Lenten Retreat Week Three: Leading with Mercy

by | Mar 22, 2022 | The SundayMonday Tuesday Archives

Hello friends, and welcome to week three of our Lenten retreat!

The mission of The SundayMonday is to encourage and equip all of us to be bold in our faith, work, and life. Each Sunday this Lent, we’ll be sending out a reflection on the Gospel and how it pertains to living our faith at work. My prayer is that these short, practical emails will propel us all into the work week, ready to tackle anything that might be thrown at us with peace, joy, and courage.

This week’s Gospel is Luke 13:1-9 here, or scroll to the bottom of the email and come back up for the reflection.

The Reflection

This week’s Gospel is all about mercy. Mercy is incredibly relevant in the workplace – how easy it is to believe the best in ourselves but to minimize and doubt the good in others. There’s actually a name for this phenomenon: “fundamental attribution error.”

This theory states that when someone does something we don’t like (such as showing up late, not putting forth high quality work, or taking too long to respond to an email) we blame it on their character, but if they do something good, we give credit to their circumstances (“they did this well because they had help,” or “they’ve done a bunch of projects like this already, so of course it was easy for them.”)

When it comes to our own shortcomings, we’re far quicker to blame them on circumstance (“I’m late because of traffic, or “I took a while to respond because I was working on another project”) and quicker to attribute our positive moments to our character (“I did a great job because that’s just who I am!”) This attribution error can lead us to become bitter, resentful, and impatient with the very people that God calls us to love.

The Challenge

This week, our challenge is to assume the best in those around us. As I used to repeat to myself frequently in my last role: “Everyone is doing the best they can.” How would our attitude, our actions, and our hearts change if we believed this? Give it a go this week and let me know how it goes!

Have a wonderful week at work, and I’ll see you next Sunday!

In Christ,

Jane

This week’s Gospel

Some people told Jesus about the Galileans
whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices.
Jesus said to them in reply,
“Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way
they were greater sinners than all other Galileans?
By no means!
But I tell you, if you do not repent,
you will all perish as they did!
Or those eighteen people who were killed
when the tower at Siloam fell on them—
do you think they were more guilty
than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem?
By no means!
But I tell you, if you do not repent,
you will all perish as they did!”

And he told them this parable:
“There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard,
and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none,
he said to the gardener,
‘For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree
but have found none.
So cut it down.
Why should it exhaust the soil?’
He said to him in reply,
‘Sir, leave it for this year also,
and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it;
it may bear fruit in the future.
If not you can cut it down.’”

 Prayer Requests

·       For the soul of Cliff Crabtree, who passed away this past week

·       For a special intention

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Jane Kennedy

Jane Kennedy

Jane was born in Australia, raised in California, and is overjoyed to now call NYC home. She graduated from UCSB with degrees in Political Science and Communication and spent the past two years working in criminal justice reform. She is currently an MBA student at NYU Stern, focusing on entrepreneurship and strategy.

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