Daily Gospel Reflection
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February 26, 2024
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
“Stop judging and you will not be judged.
Stop condemning and you will not be condemned.
Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Give and gifts will be given to you;
a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing,
will be poured into your lap.
For the measure with which you measure
will in return be measured out to you.”
Mercy seems in short supply these days even though Pope Francis has made this virtue a keystone of his evangelization. Likewise, our Muslim sisters and brothers invoke Allah daily in the Basmala (“In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful”), yet humanity can’t seem to find or offer enough mercy. Instead, we crave judgments—giving them and even receiving them. We rate, rank, and report relative merits and demerits of ourselves and others, without realizing such behavior is ultimately undignified.
In his Sermon on the Plain, Jesus invites his disciples to consider what it means to live a life consonant with our dignity, created in the image and likeness of God, male and female equally. We are to reflect the goodness of God in all things, particularly in forgiveness and mercy. We are to see what we co-create with God through grace and judge it to be good, as God does at the close of each day of creation. But how do we learn to judge rightly so that we measure out to others what we would want to be measured to ourselves?
The twentieth-century Jesuit theologian Bernard Lonergan described human knowing in four distinct, interrelated steps: experience, understanding, judgment, and decision. These are coupled with what he called, “transcendental imperatives,” which can guide us in our knowing and subsequent action. He said we should: be attentive, intelligent, reasonable, and responsible.
We must judge reasonably and wisely, which is to recognize good in all and the good to be sought responsibly in our actions. But to those four commands, many disciples of Lonergan have added a fifth and final command that echoes not only Lonergan, but Christ: be loving. That is the name of God and that is how we are to image God in our knowledge and action.
Prayer
God, the greatest gift we can give you is being merciful to our sisters and brothers. In order to forgive, however, we have to let go of the pain we hold. Letting go of those hurts is a hard sacrifice—help us to die to ourselves willingly so that we can live in your mercy. Amen.
Saint of the Day

Isabel was sister to the great king of France, St. Louis IX, in the 13th century. Not only was she royal and wealthy, but she also had a sharp intellect and was a highly accomplished lady. She left aside all of these advantages of life as a princess, however, and sought holiness above everything.
Even as a girl, she was known for fervent prayer and fasting. She loved learning and studied Latin so that she could pray the liturgy of the hours and read the Church Fathers.
Isabel refused to be married, even when famous men courted her. Once, the pope wrote to her directly to encourage her to marry the king of Jerusalem for the good of Christendom, but her refusal to him was so humble and wise that he acknowledged her desire to dedicate her life to God alone.
Every day, before she ate her dinner, Isabel would seat poor people at her table and serve them herself. She would spend the evening visiting others who were sick and poor.
She established a convent for Franciscan nuns, asking St. Bonaventure to write up the rule of life for the community, and named it the Monastery of the Humility of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Isabel never joined the community herself, but did live in the monastery in a room separate from the nun’s cells. She suffered from illnesses during her life, and these prevented her from following the rule of life for the nuns—this was one reason she refused to be named abbess of the monastery. That also allowed her to keep her wealth and resources, so she could support the community and continue to give to the poor. She kept a discipline of silence for most of her day.
Isabel understood the connection between the Eucharist and its call to service. Jesus washed the feet of his disciples at the Last Supper, which calls us to humble ourselves in love for others. Before she received communion herself, Isabel always begged forgiveness, on her knees, of the few servants that she retained.
Her life of prayer was marked by ecstasies at several points of her life, including a period of time near the end of her life when she stayed awake through several nights in rapt contemplation. She died in 1270 and her image is used here with permission from Catholic.org.
St. Isabel of France, who had the known world at her fingertips and left it all to serve God and the poor—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Isabel of France is in the public domain. Last accessed December 6, 2024 on Wikimedia Commons.