March 11, 2022
Friday of the First Week of Lent
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, our readings could confuse us with their threads of legalistic logic. We see several examples of “if-then” admonitions that can make us picture God as an accountant measuring every choice we make.
If the wicked man turns, … then he shall surely live
If the virtuous man turns, … then none of his good deeds shall be remembered.
If you, O Lord, mark iniquities … then who can stand.
If you go to the altar unreconciled … then leave and be reconciled
Sometimes, we can get obsessive about the “if-then” aspects of religion. And IF we do, THEN we probably miss the whole point. Because folded in today’s “if-then” seesaws is the truth of these passages: that the Lord does NOT sit miserly in Heaven to mark our iniquities.
God measures the righteousness of love.
Thus says the LORD, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the LORD.
Jeremiah 9: 23-24
Today’s Responsorial Psalm offers us a beautiful prayer for today as we pray in the embrace of God’s Lavish Mercy:
I trust in the LORD;
Psalm 130: 5-7
my soul trusts in his word.
My soul waits for the LORD
more than sentinels wait for the dawn.
Let Israel wait for the LORD.
For with the LORD is kindness
and with him is plenteous redemption;
And he will redeem Israel
from all their iniquities.
Let’s wait for the Lord today
to see how God’s Grace
invites us to
the righteousness of Love.
Poetry: Measurement by Ella Hines Stratton
Great tasks are but seldom given out,
Great deeds are but for the few,
Yet the little acts, not talked about,
May need a faith as true.Some things are better for being small,
For a breath who wants a cyclone?
And the flower which would die in a water-fall
Grows bright with a drop alone.The small is not always a little thing—
The stroke of a pen may move
A crown from off the brow of a king,
A government from its groove.At times our measurement cannot be right,
For, when tried by the Master’s test,
So little a gift as a widow’s mite
Out-balances all the rest.And whether a thing be great or small
As none of us may plan,
It is safe to do, what we do at all,
The very best that we can.
Music: Everlasting Love – Mark Hendrickson & Family (Lyrics below)
Lavish Mercy 