Mercy, not sacrifice

First Reading: Isaiah 38:1-6,21-22,7-8
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 38
Gospel: Matthew 12:1-8

Glory be to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.

In the gospel today, the words of our savior are very clear; "I desire mercy, not sacrifice." When the Pharisees are coming down on the disciples for breaking the sabbath, Jesus points out their mindset of judging and condemning others. Jesus came to show us great mercy in our lives. I think that the first reading is an excellent example of God's abundant mercy. In the first reading Hezekiah is dying and he prays and weeps to the Lord. The Lord speaks through the prophet Isaiah to tell Hezekiah that "I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you..." Wow, what a God of mercy we serve! There are times when we think that no one is listening and that no one hears our prayers, but God does. He is always there listening and ready to show his great mercy.

In the gospel today instead of judging his disciples, Jesus shows them mercy and declares this to the Pharisees. Shouldn't we do the same in our own lives? What if instead of judging people, we decided to treat them with the same unending mercy that we are shown every day. Aren't we all deserving of this type of treatment and respect?

We have all messed up and made many mistakes in our lives. And it is a very easy and bad habit that we can get into of pointing out the faults and mistakes of others instead of having an attitude of compassion. This is not to say that we should not face those who are sinning or that we should not address certain issues when we are in a position to do so, but we should treat those people with the respect they deserve as humans. One thing that I have come to love about the Catholic faith and something that I pray that I can always uphold and help protect is human dignity and the importance of life. We all are deserving of our dignity and and we are each created for a purpose, Jesus died for us all, who are we to judge a fellow person?

Father above, you created us with such a great capacity for goodness, let us act according to your will and act with compassion towards our fellow person. Let us learn from your Son that it is mercy that is the greater, not sacrifice. Let us see people as you see them so that we do not judge, but only love. We pray for those who are hurting and that they might turn to you for healing. Lord we ask this all through your name. Amen.