Last Sunday, I had the privilege of returning to my former parish at Holy Family and the gospel was about the beatitudes. You remember them. Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted, blessed are the meek, blessed are the those who hunger for righteousness, blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy, blessed are the pure of heart, blessed are the peacemakers, blessed are those who are persecuted
If you ask me which one is the most important. I say it’s the merciful. If you look at the life of Jesus, I would say it is saturated with mercy. Remember when the kids came to Jesus and he says don’t lead one of these astray or else. No one wanted the kids around. Jesus had a tender heart where he tells the parable of the workers in the vineyard and the people are outraged where everybody gets paid the same thing and God says you’re going to begrudge me my generosity, you’re going to tell me how to dispense my Mercy. Or when the blind and lame come to him in the temple and he heals them or when the prostitutes and tax collectors get into the kingdom of God before the unrepentant because Jesus has Mercy for All. Or when the sheep and the goats are separated in the great judgment based on who shows Mercy to those who are naked and those who are poor. Jesus was a man saturated with Mercy in everything he did and said.
My hunch is in the Beatitudes He’s calling us to be just like him. Not talking about being some kind of superhero, not talking about being the bishop or prime bishop, about being a scholar or a missionary, simply talking about being a Christian, one holy moment at a time.
God has shown you great Mercy by all means please share it because Lord knows the world could use a little Mercy right now.
Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who have been wounded by their neighbors, relatives and friends. Give us the graced of humility to show Mercy to anyone who has hurt us. Give us the grace to let go of our anger and resentment and be saturated with Mercy because the world needs a little Mercy right now.
