“EACH TREE IS KNOWN BY ITS OWN FRUIT” (Luke 6:43)

⏰Saturday of the Twenty-Third Week of Ordinary Time 1 (16 Sept. 2017 – Memorial of Ss. Cornelius & Cyprian)

????1 Tim 1:15-17; Ps 113:1-2, 3-4, 5a and 6-7 (R.v.2); Luke 6:43-49

In a homily he once delivered at a Mass in his Santa Martha residence, Pope Francis said that a person who cannot forgive is not a Christian. Mercy is a fruit of Christianity, which is a vocation of love. We received this love first and must transmit it unadulterated to others.

St. Paul reminds us in 1 Tim 1:15-17 that what we are is the object of God’s mercy. Otherwise, we would perish in our sin. Therefore, we must show this mercy to others in order to reveal the face of Christ to them.

Are you bearing the fruit of mercy? If I do not do so, then I am not of Christ. Remember also that, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall find mercy” (Matt 5:7).

There is no better time we need this mercy than now that animosity towards one another is gradually dragging us to a war situation. We all must be agents of mercy and peace.

At the celebration of the Memorial of Ss. Cornelius and Cyprian, we are called to stand up against attitudes that initiate divisions. St. Cornelius was elected Pope at the time of the Novatian error, when St. Cyprian, a convert, was the Bishop of Carthage, to which Novatus belong. Both united to fight that error and many other heresies that confronted the Church at that time. They laid down their lives for their faith. They did all with love.

May Jesus the merciful Lord teach us always to resemble him in all that we do before men, not as hypocrites but as real Christians. Amen.

I wish you a fruitful weekend under the merciful hand of Christ. Peace be with you.