Blog Post 4/13/2022 Holy Week

 

Holy Week

 

Bishop Barron offers us a reflection on Luke 6:36-38, it can help us focus our Holy Week preparations for Easter.

 

“Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus calls us to “be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Mercy or tender compassion (chesed in the Hebrew of the Old Testament) is God’s most distinctive characteristic.  St. Augustine reminded us that we are, by our very nature, ordered to God.  But since God is tender mercy, “having” God is tantamount to exercising compassion, being merciful ourselves.… Jesus said… “Stop judging and you will not be judged.  Stop condemning and you will not be condemned.  Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give and gifts will be given to you….

 

If you want to be happy, Jesus is saying, this divine love, this chesed of God, must be central to your life; it must be your beginning, your middle, and your end.”

 

Tender compassion [chesed] is at the heart of our faith and at the heart of God. 

 

Our Lady of Perpetual Help, intercede for us.

St. Michael, ask God to help the Ukrainians.

May God Be Praised and your day be Blessed.

 

“God of Peace, in Lent you draw us together to witness the depth of your love for us. Allow that love now to intercede in the invasion of Ukraine. Rescue your children. Unite our family. End this war.”  Amen. [Tatyana Borodina]

 

And with St. Francis de Sales let us remember, "We shall steer safely through every storm, so long as our heart is right, our intention fervent, our courage steadfast, and our trust fixed on God."