Mercy

Jesus was going through a field of grain on the sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “See, your disciples are doing what is unlawful to do on the sabbath.”

He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry, how he went into the house of God and ate the bread of offering, which neither he nor his companions but only the priests could lawfully eat? Or have you not read in the law that on the sabbath the priests serving in the temple violate the sabbath and are innocent?

I say to you, something greater than the temple is here. If you knew what this meant, I desire mercy, not sacrifice, you would not have condemned these innocent men. For the Son of Man is Lord of the sabbath.” (Matthew 12:1-8)

Today’s Gospel reading reminds us of the 2016 book “Pope Francis: The Name of God is Mercy.” It’s a conversation with author Andrea Tornielli.  Here is an excerpt from that book – the last question of Pope Francis and his answer.

Are the famous Words of Mercy of the Christian tradition still valid for the third millennium, or do they need to be reevaluated?

Francis answered: “ They are still valid, still  current.  Perhaps some aspects could be better “translated,” but they remain the basis for self-examination.  They help us open up to the mercy of God, to ack for the grace to understand that without mercy a person cannot do a thing, that you cannot do a single thing, that “the world would not exist.”…

Let us examine the Seven Corporal Works of Mercy: feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, dress the naked, house the pilgrims, visit the sick, visit the imprisoned, bury the dead.  I do not think there is much to explain.  And we look at our situation, our society, it seems to me that there is no lack of circumstances or opportunities all around us.  What should do for the homeless man camped in front of our home, for the poor man who has nothing to eat, for the neighboring family that cannot make it to the end of the month dur to the recession, because the husband lost his job?...We are called to serve Christ the Crucified through every marginalized person.  

After the Corporal Works of Mercy come the Spiritual Works of mercy: advise those in doubt; teach the ignorant; admonish the sinners; console the afflicted; forgive offenses; be patient with annoying people; pray to God for both the living and the dead…

By welcoming a marginalized person whose body is wounded and by welcoming the sinner whose soul is wounded, we put our credibility as Christians on the line.  Let us always remember the words of St. John of the Cross: “In the evening of life we will be judged on love alone.”

We CTK’ers need to say: “Lord have mercy.  Christ have mercy.  Lord have mercy.  We all must have mercy.

Deacon David Pierce