‘What I want is mercy, not sacrifice’
This week’s readings all focus on the fact that love and mercy are more important to God than sacrifice.
In the First Reading, God, through the Prophet Hosea, reproaches his people for their lack of faithfulness to him. Holocausts cannot replace love and knowledge of the Lord.
In the Psalm, we again find God rejecting sacrifices for their own sake. They are only acceptable in a spirit of thanksgiving. Only pagan gods require sacrifice to appease their hunger.
When St Paul writes to the Romans (Second Reading), he uses the example of their ancestor Abraham. It was Abraham’s faith in the promises that God had made to him that enabled him to persevere in a seemingly impossible situation. This is a model for all believers; for us.
In the Gospel, Matthew recounts an incident that took place after he answered Jesus’s call. The Pharisees who are present at the meal object to tax collectors eating with them. Here, too, the Lord makes it plain that what is important is mercy, and supporting those who are in need: ‘I did not come to call the virtuous, but sinners’.
This week, we may like to focus our prayer on those who need help. We ask the Lord to give us a sincere faith and greater belief in the promises he has made. We also keep in our prayer all peoples affected by war, wherever they may be.
