A reflection on the readings of the 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time by Deacon Eric Gurash
Last week we heard Luke’s ‘Sermon on the Plain’ where he outlined for us the road to lasting happiness. Of the many things this rich text does, one key purpose is that it describes for us the perfect image of Christ. As Jesus relates the blessings of the beatific life, in effect he is describing for us what it is like to be him.
And if last week we found ourselves intimidated by his invitation to take up the image of humility, of hunger, compassion, and persecution, as the chapter ends today, Luke raises the bar further still;
“Love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return.”
Do you want to be children of the Most High?
“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
Jesus reminds us that Mercy has been the defining characteristic of our Heavenly Father from the beginning of it all.
Why did God make clothing for Adam and Eve? Mercy.
Why did he free Israel from slavery? Mercy.
Why does God send his son to heal the broken, give sight to the blind, forgive the sinner, feed the hungry, and suffer and die for those who hate him? Mercy.
Jesus Christ is the face of a Father who has shown His mercy time and time again.
We often get hung up on the apparent harshness of God in the Old Testament, but our first reading today presents to us David, who was chosen explicitly as one who has “a heart after God”.
And what kind of heart are we shown? His is a heart filled with gracious, prodigal, even reckless mercy, towards Saul once mentor, now breathing threats of murder down David’s neck.
Here is the heart of the one who indeed is “kind to the ungrateful and the wicked” who sustains and preserves the life of one whom he loves, even as they breathe threats of death.
Pope Francis in “The Name of God is Mercy” tells a story of an older lady who came to him to confess her sins. It was a lady he knew and he asked her at the start “what sins could you have?”
“We all have sins and I know that the Lord forgives all things.” She replied.
“How do you know this?” he asked.
“If the Lord did not forgive everything, the world would not exist.”
He writes “I was struck by the woman’s words: without mercy, without God’s forgiveness, the world would not exist.”
See here the vastness of all the Earth, the multitudes of peoples, and our own selves upheld in a continuing embrace of mercy in which we live and move and have our being.
In the midst of our wounded humanity, we go on. In War, in famine, in poverty, in exclusion, We go on. In all of those dark areas of our lives where we divide one from another, where we create inside groups and outside groups, victimizers and victims. All of those places where we continue to divide ourselves even from God – we go on.
Why? Because we have earned it? Because we deserve it?
As this wonderful, merciful woman reminded our Pope – No…we continue in being as a sign of God’s mercy. It is mercy that sustains us.
And then He sends his Son to heal, give sight, to forgive, to feed, to suffer and die.
“For He is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked…”
And how are we to respond to this?
By doing for others what we have had done for us. Luke challenges us more firmly than all the other Gospels to go beyond merely thinking good thoughts, praying blessings and peace on those friends, neighbours, coworkers and strangers who test our patience.
Luke challenges us to DO something concrete. Give, comfort, console, lend, feed, forgive. These are not gifts to be reserved for those whom we deem to have earned the right to our mercy.
Without mercy, the world would not exist. Without mercy, I would not exist. What right have we to withhold this from anybody else?
And so here is how we can ensure that the grace God extends to us is not allowed to become tarnished and cheapened. Reflect right here and now: Who in your life today is in need of what has been given to you? Who is God placing before you in need of gracious, prodigal, reckless mercy?
Think on this today, meditate on it this week and as God brings that person to mind, pray. Pray for the grace of a mercy-filled heart. Beg for it with all that you are.
We who have joyfully and undeservedly received our Father’s greatest gift. Pray for His help to return it.
