to events. Later, after a prosperous period for her father, she experienced the failure of his banks, the misunderstanding and eventual separation of her parents and the loss of all security. She had to leave her family home and go to Paris while Louis, closest to her in age and faithful companion went to live with their father. Eugenie went to Paris with the mother she adored, only to see her die from cholera after a few hours of illness, leaving her alone at the age of fifteen in a society that was worldly and superficial. Searching in anguish and almost desperate for the truth, she arrived at her conversion thirsty for the Absolute and open to the Transcendent.
When she was nineteen, Anne Eugenie attended the Lenten Conferences at Notre Dame in Paris, preached by the young Abbe Lacordaire, already well-known for his talent as orator. Lacordaire was a former disciple of Lamennais - haunted by the vision of a renewed Church with a special place in the world. He understood his time and wanted to change it. He understood young people, their questions and their desires, their idealism and their ignorance of both Christ and the Church. His words touched Eugenie's heart, answered her many questions, and aroused her generosity. Eugenie envisaged Christ as the universal liberator and his kingdom on earth established as a peaceful and just society. I was truly converted, she wrote, and I was seized by a longing to devote all my strength or rather all my weakness to the Church which, from that moment, I saw as alone holding the key to the knowledge and achievement of all that is good.
Just at this time, another preacher, also a former disciple of Lamennais, appeared on the scene. In the confessional, Father Combalot recognized that he had encountered a chosen soul who was designated to be the foundress of the Congregation he had dreamt of for a long time. He persuaded Eugenie to undertake his work by insisting that this Congregation was willed by God who had chosen her to establish it. He convinced her that only by education could she evangelize minds, make families truly Christian and thus transform the society of her time. Anne Eugenie accepted the project as God's will for her and allowed herself to be guided by the Abbe Combalot.
At twenty-two, Marie Eugenie became foundress of the Religious of the Assumption, dedicated to consecrate their whole life and strength to extending the Kingdom of Christ in themselves and in the world. In 1839, Mademoiselle Eugenie Milleret, with two other young women, began a life of prayer and study in a flat at rue Ferou near the church of St. Sulpice in Paris. In 1841, under the patronage of Madame de Chateaubriand, Lacordaire, Montalembert and their friends, the sisters opened their first school. In a relatively short time there were sixteen sisters of four nationalities in the community.
Marie Eugenie and the first sisters wanted to link the ancient and the new - to unite the past treasures of the Church's spirituality and wisdom with a type of religious life and education able to satisfy the demands of modern minds. It was a matter of respecting the values of the period and at the same time, making the Gospel values penetrate the rising culture of a new industrial and scientific era. The spirituality of the Congregation, centered on Christ and the Incarnation, was both deeply contemplative and dedicated to apostolic action. It was a life given to the search for God and the love and service of others.
Marie Eugenie's long life covered almost the whole of the 19th century. She loved her times passionately and took an active part in their history. Progressively, she channeled all her energy and gifts in tending and extending the Congregation, which became her life work. God gave her sisters and many friends. One of the first sisters was Irish, a mystic and her intimate friend whom she called at the end of her life, "half of myself." Kate O'Neill, called Mother Therese Emmanuel in religion, is considered as a co-foundress. Father Emmanuel d'Alzon, became Marie Eugenie's spiritual director soon after the foundation, was a father, brother or friend according to the seasons. In 1845, he founded the Augustinians of the Assumption and the two founders helped each other in a multitude of ways over a period of forty years. Both had a gift for friendship and they inspired many lay people to work with them and the Church. Together, as they followed Christ and labored with him, the religious and laity traced the path of the Assumption and took their place in the great cloud of witnesses.
In the last years of her life, Mother Marie Eugenie experienced a progressive physical weakening, which she lived in silence and humility - a life totally centered on Christ. She received the Eucharist for the last time on March 9, 1898 and on the 10th, she gently passed over to the Lord. She was beatified by Pope Paul VI on February 9, 1975 and canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on June 3, 2007 in Rome.
© Libreria Editrice Vaticana
The Station is in the church of St. Pudentiana, daughter of Pudens the senator. This holy virgin of Rome lived in the second century. She was remarkable for her charity, and for the zeal wherewith she sought for and buried the bodies of the martyrs. Her church is built on the very spot where stood the house in which she lived with her father and her sister St. Praxedes. St. Peter the Apostle had honored this house with his presence, during the lifetime of Pudentiana's grandfather.
3rd Week of Lent
Not … seven times but seventy-seven times. (Matthew 18:22)
Speaking in parables was one of Jesus’ most effective methods of teaching. A master storyteller, he had the ability to gain his listeners’ interest and involve them in the story’s drama. But Jesus’ parables weren’t simply engaging stories. They reveal to us the love of God and the values of his kingdom. They call us to deeper conversion.
To bring a lesson home forcefully, Jesus often used exaggeration—a common Semitic practice—or contrasted opposites like wisdom and foolishness, generosity and stinginess. Surely there’s no clearer instance of exaggeration than today’s Gospel reading about the unforgiving servant. A man who was forgiven an enormous debt, the equivalent of 150,000 years’ wages, refused to cancel another man’s debt that equaled a hundred days’ wages, a debt that was only 1/20,000 of 1 percent as great as his own. Although the servant acknowledged his need for mercy, he didn’t allow that mercy to soften his heart. And the consequence for him was devastating.
The blunt ending of this story is a direct challenge for us to be just as forgiving toward people as God has been to us. It also underscores something Jesus told his disciples in the Sermon on the Mount: “If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions” (Matthew 6:14-15). If we are not trying our best to be merciful, compassionate, and forgiving, we will find it very hard to pray or to know God’s love and mercy in our lives.
If this sounds intimidating, remember today’s parable! It is the experience of being forgiven that moves us to forgive. The extent to which we know God’s mercy in our lives is the extent to which we will treat each other mercifully.
So do you want to become more forgiving? Then run to Jesus and ask him for a greater outpouring of his love. Echo the psalmist’s prayer: “Your ways, O Lord, make known to me” (Psalm 25:4). Open yourself to his love, so that you can give it away!
“Thank you, Jesus, for the countless times you’ve forgiven my sins. By your grace, soften my heart. Let your own immeasurable mercy teach me to be merciful as well.”
Daniel 3:25, 34-43
Psalm 25:4-9
Daily Marriage Tip for March 10, 2015:
Your domestic churchchurch of the homeis intimately connected to the larger Church. Just as you pray for family members, pray for church leaders.
Forgiveness from the Heart | ||
|
||
March 10, 2015. Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent
|
||
|
March 10, 2015
Mercy and justice are twin virtues that stem from the same spirit but stand on opposite sides when it comes to resulting action. They both pursue righteousness, but their methods differ. Justice sees right and wrong as scales that need to be balanced – reward and punishment as deserved. Mercy acknowledges justice, but allows the spirit of forgiveness to prevail.
Ours is a God of both justice and mercy, which may be a bit difficult to grasp at first – until we realize that they are not opposing forces at all. Mercy is justice with compassion. And mercy is given to those who justly deserve it.
Lent is considered a time of repentance. But forgiveness is not confined to the confessional. It should be given as freely as it is received from our merciful God. Our sinfulness far outweighs his goodness in the scales of justice, yet he tips the balance with love. Would you do the same? We can never pay him back for his mercy, but we can always pay it forward.
Language: English | Español
All Issues > Volume 31, Issue 2
|
Another iconographical type with two Christs is, sometimes, “Communion of the apostles”. There, Christ x 2 is in the center, leaning to the receiving lines left of Him and right of Him.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.