WelCom March 2024
The season of Lent invites Christians into a time of self-examination; to take ourselves through a ‘warrant of fitness’ test regarding our relationships with God and with one another. It is not meant to be a scary time, but rather one of gratefulness and gladness as we come to appreciate how loved we are – and how loving we can be – through the great gift of mercy.
James Lyons, Priest of the Archdiocese of Wellington
Mercy guides the pastoral ministry of Jesus. It has a restorative power greater than any medicine. He sets a standard for us when he says, Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Do not judge…; do not condemn. Forgive…. [Luke 6:36-38]
Mercy is more than tolerance. Mercy is even more than forgiveness. Mercy comes through eyes able to see beneath the hurt and the fault, to the weakness that led to the offence.
Mercy understands the awful emptiness within, and the powerlessness to change what has happened. Mercy does not excuse but enables justice to be true and fair. God’s mercy is a spontaneous outpouring of unconditional love, overwhelmingly generous.
Here are some prayers that might assist your own reflection on the wonder, power and purpose of mercy and help you more fully express your own gratefulness and gladness for this season of Lent.
Holy and merciful God:
Your loving gentleness
breaks the hardness of our pride
and heals my reluctance
to see the good
in others or to accept their sorrow.
I open myself to your mercy
that, knowing your forgiveness,
I might open my heart
to share your life-giving gift
of pardon and peace.
Compassionate Companion:
You are the parent who cannot
forget the child of her womb.
You are the mother hen whose wings
shelter and protect her little ones.
You are the eagle that hovers
and watches
and keeps safe the fledgling.
I entrust myself to you with
my weakness, my sickness
my faults and my failings.
Guard me, guide me.
Companion me home.
O God, ever patient, ever hoping:
You stand at the door and knock,
prepared to keep knocking.
You watch the road for any sign
of your returning child.
You pray through the night that those
you love might be safe in the storm.
Help me to see your longing and
to hear the breaking of your heart;
to feel the warmth of your love and
to open myself to your welcome.
I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful. [Jeremiah 3:11]
Anger threatens, terrifies.
Anger forgoes reason
Anger belittles, humiliates
and is blind to justice.
Thank you loving God
that your ways are not as mine are.
I seek vengeance when I am hurt
and demand my rights when wronged.
I build walls from my rage
and shut my ears to cries of sorrow.
You reach out with open arms.
You give me chance after chance.
Your mercy knows no bounds.
Change my ways to yours
that I might gift the mercy
with which you have gifted me.
He will not break a bruised reed or quench a smouldering wick [Matthew 12:20]
Gentleness, tolerance, patience –
these are your marks O God and
the qualities seen in the life of Jesus.
Surely a revelation of great beauty;
an invitation to boundless hope.
Thank you, wonderful God
for the forgiveness you hold out to me,
for the love you have for me,
for the time you give me.
May my forgiving and loving be as yours
and my time a gift to you, to serve with
gentleness, tolerance and patience.
