Reflections
“The Lord redeems your life from destruction,
crowns you with kindness and compassion.”
Our psalmist sings the praises of a divine
and loving God, who surrounds us with
compassion, pardons our sins, heals our ills.
He nurses no lasting anger; He has not dealt
with us as our sins deserve. Our duty is
to remain faithful to the Lord, and to treat
His anointed ones with love and compassion,
as He would do.
This Sunday's Gospel teaches a powerful and
difficult lesson – We are to be merciful to our
enemies by imitating the Father. The Psalm
tells us how, by being “Merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in kindness.”
Who can love their enemies, and do good to them?
It will be difficult if we allow our earthly nature
to rule us. Just as “God has not dealt with us
as our sins merit,” so must we imitate God and
have compassion on those we would typically
want to condemn.
We cannot imitate God without a share in Christ’s
divinity, and in turn being empowered by the holy
Spirit within us. Only then will we have the kind
of compassion the psalmist speaks about, “As a
father has compassion on his children, so the Lord
has compassion on the faithful.”
If we love the Lord, it will show in our hearts, and
the old things will then pass away. The Psalm says
it well: “As far as the east is from the west,
so far has He put our transgressions behind us.”
Amen
Discussion Questions for Reflection
1. Our Psalm speaks of a loving and compassionate God,
who does not deal with us according to our sins. Are you able
to treat those who have harmed you in the same way? Explain.
2. The verses of the Psalm remind us of the power of the
Sacrament of Reconciliation, "As far as the east is from the west,
so far has He put our transgressions behind us." Relate how the
Sacrament works for you to put your sins behind you.
ReplyDeleteIn Psalm 103:1 the words "Bless the Lord O my soul and all that is within me, bless His holy name" is
music to my ears, literally! Our choir in the cathedral I grew up in, sang that song every Sunday and it
was one of my favorites. To bless the Lord is to praise Him. O my soul refers to one's total being,
one's inner self. When we bless the Lord with our soul, we are praising Him with our whole hearts.
It's saying "let all that I am - praise the Lord"...It stresses how important it is to praise the Lord with
whole hearted concentration for His love, goodness, compassion, forgiveness & salvation.
"Let all that I am" praise the Lord, may I never forget the good things He does for me.
He forgives all my sins & heals my diseases. He redeems me from death and crowns me with tender
mercies. He fills my life with good things.. He restores my faith.
From the people of ancient Israel to the humblest of sinners today, we bless the Lord with our soul
when we think of God's graciousness, and like the people of Israel who realized the Lord had not dealt
with them according to their sins...the Lord's love is unfailing and ever present..