Reflection 1 - Mercy

Luke 15 – The Gospel of Mercy       

      

          

In today’s Gospel according to the Syro- Malabar liturgical calendar, the Church gives us the parable of the lost coin in Luke 15:8-10

Bible scholars would say this chapter (Luke 15) as the gospel of Mercy, for the Father’s mercy is explicit in the Parables of the lost sheep, lost coin and the lost son (or the prodigal son). Based on today’s Gospel passage (Lk 15:8-10), I would like invite you to meditate on three points:

v  God, rich in Mercy – The word Mercy is a quite familiar word for all of us. We are praying for mercy of God every day; especially in the Divine Liturgy, we are repeating this prayer “Lord, have mercy upon us.” Also our Pope Francis declared the coming year as the “Year of Mercy.”

What is Mercy? We can define Mercy as “The Love of God to sinners.” If there is no sinfulness there is no point in speaking about Mercy. This gives us an insight about the heart of God.

We all are sinners and so God is showing his immense mercy towards each one of us. But we have to experience His Mercy and Love personally. Then only we are able to show mercy to others.

But we human beings are frail, by nature. We often fail in our lives and we may commit mistakes. But what is important is we have to rely on God’s Mercy and come to His side as the children of God; that is why we have the Sacraments.

v  Everyone is precious before God –Every person in this world is worthy and valuable in the eyes of God. Everybody is precious for Him, however degraded his/her condition may be. That is why, in today’s Gospel, the woman is searching for just a silver coin. That silver coin is really a treasure for her. Thus we ought to do like our heavenly Father; that is to love our neighbors without any discrimination. Unless we are not showing mercy to our fellow brothers, we have no right to expect Mercy from God.

v  We have to search for the lost ones – Jesus told this parable to the Pharisees and the Scribes (Lk 15:3) Thus it is not only intended to show God’s Mercy, but also it is for the benefit of the religious leaders. We, seminarians, priests and religious are the leaders of the people of God. So we are not supposed to be satisfied with the nine or ninety-nine who stand with us, but we have to spend time searching for the lost ones and bring them back to the House.

Bro.  Shinto Cleatus