Reading and meditation on the Word of God on Monday of the eleventh week in ordinary time, June 15th, 2026

Delivered by Svara Nirmala and Stella from the Parish of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Mamajang in the Archdiocese of Makassar, Indonesia. 1 Kings 21: 1-16; Rs psalm 5: 2-3.5-6.7; Matthew 5: 38-42.GRACE AND MERCY OVERCOME JUSTICE Our meditation today has the theme: Grace and MercyOvercome Justice. There is a young man named Julio who has two younger sisters.The two sisters always quarrel over many things, even the trivial matters.Julio, who is a college student, realizes that his duty as a brother and theeldest is not only a mediator for his two younger sisters, but also to teachthem about the importance of mutual respect and love. He always advises bysaying this to them: "You are not enough to be fair or just to one another,but you must have love that overcomes any unjust treatment to oneanother". Actually what Julio does is what the Lord Jesushimself had done. The Lord Jesus is the source of grace, mercy and compassionthat complement the law of this world which is based on justice. We humansbasically need justice. Justice is both a virtue and a rule of law. As avirtue, justice leads us to the fairness in our actions according to the rightsand obligations of everyone which is a respect to our human nature. As a ruleof law, justice requires punishment for those found guilty and praise or rewardfor those who are righteous.                                                                  The system of justice that gives punishment to thesinners has its weakness, and the mission of Jesus Christ in this world was toresolve it. If it is not resolved or overcome, then the law system of "aneye for an eye", or "a tooth for a tooth" will continue toreign. Jesus used the divine grace, mercy and compassion to overcome thisweakness of justice in the world. This is commonly called misericordia, which is forgiveness and reconciliation thateventually create peace. In a peaceful life, people accept and also complementeach another. What had happened to Naboth in the first book ofKings, both to his wealth and his own life, which were taken up by the evilKing of Samaria, is an example of injustice that exists in this world. Theloser is always those little ones and weak in the society. For Jesus and we Hisfollowers, if injustice is not overcome, hatred and revenge will reign ourlives. To stop this, we need the law of love which, of course, transcends thelaw of justice. When someone is forgiven and accepted, he is no longer seen as asinner or an evil maker but a new person. He is saved by grace and mercy. Maybe now we experience how difficult to solveproblems with forgiveness and compassion, but that does not mean this isimpossible for us to do. Forgiveness, giving a smile, calmness, patience andeven prayer for those who have done wrong to us, are not acts that we need todo from zero. We are not going to start learning and practicing forgiveness orto give our smiles. We have all the virtues as God's gifts to us. We just needcourage, consistency and passion to make use of them.                                                                                                                                       Let'spray. In the name of the Father ... Lord Jesus Christ, increase our courage andstrengthen our consistency to do mercy and forgiveness as you will us to do.Hail Mary, full of grace... In the name of the Father ...