Monday, 17 March 2025 – Monday of the 2nd week of Lent
HOMILY
Dear brothers and sisters,
Conversion, as presented to us in the Gospels, has two essential elements: firstly, the conviction of being a sinner, of having been unfaithful to the love of God, and of being in need of forgiveness and healing, and secondly, the no less strong conviction that God is merciful, that he desires nothing other than to forgive us and that he wants us to return to him. We find all this in this beautiful text from the prophet Daniel: ‘Shame on us... for we have sinned... To the Lord our God, mercy and forgiveness.’
If God is so good to us, we obviously have to be good to each other. This is the recommendation that Jesus gives us in the Gospel we have just read: ‘Be compassionate just as your Father is compassionate.’ This compassion means not judging or condemning. It also means being ready to give and to give of ourselves. All the more so as our capacity to receive is equal to our capacity to give. That is why Jesus says, ‘The measure you give will be the measure you get back.’
This last sentence of Jesus must be understood correctly. Above all, it should not be understood as if God were an accountant and had programmed his computer to calculate the extent to which each of us gives to others and apply the same rule to us. No! the meaning is quite different. In reality, God is always eager not only to give us life in abundance and everything we could possibly need, but also to give Himself to us without reserve, just as He gave us His Son. It is we who limit our capacity to receive by limiting our openness to giving.
Today we commemorate Saint Patrick.
Armand Veilleux