“Being open to God's loving mercy ”

VATICAN - AVE MARIA: Mgr. Luciano Alimandi -

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - Lent is an exceptional time of mercy. The Word of God and the prayers in daily Mass stress the primacy of love over sin: God saves through his loving mercy, manifested in the Son of God, Our Lord Jesus! He came first of all to forgive us and reconcile us with the Father, but this is only possible if we too live the supreme law of love of mutual forgiveness with others.

"'Lord, how often must I forgive my brother if he wrongs me?" (Mt 18,21) Simon Peter asks Jesus, as if to say that there should be a limit to forgiveness. "How often", we often say ourselves. Jesus' answer is always the same: "always" (Lk 18,22)! We could say that the teaching to which the Lord devoted most care, energy and insistence, was that of mercy. Is it not the most important? And were not the apostles reluctant to live mercy in daily life, just as we are today? The Lord leaves no room for compromise and warns: "And that is how my heavenly Father will deal with you unless you each forgive your brother from your heart." (Mt 18,35), referring in the parable of the merciless servant, to the punishment he receives because he refuses to forgive his neighbor.

Mercy is only such when it is practiced. And indeed Jesus announced mercy with indelible facts and words which shine with the brilliance of love which forgives everything.

Mercy, or compassion, which does not lead to forgiveness would be false, and therefore in his prayer Jesus says "forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us " (Mt 6,12). He identifies Christian perfection with the imitation of divine mercy " Be compassionate just as your Father is compassionate" (Lk 6,36). His whole mission is one of great compassion which spreads everywhere. Jesus openly rebukes those who thwart God's mercy with their behavior. These people are like " 'The scribes and the Pharisees occupy the chair of Moses. You must therefore do and observe what they tell you; but do not be guided by what they do, since they do not practice what they preach." (Mt 23, 2-3).

The heart of Christ's teaching on God's loving mercy is the parable of the 'Merciful Father' or the 'Prodigal Son'. Every time we read it we find something new about the most consoling and wondrous truth: God is the Father of infinite loving mercy!
The parable starts like this : " 'There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, "Father, let me have the share of the estate that will come to me" (Lk 15,12). The son leaves his father for the world, spends all his money on sin, and even loses his dignity, when he is penniless and tends to pigs without being able to eat their fodder, "no one gave him any" (Lk 15,16). After reaching the bottom, with an act of humility, he "came to his senses" (Lk 15,17) and he comes over the hill so as not to suffocate from the brutal absence of mercy. The sinner who refuses to ask forgiveness, falls ever lower, like a stone sinking into the sea. This happens to those who refuse to be reconciled with God and with others. The heart becomes heavy and only God's loving mercy can lift it up. Then we have the most beautiful act : " I will leave this place and go to my father and say: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you" (Lk 15,18). The Father, always looking out for him, runs to meet him and embraces him listening to his confession, and then, absolutely unexpectedly prepares a celebration with the best clothes and the most precious ring (cfr. Lk 15,20). Who could be like this: only the Father ! The elder son coming home from work hears music and rejoicing and " was angry and refused to go in" (cfr. Lk 15, 25-28). The Father comes out and begs him to join them (cfr. Lk 15, 28-29); but he refuses, he knows nothing about mercy because he knows nothing about the heart of the father!

In our hearts we are both of these sons: the voice of the younger one asking for forgiveness and the voice of the elder one which criticizes and judges his brother. These two voices "live side by side": sometimes we are the elder brother and sometimes we are the younger brother. We must let the voice of the Father grow louder than the other voices so that we may open to God's loving mercy.

The Holy Father Benedict XVI reminds us believers that to overcome contrast and division there is only one path the way of humility and love. When the Pope visited the Roman Seminary he commented a passage of the Letter to the Galatians which he also mentions in his recent Letter to the Church with regard to the lifting of the excommunication of the four Lefebvrian Bishops, and he said: " in the Letter there is mention of a slightly sad situation in the Galatians' community, when Paul says: "If you bite and devour one another take care that you are not consumed by one another.... Walk by the Spirit". (…) In this warning of St Paul we must also today find a reason for an examination of conscience: not to think ourselves above others, but to bring ourselves into Christ's humility, into Our Lady's humility, to enter into the obedience of faith. Precisely in this way does the great space of truth and freedom in love truly open before us too." (Benedict XVI, lectio divina on St Paul's Letter to the Galatians. Roman Seminary, 20 February 2009).

(Agenzia Fides 18/3/2009; righe 64, parole 966)