Last weekend, Fr. Dan asked us all to begin the process of rebuilding trust in our Church.  When trust is broken, it can grow again only when we are willing to forgive.  In the Gospel this week, Luke challenges us to live and act in ways that seem very foreign to us.  Jesus invites us to “love our enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you.” Jesus does not say to get even, or to strike back, or to extract revenge.  Instead, He reminds us that we are to forgive each other, to stop judging, and to be merciful.

This is a challenging time for the faithful.  As with most Catholics I know, I am angry, dismayed, and confused. We cry out for justice and transparency in the way the Church responds to the abuses by its clergy. We want something to happen.  We want change.

We are called, though, as disciples of Jesus Christ, to remember His response to hurt and injustice.  His example of sacrificial love impels us to respond to sin and evil with prayer, forgiveness, and mercy.  We can all agree that we must pray for the victims of abuse in the Church.  What is more difficult is to think that Jesus would ask that we pray for those who acted sinfully. To pray they recognize the evil they have perpetrated, seek the Lord’s mercy and to sin no more. In the eyes of God, we are all his children, the obedient and the wayward.  Let us all pray that we take to heart the last lines of today’s Gospel: “For the measure with which you measure will be in return measured out to you.”