April 4.  ‘Let us lie in wait for the righteous man, because he is inconvenient to us. After Mass a few men stayed chatting. “Politicians aren’t the only people it is hard to trust.  In every situation there are greedy, self-centred people just out to feather their own nest and eager to trap and exploit you.  Even friends betray friends. What kind of Christians are they really, or is their religion just skindeep?”  “Or maybe ours too? Is this not a time for conversion or metanoia, to consider if you have harmed someone, planned to fire or get rid of him or even just destroyed their good name?  That kind of sin doesn’t just need confession only, but also asking them forgiveness and retribution if possible.”  

Reflect, share and act. Scripture Ungodly men said to themselves, ‘Let us lie in wait for the righteous man, because he is inconvenient to us and opposes our actions. He accuses us of sins against our training. Let us condemn him to a shameful death. Wisdom 2:12-22.  Pope Francis: JUBILEE.  Judgement, then, concerns the salvation in which we hope and which Jesus has won for us by his death and resurrection. The evil we have done cannot remain hidden; it needs to be purified in order to enable this definitive encounter with God’s love. As we know from personal experience, every sin “leaves its mark”. Sin has consequences, not only outwardly in the effects of the wrong we do, but also inwardly, inasmuch as “every sin, even venial, entails an unhealthy attachment to creatures, which must be purified either here on earth, or after death, in the state called Purgatory”. In our humanity, weak and attracted by evil, certain residual effects of sin remain. These are removed by the indulgence. The Apostolic Penitentiary will issue norms for obtaining and rendering spiritually fruitful the practice of the Jubilee indulgence. SNC 23,   Choose an act of love and sacrifice from the list, also published at www.marfam.org.za