January 30, 2020

Thursday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time

Readings for Today

He also told them, “Take care what you hear. The measure with which you measure will be measured out to you, and still more will be given to you.” Mark 4:24

How would you like others to deal with you? How would you like them to treat you? Most certainly we would all like to be treated with mercy. We wish to be shown kindness, compassion, care, honesty, and the like. One thing this passage above reveals is that we will be dealt with, by God, in the same way we deal with others.

Ideally, we will show mercy and goodness to others simply because it’s the right thing to do. God calls us to a life of abundant charity and we should desire to live that life. But if we struggle with charity toward others, perhaps one motivating factor could be to realize that we will be treated in the same way that we act toward others.

Though this may put a certain “holy fear” in our hearts and encourage us to act with mercy, it should also call us to desire to go beyond the basics and to offer love and compassion in an abundant way.

Think about it. If you spend your whole life striving to forgive, to show love, to reconcile, to help those in need, etc., you, too, can be assured of these gifts being lavished upon you now and in the end. You can be assured that God will not withhold anything from you. Instead, He will joyfully pour out upon you more than you could ever expect or hope for.

Reflect, today, upon your own calling to a life of abundant generosity. There are countless ways that you are called to be generous toward others. Commit yourself to this life of goodness and then anticipate all that God will pour forth upon you.

Lord, help me to be radically generous in my love and compassion toward others. Help me to forgive, to show kindness, to be merciful and to do it all in abundance. I love You my dear Lord. Help me to also love those You have put in my life with a perfect and total love. Jesus, I trust in You.

More Gospel Reflections

Divine Mercy Reflections

Saints/Feasts for Today