Saturday of the Second Week of Lent
March 6, 2021
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we pray with Psalm 103, an effusive canticle on God’s unbounded Mercy.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
Psalm 103:1-4
and all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits.
He pardons all your iniquities,
he heals all your ills.
He redeems your life from destruction,
he crowns you with kindness and compassion.
A sufficient prayer today would be to thank God for our experiences of this overflowing mercy. But our Gospel tells us there is more to it. There is a response required of us.
If you’re into social media like Facebook or Twitter, you may have noticed the popular meme “BeLike”. (A meme is an idea, behavior, or style that becomes a fad and spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture, often carrying a symbolic meaning.) Here is an example of the #BeLike meme posted by the NJ State Police.
If our psalmist and evangelist were writing a meme for today’s readings, it might look like this:
That’s the message.
I’m spending my prayer time with just that today.
Poetry: The Prodigal’s Mother Speaks to God by Allison Frank
When he returned a second time, the straps of his sandals broken, his robe stained with wine, it was not as easy to forgive. By then his father was long gone himself, leaving me with my other son, the sullen one whose anger is the instrument he tunes from good morning on. I know. There’s no room for a man in the womb. But when I saw my youngest coming from far off, so small he seemed, a kid unsteady on its legs. She-goat what will you do? I thought, remembering when he learned to walk. Shape shifter! It’s like looking through water— the heat bends, it blurs everything: brush, precipice. A shambles between us.
Music: Father, I Have Sinned – Eugene O’Reilly
Lavish Mercy 