March 3/First Friday of Lent
If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand?
But with you is forgiveness, that you may be revered. ~ Ps 130.3-4
Aided and abetted by cultural forces that need no rehearsing here, we have become breathtakingly judgmental of the perceived flaws and errors of others — and not shy about voicing those judgments anonymously, without accountability. All it takes is one nasty troll, and within minutes, a mob has piled on to call out someone’s racism or woke-ism, political correctness or bigotry. We have installed ourselves in the judgment seat, and we aren’t budging. But today’s psalm admonishes us that no one is without flaws or, to use the old-fashioned word, “iniquities,” and that if God applied the same standard of judgment to us that we apply to others — harsh, merciless, and unforgiving — we would be brought to our knees. It’s worth thinking about what God might judge us for if he did mark iniquities. As we review the unkind thoughts and sharp words that we generate on any given day, the tasks we perform sloppily or not at all, the corners we cut, the resentments we nurse, the acts of kindness we forego because we are busy, spiteful, or indifferent, we might shudder at the prospect of getting what we deserve. Luckily, unlike his creatures, God is not a nitpicking deity who delights in catching us out. When we call upon him in a moment of distress, God does not dismiss us with a taunt or a rebuke; he is the God of justice, yes, but he is also the God of mercy. So too, must we strive to be people of mercy. “Forgiveness should be no occasion,” observed 20th-century theologian Romano Guardini, “but our habitual attitude towards others.” With God is forgiveness, the psalmist tells us, and so, too, with us should be forgiveness, a way of being rather than an act grudgingly performed.
Merciful Lord, I thank you for not giving me what I deserve, and I ask this day that you help me cultivate the habit of forgiveness. Amen.
To hear Christopher Walker’s “If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,” click here: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/5Oxr6UWjrhA
For today’s readings, click here: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/030323.cfm
