SUNDAY, SIXTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
Wis 12: 13, 16-19 Ps 86: 5-6, 9-10, 15-16 Rom 8: 26-27 Mt 13: 24-43
THE STRENGTH OF GOD IS MERCY
Today’s readings reveal a God whose power is expressed through mercy, whose justice seeks restoration, and whose love remains faithful.
Almighty God is Merciful:
All religions of the world seem to attribute knowledge and strength to be the primary characteristics of God. Although God is powerful enough to destroy, He acts with great forbearance and lenient judgment. Judeo-Christian religion presents God to be just and merciful through historical references. However, In the Old Testament God is referred to as Father because he is our Creator, who made us and formed us (ref. Deut 32:6). Prophet Isaiah (ref. 64:8) presents God as the Master Potter with the authority to mold us, while we are the pliable clay in His hands as a reminder that we need to surrender to Him in trust and humility. Emphasizing the necessity to undergoing Lord’s discipline without resenting his rebuke, because a father’s love for a child is tested and purified through discipline (ref. Prov 3:11-12). So, rebellion in different forms was part of human experience that our Creator God kept warning about and disciplining appropriately.
A Faithful God:
Today’s first reading speaks about the love and care of God for all. It highlights God’s absolute sovereignty, care for all, and leniency in punishing the guilty. God’s righteousness is aimed at making us righteous by being merciful in the process of correcting and punishing us. It explains that God’s power is the source of justice, allowing Him to be lenient, act with care rather than harshness, and provide opportunities for repentance. God shows that mercy and forgiveness is the characteristics of the strong. By acting with mercy, God teaches us that the just must be kind and He offers us the opportunity to repent, that is, turn to God with trust and confidence as St Therese teaches us in her Little Way. As children we are invited to resemble our Creator for he teaches us by deeds that those who are righteous must be kind to others (Ref Wis 12:19).
New Testament Spirituality:
There is only one spirituality, that is the Spirituality of the Holy Spirit. God is the same in the Old and New Testament. His love, mercy and faithfulness are consistent regardless of our actions. We see in Jesus, the power of God’s love and mercy. If the book of Wisdom reminds us about God’s compassion and mercy, the Parable of the Mustard Seed echoes the same message of God’s faithfulness that does not exclude anyone from his love and mercy. Even though God does not restrict our freedom, when we sin and wander far away from him, he keeps inviting us to turn to him and experience his life and love. That is what St Irenaeus declares that glory of God is human person fully alive. When sin fragments our life, when we turn to the Lord and rely on his love and mercy, our life becomes full and peace flows in our thoughts, words and deeds.
The World and the Kingdom of God:
Jesus made it clear that we, the disciples, are in the world but not of it (ref. Jn 17:14-16). The Gospel of the Kingdom of God is revealed to us by Jesus, the King, by his life of love, mercy and compassion. We have received his mercy and love, so we are being commanded to transmit that which we have received freely. We may find evil in the world, but we cannot be part of it. United with Jesus, in the Holy Spirit, we continue His mission. As St Paul reminds us that God’s faithfulness is not based on our performance, but on His unchanging character, allowing for restoration and grace even after our failures. God remains faithful even when we fail to remain faithful to Him, for God is true to his promise and He does not alter his own nature (ref. 2Tim 2:13). Therefore, unlike any other religious teaching, Christian spirituality is of God’s self emptying love that desire to make us partakers of divine life by cleansing us by the precious blood of the Lamb of God. Thus the Good Shepherd, Jesus, becomes the Lamb, and makes us adopted children of our Creator God. This is the absolute affirmation we hear that “None among the gods can equal you, O Lord; nor can their deeds compare to yours” (Ps 86:8).
Response: Lord, you are good and forgiving.
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