First Day / Monday, July 25th

Parable of the Sinful Woman

(Luke 7.36-50)

Jesus said to the Pharisee, “Do you see this woman? When I entered your house, you did not give me water for my feet, but she has bathed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but she has not ceased kissing my feet since the time I entered. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she anointed my feet with ointment. So I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven because she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.”

Pope Francis’s Commentary

   The Pharisee cannot fathom why Jesus would let himself be “contaminated” by sinners.… This attitude is typical of a certain way of understanding religion, and it is based on the fact that God and sin are radically opposed. The Word of God, however, teaches us to distinguish sin from the sinner….  

   …We are all sinners, but too often we fall into the temptation of hypocrisy, of believing ourselves to be better than others….  But we all need to look to our own sins, our own shortcomings, our own mistakes, and to look to the Lord. This is the lifeline of salvation: the relation between the “I” of the sinner and the Lord. If I feel I am righteous, there is no saving relationship.
(General Audience. April 20, 2016)

Examination of Conscience

The problem with mercy is that we, like the Pharisee, often think it ought to be reserved to those who deserve it.

Can you think of instances in which you withhold mercy because you don’t think the other person deserves it?

Today’s Prayer

Divine God of Mercy, help us always remember that you care for us as a mother cares for her children, even when we least deserve it.  Help us to be merciful to others, even when they least deserve it.