Commentary on the Gospel of
“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful”. These are the opening words of Jesus to his disciples in the Gospel of today. The ministry, passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ can as well be summed up in two words; love and mercy which seem to be two sides of the same coin. It is easy to give oneself the title of “child of God” or a follower of Christ i.e. “Christian”. But to resemble our father, to be a brother of Christ entails dropping behind the tendency to revenge, to be indifferent and hard-hearted, and taking up the daily task of conforming our lives to that of the Father who is constantly merciful.
This is an invitation to remodel our lives based on God’s mercy. When we judge and condemn, when we hold back forgiveness, when we give deaf ears to the cries of the homeless, the poor, the abandoned, when we contribute to the oppression of others, at those moments let us spare some time to ask; are we really children of the Father? We pray for the race to model our lives on Christ’s.
