March 2, 2026 // Monday of the Second Week in Lent
Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s Gospel: Luke 6:36-38
Reflect on the Word //
Our seventh-grade teacher was infamous. Students feared her. She ripped notebooks apart if the penmanship was unacceptable. I can still remember her stiff hand slamming against the chalkboard as she reiterated something we didn’t understand. For a long time my siblings and I wondered why she treated her students so harshly. As time passed and we grew older, as did she, we began to see her with more tender eyes and laugh at these moments instead of lamenting them.
As I read today’s Gospel passage from Luke, I think about this teacher and wonder with what measuring rod she was measured. I think about what her own life might have been like, her childhood, her teenage years. Was she treated very strictly? Perhaps she was raised with more justice than mercy? When Jesus says “Be merciful [. . .] For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you” (Luke 6: 36, 38), I think about the many times that I have been strict with others, demanding from them behavior or attitudes that I could not even muster myself. Judging and looking down on others for not being the form of holiness I thought they ought to be. How wrong I have been—yet, the Lord has mercy with me as He always does.
As the Lord treats me kindly, allowing me to know this mercy deep in my bones, I am able to extend mercy to others. To measure others by the standards of His love and mercy, not my own standards of justice or piety. He Who sees the heart and still has mercy has become my only teacher in this school of love.
Sister, pray with me today that you and I can begin again as students in this school of His and allow Him to teach us His ways, to be merciful as He is merciful (see Luke 6:36), forgive as He forgives, and love as He loves—radically, generously, with all we’ve got.
Relate to the Lord // How has the Lord been merciful to you? How can you share that mercy with others?
Rocio Hermes is a Dominican-born, US-raised, stay-at-home mom who is excited about building community, baking desserts, and writing poetry. She holds a Master’s degree in Theology and has lived in Ethiopia as a missionary. Rocio now lives in Israel with her German husband and their son. She is a contributing author to Blessed Conversations: Dwell. You can read more from her at graceandmercyblog.com.
Rocío Hermes es una mama de casa nacida en República Dominicana y criada en Estados Unidos, a quien le entusiasma construir una comunidad, hornear postres y escribir poesía. Tiene una maestría en Teología y ha vivido en Etiopía como misionera. Rocío ahora vive en Israel con su marido alemán y su hijo. Es autora colaboradora de Blessed Conversations: Dwell. Puede leer más sobre ella en Graceandmercyblog.com.
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