20 June 2022
Monday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
When his followers asked Jesus how to pray, he gave them the Our Father. In the Gospel today, he develops the petition: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
He insists we learn to see every person as he sees him, as he sees me, because we are brothers and sisters to one another, sons and daughters of our father, who gives his pardon to us for our sins.
We are saved in so far as we pardon. It is a lesson we must learn. God alone can judge because he alone knows each one. It’s useless to classify this person or that one according to our judgment. We shall be judged as we judge others. That’s the lesson he gives today.
The reason we fail to see others as God’s children is because our own sinfulness has distorted our vision. To see well, we must rectify the focus of our inner eye. Prayer is the remedy. When we pray well, we come to the Lord as we are, seeing our sinfulness and asking him to rectify the sight we have of ourselves and others.
The Blessed Virgin can help us. On the cross Christ made her our mother. A mother is the best teacher of children telling them to distinguish right from wrong, to be forgiving and loving of their siblings, even when they steal their toys or knock them down.
Resolved: I’ll read over, pray over today’s Gospel with Mary at my side.