“Faithfulness”
and “mercy” are two words that appear again and again in the scriptures as
“windows” through which we catch a glimpse of who God is and how God acts. They describe how God first became involved
with Israel and how He has been ever since. It was mercy that moved the Divine Heart to
enter into the covenant; it’s faithfulness that, despite Israel’s frequent
abandonment of God, never fails to keep the covenant.
“My faithfulness and my mercy shall be
with him.” These words are
spoken in reference to
King David, and the phrase foretells no generic or vague “presence.” By pledging to accompany David with
faithfulness and mercy, God promises to constantly work on David’s behalf,
through thick and thin, with every ounce of divine strength [Psalm 89:20-26].
Jesus, the
faithful witness and mercy of God in the flesh, assures us that those gifts are
for us as well. In the midst of our
lives and work today, do we accept the promise made to David? Perhaps today we need to pray for the grace to
hear the Psalm spoken to us: “My faithfulness and my
mercy shall be with you.”
It’s painful
to watch Jesus, in Mark’s gospel, be demonized by the religious leaders of His
day [Mark 3:22-30]. Yet, as we know from
our own experience, too often that’s what we do to people who challenge us,
even a way that is clearly from the Holy Spirit. I remember hearing a priest share that if he
preached like Pope Francis - as he felt drawn to - he wouldn't be able to put a
new roof on his parish church, because the people wouldn't like his preaching
very much.
I think the
invitation and the grace being offered each of us today comes in the form of a
couple of movements. The first is the
invitation to renew our personal relationship with Jesus. In doing so, we might discover any resistance
we feel to being called to love and be merciful, the very way He’s loved and
been merciful to us. That's where the
grace comes in. It’s a gift from the
Holy Spirit which will lead us to greater freedom and greater closeness with
Jesus. Secondly, we can all examine any
ways we might be demoralizing others. Do
I find myself in any oppositional relationship with someone close to me? Is there something I can learn from that? I often discover then when I’m about to judge
someone or just feel deep opposition to someone, I can explore what's
underneath all that tension and discover something in me I need to look at. For example, I find myself getting upset at people
who refuse to get the Covid vaccine, or even wear a mask when in close quarters
or those who refuse to follow the scientific proof behind the Covid protocols. So, I get all judgmental about it. If I stop and reflect on it a bit, I can often
discover that there’s some issue of resisting authority, which is also in me,
and that reflection can be both freeing and allow mercy and compassion to
replace my judgment of the other person.
This Covid era could be a great time to ask for deep desires for God's grace to free our hearts. We can ask to be open to let God do something in us. We can ask to grow in freedom in the way we related to others, especially anyone we might be tempted to demonize. We can ask for the grace to discover what our Lord wants to forgive and heal in us - what Jesus wants to release in us, so that we might be a people who grow in having a heart like His. These days can be grace-filled if our hearts move from severity and opposition to others and move in the direction of compassion, mercy and deep self-giving love; with a renewal of our way of being with and for those around us. It might also be a time to ask for powerful graces, that our hearts might grow in deeper compassion and care for our brothers and sisters who suffer in our city and around the world.
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