There is so much more to mercy than just forgiveness

Prayer for the Day

Almighty, true and incomparable God, You are present in all things, yet in no way limited by them.

You remain unaffected by place, untouched by time, unperturbed by years, and undeceived by words.

You are not subject to birth and in no need of protection.

You are beyond all corruption, above all change, immutable by nature.

You live in unapproachable light and are invisible, yet You are known to all those who seek You with hope and love.

You are the God of Israel, and of all who hope in Christ.

Amen.

Reflection

The lector at Mass this morning got so carried away with the story of Paul and the commander of the army that he read all the way to the end of the chapter!  But he is the man  whose oratorical talents are the best I've ever heard at Mass, so it was a pleasant surprise!  I really would like to listen to this guy read the entire Bible someday (I know it will never happen, but it’s a good dream, anyway!). He must have been an actor or on radio for a long time—I just can’t overstate his talent!  He has the ability to put me “in the moment” that he is reading about, and that really helps my meditations.

Another great surprise was that the Mass was celebrated by the newest priest in the Fresno Diocese (he was ordained last week!) who was evidently assigned to Bakersfield.  I have never seen him in person (I did see a picture of him in the diocesan newsletter with a story about his upcoming ordination) or heard him preach, but if today is any indication, he is a very blessed and gifted young man.
Rather than speak about the first reading (that had “gone on long enough”, he probably thought) or the Gospel, he gave a homily on the entrance antiphon and the endless mercy that Jesus shows every one of us.

He began by saying that to most of us, mercy is a leniency—a forgiveness—or a remittance of punishment for sins, a fresh start.  And that’s where most of us stop the definition.  He went on to say that while that definition is certainly true and would be more than enough for a lot of folks, Jesus goes so much further!  Not only does He “pick us up” time and time again when we fall, but He will stay with us to help prevent us from falling again!  But He won’t run interference for us against temptation unless we ask Him to.  He does send us gentle reminders, but it’s up to us whether we listen or not.
I don’t know if Father planned his homily this way, knowing what tomorrow’s Gospel would be, but it seems to me that Jesus’ mercy is explained very well in John 21. 

There are just two charcoal fires in the whole Bible, and they are both in the Gospel of John. The first is mentioned at John 18:18, the charcoal fire in the high priest’s courtyard around which the slaves and guards warmed themselves when the gatekeeper says to Peter, “You are not one of this man’s disciples are you?” and Peter says, “I am not.” Questioned like that two more times, Peter, now warming himself at the same fire, denies being a disciple of Jesus two more times.

The second charcoal fire is the one on the shore of the Sea of Tiberius (the Sea of Galilee, renamed for the current emperor), apparently prepared by the risen Lord Jesus (21:9), where the same Peter is questioned three times by Jesus, “Do you love me?” and the disciple now affirms his allegiance three times. So in one place a charcoal fire is the setting for a threefold denial of discipleship, and in the other place a charcoal fire is the setting for a threefold affirmation of discipleship. Was this a coincidence?  I think not. The evangelist John uses that detail to help us link those episodes together. And who is to say that the association does not go back to Jesus himself, helping Peter to realize that the denier is being given a fresh start in his relationship to the Lord.

And this seaside scenario is not only a matter of astounding forgiveness and mercy; it is also a commissioning: “Feed my lambs; feed my sheep.” The Good Shepherd is enlisting this errant sheep in the Master’s own work of shepherding. Peter is given an opportunity to demonstrate the love he professed by sharing in the mission of the risen Lord. Ultimately, it is going to be a matter of being led where he does not want to go. Loving the head shepherd will entail following Him even to a death like His.  But he need not fear. The Lord stands there full of risen life, a life Peter can also share already in the act of following.

In our own small way, each of us who claims to be a disciple of Jesus is invited into that same act of trust with mercy, as people forgiven and assigned our particular task.
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To my readers:  Sorry for the quality of the layouts lately.  I've got a relatively new laptop with Windows 7 that allows the fonts to carry over into the blog, but I'm having trouble controlling paragraphs and spacing.  What I normally do is compose my reflections in Microsoft Word, then cut and paste to the blog.  Maybe I will still do that, but I will use fonts I'm familiar with. I hope the messages continue to be what you're looking for, though.  I think I'll just go back to "plain ol' Arial", large font.  I think the message is what is important, not the "decor".