Way
back on February 10, on Ash Wednesday, we started our journey with Jesus in the
desert for 40 days. That was more than a
month ago; we are getting close to the end of our journey. We
Catholics know that Lent is a special time of the year for us, a time of
repentance, renewal, and conversion. Pope Francis declared that this year he
wanted our Lenten journey during the Year of Mercy be a time when we live out
our Christian faith intensely as a privileged moment in which we celebrate and
experience God’s mercy in our lives.
As we
hear the Passion of Jesus from the Gospel of Luke in the midst of our Year of
Mercy, what struck me was the mercy and compassion Jesus had for the good thief
at his side even while Jesus himself was going through his own agonizing death
on the cross. While
the other Gospel narratives tell us that Jesus was crucified alongside two
revolutionaries, Luke’s Gospel tells us that these two men were thieves. Tradition has passed down the name of the good thief as Dismas and the other
unrepentant thief as Gestas. As
Jesus and these two men were dying on the cross, the unrepentant thief, Gestas,
taunted Jesus along with the rest of the crowd: “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us.” Dismas
rebukes this other thief, telling him: “Have you no fear of God, for you are
subject to the same condemnation?...The sentence we received corresponds to our
crimes, but this man (Jesus) has done nothing criminal.” This
good thief then addresses Jesus: “Remember
me when you come into your kingdom,” to which Jesus mercifully replies: “This
day you will be with me in paradise”
As we
reflect on our own lives as we prepare to enter Holy Week, we might realize
that there are some areas of our lives where we’re like Dismas, the repentant
thief, and in other areas we are like the other thief who mocks Jesus. In
some ways, St Dismas represents all of humanity in the way he approaches Jesus
as he’s dying on the cross. Yes,
all of us will face death one day. We
can see Jesus’ response to Dismas, in telling him that he will be with him in
paradise, as speaking to all of us who repent from our sins, to all of us who
place their trust in Jesus and in his pledge of salvation and eternal life. Pope
Francis has declared to us: “God never, ever gets tired of forgiving us! The
problem is that we get tired of asking for forgiveness… The loving Father always
forgives….He has a heart of mercy for all of us. [That is how] we can learn to
be merciful with others.”
Isaiah today stated that God had given him a well-trained tongue so that he
could speak inspiring words to the weary. There
may be times in our lives when we feel like we are carrying a cross that’s too
heavy to bear. We
may feel weary in the challenges that we facing in our family life, in the
workplace, in school, or in a prayer life that no longer inspires us. As we
enter Holy Week, we’re called to reflect about God’s mercy, to experience God’s
mercy, to share God’s mercy with others. In
the Triduum that we well commemorate in our liturgies this upcoming Thursday,
Friday and Saturday of Holy Week, God’s mercy will touch our hearts and our
lives in amazing ways if we are open to Him. Pope
Francis has said: “God’s mercy
transforms human hearts. It enables us,
through the experience of his faithful love, to become merciful in turn.” Let
us accept that invitation to open our hearts to God’s mercy in every area of
our lives.
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