Saturday of 3rd Week of Lent – Hos 5:15-6:6; Luke 18:9-14
Life can feel a bit like a battleground sometimes, can’t it? We see the wounds that sin inflicts, and we hear that nagging voice of Satan, lurking like a thief. But here’s a thought that’s hard to wrap our heads around: God sometimes strikes us, too. It’s not exactly what we’d expect from a loving Father, right? Yet, the Shepherd of Hermas puts it this way – God won’t leave us until He’s refined us, even if it means breaking us a little.
It is a paradox, for sure. God seems to use sharp words and tough love to get through to us because He longs for our hearts, not just our rituals. When He says He’s torn us apart, it’s like saying He’s trying to rebuild us into something new – something beautiful.
So, does a God of mercy belong in a warlike language? Maybe it’s our view of mercy that’s a bit skewed. God doesn’t wait for wounds to heal on their own; He fights for us while there’s still hope, showing us that love sometimes wears the face of challenge. So, let’s embrace the struggle, knowing that something amazing is being crafted in us.
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).
