"Jesus Christ is the face of the Father's mercy"

From Pope Francis's 2015 papal bull, "Misericordiae Vultus",

In Jesus's life, God's compassionate love is made visible

and tangible for humanity, revealing His merciful nature to us. 

 

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊     

2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16

When the king

Had settled in his palace and the Lord had rid him of all his surrounding enemies,

he said to Nathan the prophet, "Look, I live in a house of cedar but the Ark of God is housed in a tent."

Nathan replied, "Do as it seems fit to you for the Lord is with you."

But that very night, the Lord's word came to Nathan, "Go and tell my servant David,

this is what the Lord says: Are you able to build a house for me to live in?

 

Now you will tell my servant David, this is what the Lord of Hosts says:

I took you from the pasture, from tending the sheep, to make you commander of my people Israel.

I have been with you wherever you went, cutting down all your enemies before you.

Now I will make your name great, as the name of the great ones on earth.

I will provide a place for my people Israel and plant them that they may live there in peace.

They shall no longer be harassed, nor shall wicked men oppress them as before.

 

From the time when I appointed judges over my people Israel it is only to you that

I have given rest from all your enemies. The Lord also tells you that he will build you a house.

When the time comes for you to rest with your ancestors,

I will raise up your son after you, the one born of you; and I will make his reign secure.

I will be a father to him and he shall be my son. If he does wrong, I will punish him with the rod, as men do.

Your house and your reign shall last forever before me, and your throne shall be forever firm."

 

Ps 89:2-3, 4-5, 27 & 29 (2a) 

For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

 

＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊      

Luke 1:67-79

Zechariah, filled with the Holy Spirit, sang this canticle:

"Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has come and redeemed his people.

In the house of David his servant, he has raised up for us a victorious Savior;

as he promised through his prophets of old, salvation from our enemies and from the hand of our foes.

 

He has shown mercy to our fathers; and remembered his holy Covenant, the oath he swore to Abraham,

our father, to deliver us from the enemy, that we might serve him fearlessly,

as a holy and righteous people, all the days of our lives.

And you, my child, shall be called Prophet of the Most High, for you shall go before the Lord,

to prepare the way for him, and to enable his people to know of their salvation, when he comes to forgive their sins.

This is the work of the mercy of our God, who comes from on high, as a rising sun,

shining on those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, and guiding our feet into the way of peace."

 

Gospel Reflection ：

"Jesus Christ is the face of the Father's mercy."

Saint John of Avila has a beautiful image of Christ as sunlight.

He said that just as light can get through even the tiniest crack,

so Christ can enter our lives even through the smallest of opportunities and scatter the darkness.

 

John the Baptist's name pointed to God's merciful desire to save his people.

Now, this mercy "comes from on high" and takes flesh in the womb of Mary,

thus making her the ark of the New Covenant. And so, "Jesus Christ is the face of the Father's mercy" (Misericordiae vultus, 1).

 

He is the mercy of God at work and in person.

We are to look to Christ and follow his light "into the way of peace." Christ comes as the "rising sun,"

who scatters the darkness of sin and death,

and whose coming proclaims the dawn of a new age, one which is rooted in Christ's victory.

 

Sunlight can get through the tiniest crack. We are never to doubt the power of

God's loving mercy no matter the extent of our sinfulness. Darkness cannot overpower light.

Nor can our sins overpower God's loving forgiveness, if we open the door even just a crack.