The Power of Mercy

Meditation for Saturday of the Second Week of Lent

(Micah 7:14-15, 18-20; Lk 15:1-3, 11-32)

Let us meditate on great mercy of God as given in the readings of today. God’s mercy and forgiveness is so powerful that it can pull a sinner back home. The prophet Micah extols God’s mercy and forgiveness, saying, “God does not retain His anger forever because He delights in mercy. He will again have compassion upon us, He will tread our iniquities under foot.” In the gospel, the parable of the prodigal son exposes the wretchedness of the sinner in contrast with the gratuitous life of who lives under the grace of the Father.

 

In all, we see how repentance begins and ends with God’s love and mercy. The love and generosity of the father exposed the selfishness of the prodigal, and inspired him to trace his way back home. Contrition and repentance are the responsibility of the sinner and the response required of him. At the end of the journey, God’s mercy opens its arms to embrace him and welcome him back. His loves clothes him and restores his dignity as ‘son’, and an inheritor of the wealth of grace. Thus, every story of repentance is always a story of God’s mercy and forgiveness, as He has shown to our fathers from the days of old.

 

That is why this season of Lent helps us to be more aware of God’s mercy and forgiveness as we meditate on the cross of Christ and practice fasting, prayer and almsgiving. In our bodily discipline, we feel the wretchedness of the prodigal, tune our minds and hearts to God’s love and mercy, which He lavished upon us in Christ (cf. Eph 1:7-9). Then, we trace our steps, in humility and contrition, back to union with God. Amen.

 

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R

Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church,

Tedi-Muwo, Ojo, Lagos.

Saturday March 11^th, 2023.

www.nwachinwe.blogspot.com

18^th Lenten meditation