Lenten Live Series 2026 #6 – Spiritual Formation

by Anne, ARK

We tend to relegate the concept of mercy to God, thinking of mercy as somehow exclusively in his remit. But mercy has a call on each one of us. We are all chosen to be vehicles for God’s mercy, for the people in our family, for our colleagues, and for the people we meet in the world every day. No. Mercy is not just God’s business. We are all called to offer kindness, compassion, and forgiveness to the people around us. 

We may read this and feel that we know this. Most of us are probably very kind to our family members, our colleagues, and to people out in the world. But here’s the thing. We can always do better. And we need to examine our thoughts and ensure that we are merciful in our minds.

“Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39).

The first step here might be to wonder if we are merciful to ourselves in our thoughts, words, and deeds. Do we treat ourselves with respect? Can we honestly say that we love ourselves? Are we aware of any self-disrespect in our thoughts as opposed to thoughts of self-respect? Can we work to improve the way we hold ourselves in our minds? Are we fair to ourselves in our expectations? Do we forgive ourselves readily or do we flagellate ourselves mentally for past mistakes and call that humility? Because it is not humility. It’s a problem. Thoughts of condemnation and harshness for ourselves make us more like the enemy than like our Savior, Jesus Christ. We must strive to cooperate with Christ in accepting his mercy and love and then loving ourselves as his follower, with human moments that require mercy.

We can have a hard time asking for mercy because it makes us vulnerable. But we are all vulnerable, all the time. Life away from the heavenly Kingdom is rather a constant state of vulnerability, what with our human mistakes and our real and constant craving for love.

Remember, the Father’s plan, lived by Christ, expanded readily to include mercy, for his apostles, for the women, and for his mother. He seemed to shine even more brightly with love when he encountered people exiled by society or religion. Do we?

Last note on this is as follows: if you’re hard on yourself, you’re probably hard on others in different ways. These things tend to leak. Ask yourself to be more merciful to yourself and more and more you will begin to view yourself with kindness and compassion, which is the way Jesus views you.