Saturday of 3rd Week of Lent – Hos 5:15-6:6; Luke 18:9-14
He struck and he injured. We know that Satan is a robber prowling on the road from Jericho. We also know that sin is a wound. But the fact that God can strike, and hurt people is unimaginable. Although. . . the ancient Shepherd of Hermas sensed this when he wrote about God who will not abandon us until He breaks and crushes our bones.
A paradox, yes? God fights with man for man. “I have torn them to pieces by the prophets, why I slaughtered them with the words of my mouth, since what I want is love, not sacrifice.” So, I gave shape to your humanity, I killed the old man so that a new one could finally be born.
Does the language of war fit the image of a God full of mercy? Or is our understanding of mercy distorted? God knows that it is not enough to wait for the moment when wounds can be healed. Because sometimes it may be too late. He fights while there is still time. . .
God of great mercy, who deigned to send us Your only-begotten Son as the greatest proof of unfathomable love and mercy, you do not reject sinners, but out of Your unfathomable mercy you have also opened to them a treasure from which they can draw in abundance not only justification, but also all the holiness to which the soul can come. Father of great mercy, I want all hearts to turn with trust to Your infinite mercy. No one will justify himself before You unless he is accompanied by Your unfathomable mercy. When You reveal to us the mystery of Your mercy, eternity will not be enough to thank You properly for it” (Saint Faustina, Diary 1122).