Those who attend Holy Mass on Sundays according to the Vetus Ordo hear the texts for Trinity Sunday (yesterday) but not those for the 1st Sunday after Pentecost (yesterday). The texts for the 1st Sunday after Pentecost can be used during the week that follow… with GREEN vestments for the first time since before last Lent!
In olden days, the 1st Sunday after Pentecost we called “Mercy Sunday” because of the emphasis on… mercy.
Here are the beautiful readings in the RSV. Chew these over. I’ll make a comment afterward.
Lesson from the first letter of St John the Apostle 1 John 4:8-21
Dearly beloved: let us love one another; for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God; for God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No man has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his own Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 So we know and believe the love God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 In this is love perfected with us, that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and he who fears is not perfected in love. 19 We love, because he first loved us. 20 If any one says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot[a] love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should love his brother also.
Continuation ? of the Holy Gospel according to Luke Luke 6:36-42
In that time Jesus said to his disciples: 36 Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. “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.” 39 He also told them a parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? 40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but every one when he is fully taught will be like his teacher. 41 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 42 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye.
What pops out right away are the themes of mercy, almsgiving and forgiveness. If you want mercy, be merciful. If you want to receive what you need, given for the needs of others. If you desire forgiveness, be forgiving.
St. Augustine frequently writes on these themes to the theme of mercy, almsgiving and forgiveness as being essential for the Christian life and necessary for the remission of sins.
For example, in Enchiridion On Faith, Hope, and Charity, 19 (emphasis added):
There are two works of mercy, by which the remission of sins is obtained: namely, almsgiving and the forgiveness of the sins of others. This is why the Lord mentions these two in brief when He says, Give, and it will be given to you; forgive, and you will be forgiven [Luke 6:37]. Therefore, these are the two kinds of works of mercy that are done for the remission of sins, and they are commemorated in the Lord’s Prayer, where we say: Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and Give us this day our daily bread [Matthew 6:11-12], which is rightly understood as almsgiving. For often, under the name of bread, all works of mercy are figuratively meant, as when it is written: Break your bread to the hungry, and so on [Isaiah 58:7].
“…under the name of bread, all works of mercy are figuratively meant…”
“Nam plerumque sub nomine panis omne opus misericordiae figurate ponitur.”
Food for the soul.
TonyO on Sage advice. It might choke you up.: “Now that’s a mouthful! Yes, Minister! Then it became Yes, Prime Minister. I maintained to my kids that it had…”
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