Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;
in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt and of my sin cleanse me.
"tore his garments and put on sackcloth over his bare flesh. He fasted, slept in the sackcloth, and went about subdued."
He was certainly full of remorse, and the LORD was apparently satisfied; he withheld the evil consequences that must follow a heinous crime until a later time, until "the reign of his son.”
The gospel urges us to love our enemies as the heavenly Father loves everyone and "makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust." If it is true that humans imitate the gods they choose to adore, Christians must love their enemies or experience a serious disconnect between their affections and their affectations. The failure to love your enemies reveals your true beliefs and not the God whom Jesus Christ obeyed and adored.
The Lord closes this gospel with a chiding remark about the economy of tit for tat that governs much of our human affairs, "Do not the pagans do the same?" Then he adds an astonishing command, "So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
The biblical lessons today are familiar, as is the horror of recent killings in Uvalde and Buffalo. And the disconnect. Summer is upon us and we long to settle into the dog days when the news cycle used to be more predictable and less turbulent. It does help, I think, to drink more cold water and less hot news. Nobody needs 24/7 news. And we should refresh our minds and hearts daily with large intakes of God's word.
In silence we can agree that the blazing sun shines upon the good and the bad; we can pray the rain will fall on the just and the unjust and our parched western lands where the lakes and aquifers are drying up. In silence, we can beg the Lord to lift from our land the scourges of fear, hate, and violence. If, because Ahab and Jezebel arranged for the murder of an innocent man and God would "bring the evil upon his house during the reign of his son," we can suppose today's scourges are a consequence of past sins.
Today's responsorial psalm -- the 51st, a psalm of penance -- does not suppose God has forgotten the past; we come to the Lord as guilty as ever. If we would live with the ominous threat of the summer's heat, we would pray:
Turn away your face from my sins,and blot out all my guilt.Free me from blood guilt, O God, my saving God;then my tongue shall revel in your justice.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.