"I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice. "

"The flames of mercy are burning Me - clamouring to be spent; I want to keep pouring them out upon souls; souls just don't want to believe in My goodness." 177 (Diary, St. Maria Faustina Kowalska)

Gospel text (Mt 12:1-8): It happened that Jesus walked through the wheat fields on a Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and began to pick some heads of wheat and crush them to eat the grain. When the Pharisees noticed this, they said to Jesus, «Look at your disciples; they are doing what is prohibited on the Sabbath!». Jesus answered, «Have you not read what David did when he and his men were hungry? He went into the house of God, and they ate the bread offered to God, although neither he nor his men had the right to eat it, but only the priests. And have you not read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the Temple break the Sabbath rest, yet they are not guilty? I tell you, there is greater than the Temple here. If you really knew the meaning of the words: ‘It is mercy I want, not sacrifice’, you would not have condemned the innocent. Besides the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath».

"Today, the Lord is closing in the wheat fields of our lives, to pick the fruits of sanctity. Will He find charity, love of God and fellow man? Jesus, who corrects the rabbis' meticulous interpretation of the law, making the Sabbath rest totally unbearable, have to remind us that He is only interested in our heart, in our capacity to love?

«Look at your disciples; they are doing what is prohibited on the Sabbath!» (Mt 12:2). And the unbelievable thing is they sincerely meant it. How can anyone forbid doing a good deed? There is something inside our hearts that remind us, there is no reason that could exist which excuses us from not helping others. True charity respects the demands for justice, by avoiding our falling into arbitrariness or whim, while preventing harshness to kill the true spirit of God's Law; for charity is nothing but a continuous invitation to loving, to give ourselves to others.

However, Jesus did not come to destroy the law or even to make it null and void. He did not come so that we should no longer keep The Ten Commandments. As a matter of fact, He taught a higher law that got to the root of the issues: "For man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7). No, Jesus did not come to destroy the law. He came to fulfill it. He fulfilled the law of sacrifice by offering His own life as ransom for our sins. Show your love for the Savior by doing your best to live in harmony with His laws and when you fall short (as we all do), turn to Him with full purpose of heart, in humility, and ask Him to forgive you in the Sacrement of Reconciliation. Ask Him to make up the difference. He will! It's why He came.

«It is mercy I want, not sacrifice» (Mt 12:7). Let us repeat it many times to engrave it on our heart: God, who is rich in mercy, wants us to be merciful. «How close God is for he who confess his mercy! Yes; God is not far from those contrite at heart» (St. Augustine). And how far away from God are we when we let our heart turn into hard stone!

Jesus Christ accused the Pharisees of condemning the innocent. That is a serious accusation. But what about us? Are we seriously interested in other people's problems? Do we consider them with affection and sympathy, as if we were judging a friend or a brother? Let us try not to lose our way, after all.

We beg you, O Mother of God, to make us merciful and to show us how to forgive. Let us be benevolent and kind. And if we discover in our life some details that do not fit at the heart of this disposition, now is a good time to rectify them, by formulating some effective purpose."