A TIME FOR HEALING!

MONDAY, MARCH 21, 2011

Lenten Weekday

by Lorenz S. Centino, Jr.

LUKE 6: 36 - 38
36	Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
37	"Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven;
38	give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back."

PERSONAL REFLECTIONS:

A BLESSED MONDAY!

I am not sure if I remember correctly what psychological projection is all about at it was discussed in my psychology subject when I was in college. What I can remember about it is that it is one of our defense mechanisms which operates unconsciously by which we attribute to someone those which we do not like about ourselves. One concrete example of its operation in our lives is when we BLAME somebody else for our own failures or inadequacies. This happens because we have a hard time accepting and dealing with the feeling of pain over ones failures, or have the difficulty of accepting the feeling of being inadequate, and so we unconsciously avoid such feeling by “projecting” our failures and inadequacies on others.

In the Gospel Jesus forbids us from JUDGING others and from CONDEMNING them. Jesus explained this prohibition by saying, “For the measure you give will be the measure you get back." This explanation, to me, goes along with what I remembered about what projection is all about. Jesus must have known too well that most of our FAULT-FINDING are just but projection of what we hate or cannot accept about ourselves. And so if we judge or condemn others, we also somehow condemn ourselves. This could be the lesson of the dictum that we should not point a finger at anyone for more fingers are pointed unto us.

Jesus then is teaching us to be FORGIVING! And the reason why we should be forgiving is the simple reality that we are also committing mistakes. We are just like anybody else with our own inadequacies and wrongdoings. To judge is to claim that we are flawless and clean. But no one is clean among us. Since we are just the same with anyone, guilty of wrong doings, the MEASURE we will use in condemning others will backfire unto us. Such measure will also uncover our own wrong doings that will bring us to our own condemnation.

When Jesus was hanging painfully on the Cross, many of those who were there make fun of him and mocked him. But Jesus never retaliated nor has said any condemnation against them. Jesus could have found one among those who mocked him benefited from his healing miracles and good deeds. He could have lambasted them verbally for being ungrateful. Or he could have asked his Father to do something against those who mocked him and tortured him. But what he asked instead is his Father to FORGIVE them. What Jesus asked from his Father t is MERCY. In the Gospel today, Jesus asked us to be MERCIFUL too like his Father. By being merciful, God’s mercy and forgiveness will also be granted unto us.

Lent is a good opportunity to make peace with those we are not in good terms with. It is the best time to MEND broken relationships. It is the best time to show MERCY unto those who are hurting because of our impatience and lack of understanding to their shortcomings. Lent is the best time to give up our feelings of resentment, hatred and desire for revenge by being forgiving. Lent is a time for HEALING!