Readings for Monday of the Second Week in Lent[1][2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Commentary:
Reading 1 Daniel 9:4b-10
We find in this reading from Daniel a prayer of repentance. This is not an individual prayer, but a prayer of the whole people. In addition to enumerating the failings of the people it also asks for compassion and forgiveness.
Responsorial Psalm Psalm 79:8, 9, 11 and 13
R. Lord, do not deal with us according to our sins.
Psalm 79 is a lament over the destruction of the Temple. This passage is a plea for compassion and help while repenting from their sins (“Deliver us and pardon our sins for your name’s sake.”).
Gospel Luke 6:36-38
The Lord takes a quote from the Old Testament and twists it just slightly (In the OT the phrase frequently used is “Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy” (e.g. Leviticus 19:2) He goes further to tell the people that they need to stop judging or condemning but to forgive. He concludes by saying that: “For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.” In other words, the standard against which you judge others will be used on you.
Reflection:
The scripture today paints a tenant of our Lord almost in terms of one used in mathematics. You may remember from your early days in school the Reflexive Property: “This property shows us if two expressions are set equal to one another, it does not matter in which order they are presented. (If a = b, then b = a).” If we forgive each other the Lord will forgive us, God forgives us therefore we forgive each other.
Sorry that just sort of snuck out, but the key we are given today is crucial to our understanding of the mind of Christ. To understand Him we must understand forgiveness. Forgiveness is not just a word and it is even more than a single action. It is very complex and has at least two distinct levels.
Let’s look first at the forgiveness Daniel asks for in the first reading. This prayer was not in the original Hebrew text of Daniel (scholars tell us that the grammar used is much better than the older original). The prayer was inserted because it was implicit in the act of repentance that requested forgiveness from God. The language with which it is addressed, however, could have been sent to a banker about a loan, forgiveness by the numbers. When we as individuals ask for God’s mercy, compassion, and forgiveness we expect something much more personal.
In contrast, when someone we do not know does something wrong to us and we forgive them, we do so on a conditional basis. We forgive them, but we don’t need to like them and we sure as heck are not going to trust them in the same situation any time soon.
When someone close to us, say a family member does us an injustice and asks for forgiveness, depending on the seriousness of our violation of trust, we may forgive them as we do a stranger, with conditions, or we may forgive them as one we deeply love, without conditions. Unconditional forgiveness is what we ask for and expect from God. Unconditional forgiveness can only be given if the faults of the other are clearly and deeply known by the one who is forgiving and there is a level of acceptance along with forgiveness. This type of forgiveness is most frequently seen in our lives by the forgiveness of a loving parent for the failings of one of their children.
It is important that we also see the option of not forgiving. It happens. As hard as we might like to be the perfect image of the forgiving Jesus, we all harbor some level of anger directed at persons or institutions which have dealt with us unfairly. In the worst cases, these little “hates” are almost cherished and nurtured. In such situations they can grow, take on a life of their own, and become all consuming. In these most extreme examples of un-forgiveness it is easy to see the internal destruction they can cause.
This self destruction is especially true when it takes place in the context of a personal relationship such as within a family or between spouses. It is for this reason that we should begin searching out our own little “hates” first as they pertain to familial relationships. Allowed to fester, these unworthy and sinister feelings will be the most painful, long lasting, and most difficult hurts to mend.
Today our prayer is one of repentance for our past failings. We ask the Lord for unconditional forgiveness and ask to be readmitted to His grace. As we utter this prayer we hear, if we listen carefully, his words come back to us; “…the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.”
Pax
[1] After Links to Readings Expire
[2] The picture used today is “Christ on the Cross” by El Greco, 1585-90
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Commentary:
Reading 1 Daniel 9:4b-10
We find in this reading from Daniel a prayer of repentance. This is not an individual prayer, but a prayer of the whole people. In addition to enumerating the failings of the people it also asks for compassion and forgiveness.
Responsorial Psalm Psalm 79:8, 9, 11 and 13
R. Lord, do not deal with us according to our sins.
Psalm 79 is a lament over the destruction of the Temple. This passage is a plea for compassion and help while repenting from their sins (“Deliver us and pardon our sins for your name’s sake.”).
Gospel Luke 6:36-38
The Lord takes a quote from the Old Testament and twists it just slightly (In the OT the phrase frequently used is “Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy” (e.g. Leviticus 19:2) He goes further to tell the people that they need to stop judging or condemning but to forgive. He concludes by saying that: “For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.” In other words, the standard against which you judge others will be used on you.
Reflection:
The scripture today paints a tenant of our Lord almost in terms of one used in mathematics. You may remember from your early days in school the Reflexive Property: “This property shows us if two expressions are set equal to one another, it does not matter in which order they are presented. (If a = b, then b = a).” If we forgive each other the Lord will forgive us, God forgives us therefore we forgive each other.
Sorry that just sort of snuck out, but the key we are given today is crucial to our understanding of the mind of Christ. To understand Him we must understand forgiveness. Forgiveness is not just a word and it is even more than a single action. It is very complex and has at least two distinct levels.
Let’s look first at the forgiveness Daniel asks for in the first reading. This prayer was not in the original Hebrew text of Daniel (scholars tell us that the grammar used is much better than the older original). The prayer was inserted because it was implicit in the act of repentance that requested forgiveness from God. The language with which it is addressed, however, could have been sent to a banker about a loan, forgiveness by the numbers. When we as individuals ask for God’s mercy, compassion, and forgiveness we expect something much more personal.
In contrast, when someone we do not know does something wrong to us and we forgive them, we do so on a conditional basis. We forgive them, but we don’t need to like them and we sure as heck are not going to trust them in the same situation any time soon.
When someone close to us, say a family member does us an injustice and asks for forgiveness, depending on the seriousness of our violation of trust, we may forgive them as we do a stranger, with conditions, or we may forgive them as one we deeply love, without conditions. Unconditional forgiveness is what we ask for and expect from God. Unconditional forgiveness can only be given if the faults of the other are clearly and deeply known by the one who is forgiving and there is a level of acceptance along with forgiveness. This type of forgiveness is most frequently seen in our lives by the forgiveness of a loving parent for the failings of one of their children.
It is important that we also see the option of not forgiving. It happens. As hard as we might like to be the perfect image of the forgiving Jesus, we all harbor some level of anger directed at persons or institutions which have dealt with us unfairly. In the worst cases, these little “hates” are almost cherished and nurtured. In such situations they can grow, take on a life of their own, and become all consuming. In these most extreme examples of un-forgiveness it is easy to see the internal destruction they can cause.
This self destruction is especially true when it takes place in the context of a personal relationship such as within a family or between spouses. It is for this reason that we should begin searching out our own little “hates” first as they pertain to familial relationships. Allowed to fester, these unworthy and sinister feelings will be the most painful, long lasting, and most difficult hurts to mend.
Today our prayer is one of repentance for our past failings. We ask the Lord for unconditional forgiveness and ask to be readmitted to His grace. As we utter this prayer we hear, if we listen carefully, his words come back to us; “…the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.”
Pax
[1] After Links to Readings Expire
[2] The picture used today is “Christ on the Cross” by El Greco, 1585-90
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