Mercy is the gift given to us by God through Jesus, and we are called to receive and pass on that gift generously
One of the precious gifts in my life is the ability to gather with friends to pray, share life and support one another. Prayer is always a part of those gatherings, and we often use the Scriptures for the coming weekend for our reflection. For those who don’t already do this, I’d suggest taking the time to start, and you’ll be amazed at the impact these gatherings will have. At one of those recent gatherings, a friend of mine spoke about his understanding of the word mercy. He noticed that when that word is used, it often means “give me time,” or “be patient with me.” We hear and see that particular usage of mercy in the Scriptures for the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
In our relationship with God, we often ask, beg, plead and hope for more moments to live. We know we are still flawed creatures and at this point unable to respond to God’s incredible love with the same kind of love. We have been given God’s promises of unfailing love, forgiveness and eternal relationship, but we often do not respond in kind. We get mad at God when things don’t go our way; we wonder where He is when things take longer than we wish; and we doubt His presence when life isn’t as easy as we thought it should be. When we realize our own difficulty in loving God the way we should, we ask Him to be patient, have mercy and give us more time. Although we only have the present moment guaranteed to us, we wish for more so that we might truly become a people who respond with love to the love that is eternal.
In our own intrapersonal relationships, we are acutely aware of the ways we don’t love ourselves as we should. We either work so hard that we hurt ourselves, or we withdraw so deeply that we damage our connection with the outer part of ourselves. Many of us focus on our own inadequacies or habitual sinfulness and count ourselves out of the realm of God’s mercy. We pour shame upon ourselves and destroy ourselves from the inside out. We notice frequently the lack of coherence between the inner and outer parts of ourselves. Others around us offer us words of love and support, and we judge ourselves inwardly as unworthy. If only they knew our true selves, they would not love us as they do. We need more time, more mercy and more patience with ourselves to heal the inner inconsistency. May we have the grace to treat ourselves as God treats us.
Many of us live without truly grasping the truth that our days are limited. We believe that we have time ahead of us to do what should be done today. We put off forgiving others and seeking forgiveness. We let fear, rather than courage, determine whether we take a chance at healing the brokenness in our relationships and even in the world. We become cynical and lose hope that God’s dream of unity can truly happen. We live unnecessarily lonely lives because we believe fear more than we do the promises of God.
Mercy is the gift that is given to us by God through Jesus. It is also a reality that our days in human life are limited. Now is the time to receive and give mercy generously.
