Monday of Holy Week
The first reading today is the first of Isaiah’s “servant songs,” texts which the Church from the time of the apostles has associated with Christ and his Passion. Throughout this Holy Week, we will hear all four of these texts, culminating with the last on Good Friday.
Today’s song speaks of the meekness and justice of Christ, the one of whom it is said, a bruised reed he shall not break, and a smoldering wick he shall not quench, until he establishes justice on the earth. Rather than meeting his opponents and persecutors with furious vengeance, Jesus is the one who says on the Cross—as we heard yesterday in the Passion account—Father, forgive them, they know not what they do. In this way, he teaches us how justice and mercy are not incompatible; on the contrary, mercy is what perfects justice.
As a beacon of the meek and merciful justice of God, our Lord is a light for the nations, as Isaiah also says. Today, perhaps, we can meditate on this merciful justice of Christ, the king and just judge who is the Father’s word of truth to us. In his light, which is the light of truth, the evil of sin—and our captivity to sin as human beings—is revealed, but so is God’s forbearance. Christ’s forbearing and merciful truthfulness calls us to examine our own exercise of judgment and mercy, beginning with those nearest us, and expanding outward to the whole world. Let us pray, then, that the Holy Spirit will bring Christ’s justice and mercy to flower within our hearts.