Friday 23 February 2018
Day of Abstinence. [St Polycarp].
Ezekiel 18:21-28. Psalm 129(130). Matthew 5:20-26.
If you, O Lord, laid bare our guilt, who could endure it? — Psalm 129(130).
Go first and be reconciled with your neighbour.
Experience teaches us that brooding on a breach in our relationship with another only reinforces the problem. Far better would it be, in times of silent prayer, to plan a lead to reconciliation. Fr Joseph Nasal recommends that we bring to such hurtful situations an attitude of ‘premeditated mercy’—a willingness to take the initiative in restoring the broken relationship even though we ourselves may be demonstrably the innocent party.
Pope Francis urges all the faithful to live out in their daily lives ‘the mercy which the Father constantly extends to us all’. What more effective way to celebrate that mercy during this Lenten season than to avail ourselves of the sacrament of reconciliation with a grateful heart.
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