Jesus is offering healing for our souls: the grace to hear His command and do it.
In the Gospel at today’s Mass, our Lord’s teaching is direct to the point of bluntness: “Be merciful … as your Father is merciful. … Forgive, and you will be forgiven” (Luke. 6:36-38). Simple, perhaps. But hard to hear. For we know, if we are honest with ourselves, there are many times we have not shown mercy. We have not forgiven. And there’s more, too: We find ourselves at the beginning of the Second Week of Lent. Only eleven days have passed since we made our good resolutions on Ash Wednesday: to take up some prayer, to fast a little, and to give alms. But how are we doing? Maybe we have forgotten; it slipped our minds. There’s so much to do. Concerns and worries for the health of family and friends. A terrible, blood-soaked war. In the light of all these problems, what good will a few Lenten disciplines do me or anyone else? What, really, is the point of all this?
Jesus’ teaching in the Gospel is tough. But our Lord — through His Holy Church — gives us hope. In today’s Collect (the prayer which the Priest offers at the beginning of Mass), the Church addresses God and says He “has taught us to chasten our bodies for the healing of our souls.” To chasten is to restrain, to discipline. And so the point of these Lenten practices? To heal our souls. This is the hope the Church’s prayer finds as she addresses her Master: while our consciences condemn us for our failures when we are confronted by Jesus’ teaching in the Gospel, we know He has made a way for us. That is the point of Lent. Healing our souls. Strengthening our hearts.
With the grace of Christ, we set ourselves to chasten, restrain, and discipline ourselves this Lent with prayer, fasting, and alms giving. Let us renew our resolve to keep those good resolutions from Ash Wednesday. For if we do, Jesus is offering healing for our souls: the grace to hear His command — Be merciful; Forgive — and to do it.