“Be merciful, just as also your Father is merciful.
Stop judging and you will not be judged.
 Stop condemning and you will not be condemned.
 Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Give and gifts will be given to you; 
a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing,
 will be poured into your lap. 
For the measure with which you measure
 will in return be measured out to you.”
(Lk 6:36-38)

So many riches in the readings for today’s Mass! To be merciful just as our Father is merciful . . . well, that’s the secret of the saints! Which is why we remember with great devotion those who have followed the Way of Jesus. Of course, there are selfish, narcissistic people who are incapable of understanding self-sacrifice and who will stand at the tombs of saints and of those who laid down their lives for others and ask the question: “I don’t get it . . . what’s in it for them?” As people of faith, we “get it” and we know that giving of ourselves as the Lord gave himself for us all on the Cross is the full measure of devotion. As the Lord himself says: there is no greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends (John 15:13).

The photo today is from the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in Belleau, France. The inscription on the cross reads: "To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die."