Lockdown a time to pray for Grace to repent, to forgive others

That we must imitate God to be boundless in mercy for each other is particularly needed in our present MCO situation.

According to Fr Cosmas Lee, rector of St Simon Catholic Church Likas, he “expects to hear many reports of heightened hate, vengeance… actual abuses and injuries… leaving behind more casualties perhaps than those killed by the virus outside”.

Words not meant to be taken lightly, but by which Fr Lee was adamant that the fact that all are forced to stay in the same house for weeks, as required by the MCO, can be “hell” if we have always been a dysfunctional family.

“Grandparents, uncles, aunts, parents and children, all in the same house for weeks…could be the rare opportunity to spend quality time together…. but could be “a hell to breed further contempt among the most familiar”, suggested Fr Lee.

The insight was drawn from the day’s reflection of Scriptures which brought two women into our Lenten view: Susanna from the Book of Daniel and the Sinful Woman in the Gospel of St John. It touches on the mystery of sin and death, conversion and life, driven by the boundless mercy of God.

Like Susanna, the rector reflected, when unjustly condemned, we need to turn to God secure in the belief that He will always hear, rescue, and vindicate us according to His perfect justice, if not while here on earth then in the hereafter.

He underlined, when life is cruel and others are unjust to us, we need to be wary about getting bitter and taking the law and justice into our own hands, and instead to remain steadfast, united with Christ, always prayerfully trusting in the justice of God, the Just Judge.

As for the Sinful Woman in the gospel caught in adultery, who was lawfully and justly condemned by the elders and the crowd and be stoned to death in public, she was rescued in the nick of time from death by Jesus.

By her sin, she deserved to die, argued the priest, but Jesus came, pronounced a verdict of mercy, and told her the need of conversion, and new life. That we must imitate God to be boundless in mercy for each other, particularly in our present MCO situation, is “the only way, God’s way, if we want to survive”, underscored Fr Lee. May God give us the grace to choose repentance, and offer forgiveness, that we may not die but live! – AC /Source: SOCCOM SSCC