“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” – Luke 6:36

I just went through a tough and painful week. In two separate cases, certain relationships in my life broke down and harsh words were said. 

Then my Didache assignment came with the passage above. I was left convicted amid the hurt. Amid a cancel culture, Jesus calls us to make room for mercy. Just because you don’t see eye to eye with someone, or you disagree over an issue, or even if they have wronged you, as followers of Christ, we can’t operate in a way that offers zero grace, zero mercy, zero forgiveness, zero chance of redemption or reconciliation. 

With Peter’s triple denial of Jesus, Christ could have canceled Peter. But He didn’t. He chose to make room for mercy for Peter—for their relationship to be reconciled and for him to be redeemed.

That said, I am making room for mercy. I pray that when you read this, mercy has prevailed in my life and in yours. 

Mike Viñas (mikemichaelfcv@yahoo.com) 

reflect

This may help counter cancel culture: St. Maximus the Confessor said, “He who busies himself with the sins of others, or judges his brother on suspicion, has not yet even begun to repent or to examine himself so as to discover his own sins.”

Lord Jesus, grant us the grace not to sever relationships, but to save them, and bring them to You, our Savior.

St. Agnes of Bohemia, pray for us.

Today’s reading is Daniel’s cry of repentance on behalf of the Jewish people. It seems as though they have strayed from the covenant of Moses. Are there are times when you also feel you have strayed away from the Lord? We should never despair. Our God is merciful and forgiving, and never holds a grudge or refuses to forgive.

⁴ “Lord, great and awesome God, you who keep your merciful covenant toward those who love you and observe your commandments! ⁵ We have sinned, been wicked and done evil; we have rebelled and departed from your commandments and your laws. ⁶ We have not obeyed your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers, and all the people of the land. ⁷ Justice, O Lord, is on your side; we are shamefaced even to this day: we, the men of Judah, the residents of Jerusalem, and all Israel, near and far, in all the countries to which you have scattered them because of their treachery toward you. ⁸ O Lord, we are shamefaced, like our kings, our princes, and our fathers, for having sinned against you. ⁹ But yours, O Lord, our God, are compassion and forgiveness! Yet we rebelled against you ¹⁰ and paid no heed to your command, O Lord, our God, to live by the law you gave us through your servants the prophets.”

Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 79:8, 9, 11, 13

R: Lord, do not deal with us according to our sins.

⁸ Remember not against us the iniquities of the past; may your compassion quickly come to us, for we are brought very low. (R) ⁹ Help us, O God our savior, because of the glory of your name; deliver us and pardon our sins for your name’s sake. (R) ¹¹ Let the prisoners’ sighing come before you; with your great power free those doomed to death. ¹³ Then we, your people and the sheep of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever; through all generations we will declare your praise. (R)

Gospel | Luke 6:36-38

Let us be careful not to fall into the trap of judging others. Otherwise, we will begin to think we are better than others, and pride will become firmly entrenched in us. We are only able to live good lives through the mercy and grace of God. Pride is a dangerous temptation, so let us keep it far from us.

Gospel Acclamation

Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life; you have the words of everlasting life.

³⁶ Jesus said to his disciples: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. ³⁷ “Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. ³⁸ Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.”

Reflect

“It’s true he was a sinner. But don’t pass so final a judgment. Have pity in your heart and don’t forget that he may yet be an Augustine, while you remain just another mediocrity.” (St. Josemaria Escriva)

Read the Bible in one year! Read 2 JOHN today.

In today’s First Reading, Daniel does not merely confess sins; he proclaims who God is: “compassionate and forgiving.” It is a reminder that repentance is not simply a matter of listing failures, but of returning to a relationship with a faithful and merciful God. Confession, in the biblical sense, is about remembering who God has always been—the One who never tires of calling us back.

Yet, in practice, many approach confession as if it were little more than a legal transaction: admit the fault, receive the pardon, move on. We walk away perhaps relieved, but secretly resigned to the belief that nothing within us has truly changed. But that is not the heart of this sacrament. The grace we receive is not just for the forgiveness of past sins; it is for the transformation of our lives. 

Confession, then, is not just a reset; it is a rebirth—the means by which God pours new strength into us to grow in holiness. The mercy of God does not simply erase; it recreates. Confession is supposed to make us walk away believing more in what God can do than in what we have failed to do.

Remember that real repentance involves more than regret; it involves hope—hope that even if the path ahead remains difficult, God’s Spirit within us is stronger than our weakness. Hope that the mercy we receive is an active, living force transforming us from within.

Today, the invitation is clear: not just to confess what we have done, but to trust that God is renewing us, that every confession is a new beginning. If we can walk away from confession believing that we are being changed, then the sacrament will bear its full fruit in us. We will not only have peace with our past; we will have courage for our future. 

Fr. Albert Garong, SSP

reflection question

When you confess your sins, do you also believe that God’s grace can truly transform your heart?

Lord, help me trust not only in Your forgiveness but also in Your power to renew me. Amen.

Today, I pray for: ________________________________________________