In the Gospel we just heard, Jesus
tells us, “Be merciful, just
as your Father is merciful.”
OK. So how are you
going to do that? How are you
practically going to be merciful? Most
of us do not pass judgement on convicted criminals, so we cannot be merciful in
that rather strict sense.
Rather, for the great majority of us
in our daily life, being merciful as our Father in Heaven is merciful, means
first of all being patient.
We are all too quick to pass judgement on others. For us, practically, mercy means being more
patient with our spouse, our children, our selves. It means being less quick to judge harshly
the other drivers we encounter, or the person ahead of us in a checkout line
who takes FOREVER to get their money out to pay, or that person at work that
bothers us.
You see, God is not quick to judge. God has
lots of time to make judgements. So, God
is patient. And that is good for
us! ¿Can we be more patient with those
we live with, with those we work and study with, and with those we encounter
during our day?
We can also practice mercy by trying
to put ourselves in the other persons’
shoes and see things from their point of view.
Our political discourse in this country has all too often degenerated
into diatribe. Can we practice the
virtue of mercy, taking time to listen to the other, be patient with each
other, and instead of quickly condemning, rather try to dialogue with the
other? That is a lot more work, it is
less emotionally satisfying than to
know that we are in the right and the other side is all in the wrong, BUT it is
much closer to the way God mercifully treats us.
Jesus tells us today in the
Gospel: “Stop judging and you will not be
judged. Stop condemning and you will not
be condemned.”
This
statement follows immediately after the command to be merciful, because the
avoidance of judging and condemning is very close to being merciful.
Ultimately, this patience and trying
to see things from the other’s
point of view, leads to forgiveness.
Jesus continues in His teaching, “Forgive and you will be forgiven.” We need to forgive in order to become who we
are destined to be, that is, children of God.
Because God forgives us.
In our second reading today from St.
Paul to the Corinthians, St Paul tells us: “The first man (Adam) was from the earth, earthly; the
second man (Jesus), from heaven. As was
the earthly one, so also are the earthly, and as is the heavenly one, so also
are the heavenly.” ¿So which are we, earthly or
heavenly??? St. Paul tells us, “Just
as we have borne the image of the earthly one, we shall also bear the image of
the heavenly one.”
This means that we are a work in
progress. We shall also bear the image
of the heavenly person. But we are not
fully there yet. We must all continue to
work at it, opening ourselves to the transforming grace of Christ.
“Be
merciful, just as your Father is merciful,” by being patient with others, slowing down the urge to
immediately condemn, taking time to dialogue and listen to the other.
“For
the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.”
God bless!
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