what this means

Friday, July 17, 2009 Votive Mass of the Precious Blood

First Reading: Psalm: Gospel: Exodus 11:10 -- 12:14 Psalm 116:12-13, 15-18 Matthew 12:1-8

Matthew 12:7  And if you had known what this means, `I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless.

There comes a point when we have to have a sense of reality and not hold on to our own interpretations of the law.  Mercy is what Christ is all about, and that is what the temple was all about.  We want to make God’s mercy into our own laws to justify our own desires and power.  Mercy is necessary because none of us are without sin, and if condemn others, then we too are condemned. But Jesus still retained a sense of guiltless in his words.  There are those who, though they sin, are still guiltless and there are those who’s guilt remains.

Father, help me by your Holy Spirit to desire to show mercy as much as I want it for myself.

Amen