God is Mercy
Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord
“My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”Ps. 22
God is love, forgiveness, and kindness, that is why He is not an accomplice to evil and sin, and He came to free us from it, to show us the path of life as a journey of effort and commitment to pleasing Him and freeing ourselves from the sin that harms us, others, and God.
Because He is love, He does not want you to harm yourself by harming your brother, nor does He want you to harm your brother in any way, because He is also love. God is not an accomplice to evil, theft, murder, or any abuse, precisely because He is love; on the contrary, He is the best ally of your brothers for your good, for their physical and spiritual well-being, and your best ally for the good of your brothers.
He is love, He is just, and an inseparable friend of all goods and virtues. Like a good father who loves his children, He cannot be indifferent to the leprosy of our sin, and therefore He wants to heal us, give us growth, take us out of selfish disorder, ignorance, and darkness into which we tend to plunge. But what good would it do for someone to have all the neighbors as doctors if they do not go to any of them for consultation? Or if they do not open the door when they come to help in their illness? If one does not receive the love of the one who loves them the most, if one does not believe in Him, it does not benefit them, even if it is the greatest and most sincere love that can exist.
One only benefits from what one knows and believes; and what is not known or believed is not valued. That is why we need to open our hearts to that divine love that loves us infinitely, as He showed us in everything, from His incarnation to His death on the cross and resurrection; even though we do not deserve it, even though we are great sinners, but precisely because He loves us, He wants to free us from harmful addictions, vices, and sins that harm and destroy us, because He wants the best for us, true happiness and fulfillment, like any mother or father who loves their child.
He also wants us to be understanding, kind, and edifying with the clumsiness and sins of our neighbor. It is the new commandment, to love one another as I have loved you, as the code of the new Covenant, in the Last Supper sealed with His blood to give us His forgiveness. That is why He asks us:
“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful… do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven.”Luke 6:36s
As He will also tell us after giving us the Our Father, emphasizing forgiveness, since the lack of forgiveness comes from daring pride:
“If you do not forgive others, neither will my Father forgive you.”Mt 6:14s
It is the first step to rebuild the person, but out of love, you do not want to leave them on the wrong path, that is why Jesus said to the sinner, as He says to you today: Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more.
Weekly Readings
Sunday: Mk 11:1-10 or Un 12:12-16/Is 50:4-7/Ps 22:8-9, 17-18, 19-20, 23-24 (2a)/Phil 2:6-11/Mk 14:1—15:47 or 15:1-39
Monday: Is 42:1-7/Ps 27:1, 2, 3, 13-14/Jn 12:1-11
Tuesday: Is 49:1-6/Ps 71:1-2, 3-4a, 5ab-6ab, 15 and 17/Jn 13:21-33, 36-38
Wednesday: Is 50:4-9a/Ps 69:8-10, 21-22, 31 and 33-34/Mt 26:14-25
Thursday:
Chrism Mass: Is 61:1-3a, 6a, 80-9/Ps 89:21-22, 25 and 27/Rv 1:5-8/Lk 4:16-21
Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper: Ex 12:1-8, 11-14/Ps 116:12-13, 15-16bc, 17-18 (see 1 Cor 10:16)/1 Cor 11:23-26/Jn 13:1-15
Friday: Is 52:13-53:12/Ps 31:2, 6, 12-13, 15-16, 17, 25 (Lk 23:46)/Heb 4:14-16; 5:7-9/Jn 18:1—19:42
Saturday:
Easter Vigil: Gn 1:1-2:2 or 1:1, 26-31a/Ps 104:1-2, 5-6, 10, 12, 13-14, 24, 35 (30) or Ps 33:4-5, 6-7, 12-13, 20-22 (5b)/Gn 22:1-18 or 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18/Ps 16:5, 8, 9-10, 11 (1)/Ex 14:15—15:1/ Ex 15:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 17-18 (1b)/Is 54:5-14/Ps 30:2, 4, 5-6, 11-12, 13 (2a)/ls 55:1-11/ls 12:2-3, 4, 5-6 (3)/Bar 3:9-15, 32—4:4/Ps 19:8, 9, 10, 11 (Jn 6:68c)/Ez 36:16-17a, 18-28/Ps 42:3, 5; 43:3, 4 (42:2)/Rom 6:3-11/Mk 16:1-7
Next Sunday: Acts 10:34a, 37-43/Ps 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23 (24)/Col 3:1-4 or 1 Cor 5:6b-8/Jn 20:1-9 or Mk 16:1-7
Observances for the Week
Sunday: Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord, Holy Week begins
Thursday: Holy Thursday
Friday: Good Friday
Saturday: Holy Saturday
Next Sunday: Easter Sunday