Lamb Of God, Have Mercy On Us
30th Sunday in Ordinary Time
“The Lord hears the cry of the poor.”Ps. 34
Most of the prayers of the Mass must come from a very humble heart, that is to say that it is in the truth, that it recognizes its extreme need for God and its own helplessness and inability to live by itself in the grace of God, in the divine life that God wants for us, and therefore. humbly and insistently implores God for forgiveness, mercy, peace that the world cannot give and that if He does not give us, we could not have.
In order to not remain in a superficial prayer and only with lips, we must reach that being in the truth, because humility, like faith, cannot be had only for the moment of Mass, as an external garment that one puts on when enter and removes when exiting; we need to have a living faith, as the habitual way of seeing life and of living. Thus, humility is also the truth in which we should live habitually, so that at Mass our prayer may be sincere and comes from the heart.
The prayer of the Penitential Act catches my attention. Let’s think about each phrase of the I Confess, and in the Lord have mercy that we say 3 times, just like the Lamb of God have mercy on us… Do I really know I’m a sinner? Do I recognize that I need his forgiveness, even if I don’t deserve it? Do I know myself truly in need of him, of his pity, mercy and peace from him? Am I aware that the most desired gifts such as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, self-control, freedom from sin are fruits of the Holy Spirit and that I can never achieve without truly opening myself to Him?
Let us see our reality from the eyes of heaven, where everyone is aware of the truth, of God, lives in holiness, does not want to hide anything, detests all sin…; On the other hand, in this world it can be said that the natural state is to be hidden, unknown, ignored. This is how we are born, knowing nothing, and in all our lives we get to know very little about reality, neither of this world nor of the other. No one knows what goes through anyone’s head. We don’t even know how we are in physical health. We need to resort to hundreds of possible analyzes to know each possible disease, because everything is hidden from our eyes, including our own and others’ truth that we need to discover one by one. You do not know how you stand before God, nor do you know how many talents you received or how many you have buried. You don’t even know yourself, you don’t know how many lies and prejudice your heart harbors, how much selfishness and coldness… Only God sees hearts. Be humble and express yourself like the tax collector: have mercy on me, I am a sinner.
This reality of short-sightedness, clumsiness, limitation, fragility of physical life, which can end at any moment, without us noticing or knowing, should lead us to a living faith, to a true humility that would translate into obedience to God, trust in Him, for we cannot rely on ourselves. He alone is the rock on which we can firmly base our lives. Without Him, we are worthy of compassion, infirmes = sick, in sin, in darkness, without discernment or light to see the truth of anything. From these truths comes the humility of the person of prayer, Have mercy on my Lord, for I am a sinner; a humble heart that knows of his need for God and blindly trusts in Him.
Readings for the Week
Monday: Eph 4:32 — 5:8; Ps 1:1-4, 6; Lk 13:10-17
Tuesday: Eph 5:21-33 or 5:2a, 25-33; Ps 128:1-5; Lk 13:18-21
Wednesday: Eph 6:1-9; Ps 145:10-14; Lk 13:22-30
Thursday: Eph 6:10-20; Ps 144:1b, 2, 9-10; Lk 13:31-35
Friday: Eph 2:19-22; Ps 19:2-5; Lk 6:12-16
Saturday: Phil 1:18b-26; Ps 42:2, 3, 5cdef; Lk 14:1, 7-11
Sunday: Wis 11:22 — 12:2; Ps 145:1-2, 8-11, 13-14; 2 Thes 1:11 — 2:2; Lk 19:1-10
Saints & Special Observances
Sunday: 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time; Mission Sunday
Monday: St. Anthony Mary Claret
Friday: Ss. Simon and Jude