YEAR OF MERCY

11/17/15

HE YEAR OF MERCY

            Pope Francis has decreed this church year The Year of Mercy.  What does that mean exactly?  Are we going to say special prayers praising God for his mercy?

Are we going to use Mercy as the theme for Lent and Advent?  Are we going to increase our charitable contributions and be satisfied with that, or are we going to search our hearts to find the mercy that should be there? 

            Jesus said that we should try to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect.

We all know we are long way from succeeding in that.  But it isn’t the achieving that counts anyway it’s the trying. The first step is acknowledging the humanity of everyone even if they do not acknowledge it in us.  When Christ told the story of the Good Samaritan he was trying to break the insular mindset of his people.  They believed because they were ‘chosen’ they were superior.  Worse, it made everyone else inferior.  That attitude was not and is not limited to the Jewish people of millennia ago. It is alive and well today in all of us.  Everyone wants to think of themselves as superior.  But the followers of Christ know better and have an obligation to fight the tendency.  Christ was very clear to the disciples.  He told stories to the general public to get his points across but to the disciples he was more direct. 

            “ The knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom has been granted to you. Blessed are your eyes because they see and your ears because they hear. Amen, I say to you many prophets longed to see what you see but did not see it and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.” (Matt 13:11,16-17)

            We are the descendants of those disciples and we see, we hear, and we know the mind of Christ.  We know that the love of God is equally distributed to all. We know we can’t call ourselves Christians and hold hatred in our hearts.  We cannot discriminate, abuse, denigrate or harm the innocent. We cannot lump the innocent with the guilty because they look alike.  We cannot stand by and let those things happen with no protest. We just can’t.

            We have to learn mercy.  We have to remind ourselves daily of Christ’s plea for those who were putting him to death;  “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”  We have to hold the Gospel in front of us like a shield against prejudice. 

            We are not starting the Year of Mercy in a merciful mood.  This is a test for us. Are we or are we not, true followers of Jesus Christ?

            Let us all make a pledge for this Year of Mercy that we will nurture mercy in our hearts and reflect it in our words and actions.

With love,

Carol Lemelin OPA