Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. What does it mean to be merciful in today's world?
The call to be merciful should be read in the fact that every person was first gifted with mercy by God. Mercy is an act of God’s over human poverty, suffering and sin, descending to help man, heal and forgive. It is through such actions that God reveals His faithfulness and love to people. This gift obliges us to take the same attitude towards others in need. If a man cannot live without experiencing mercy, he must not refuse merciful love. Such a refusal would undermine genuine solidarity with human existence and the mutual interdependence in the development of all.
To be merciful is first and foremost to be compassionate, helpful, have mercy forsomeone, give something more of yourself, dedicate everything to God present in the poor, thanking that you could give something to another. To be merciful, then, is to get rid of being for yourself and to turn to others. This indicates emotion in the face of misfortune of the other person, but also the deed that comes from that feeling. It is expressed in showingkindness, goodness, faithfulness, love and depends on the actual situation in which there is a man in need.Mercy also manifests itself in the willingness to forgive. Saint Paul in the Letter to Colossians wrote: Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do (Colossians 3: 12-13).
Being merciful is also about empathy for the painful experience of the people we meet. There is a need to feel what they are feeling and to cry over them so that they too may weep for themselves. An example of this is Jesus Christ himself, who also wept during his earthly life: for Jerusalem, for the death of Lazarus. This Jesus' weeping is an act of mercy. His tears move us, hurt us, cleanse us to bring consolation, tantamount to regaining sight by the blind and hearing by a deaf person. Jesus' tears, like his words, make us give up our hearts of stone, and accept the heart of the flesh, capable of empathizing with the drama of another human being. Co-feeling brings people closer together so that the weaker ones become strong with acceptance, understanding and the presence of those who support them. First of all, they are not in their pain alone - Jesus is with them with his mercy. It is in the wounded, sinful, and lost neighbor who needs our help, that we most often meet God.
Mercy applies to every person, regardless of their worldview or political affiliation, previous life history. Jesus wants us to have a heart for both, poor materially as well as morally and spiritually. A transformation through this gift is needed to anyone in any kind of bondage. We expect mercy and ask for it, because we discover in ourselves the ability to close our own heart to what is in us weak and wretched. Accepting love and forgiveness is always more difficult than giving them. In love and forgiveness, you need renunciation and total abandonment. We cannot live the commandment of love if we do not allow ourselves to be loved without limits and preconditions.
It is important that, as in this Gospel parable of the prodigal son, we alone felt the need to return to God. Although we work hard, we never really fully enjoyed the joy of being at home, close to God the Father. Instead, gratitude for God's gifts, we feel anxious: jealousy over what others have found, what they have, how kindly they are treated. When we experience many of torments, we will receive an inner light, thanks to which we will know how sensitive and merciful God is.
The principle of people of mercy is to bring out all the good that is in their neighbor. Mercy allows others to recognize their neighbor. Who turned out to be your neighbor? - that whomhas shown mercy (cf. Lk 10:37). So, the point is to prove that you are a neighbor of another human being. And the only one who becomes a neighbor is the one who helps a misfortune person in need of help. Cordiality and tenderness for another person, understanding their need and striving to come to them with effective and disinterested help, it is a test of belonging to Jesus and that understands His spirit, therefore a sure measure to achieve salvation.
The practice of active mercy should include respect for people and sensitivity for their dignity and the situation that requires help. Should refer to every need of a neighbor, and at the same time be delicately connected with justice, because mercy alone, even the most perfect, will not remove unjust socio-economic relations. This is especially true in those environments where there is no place for God and His commandments. God in the form of human sensitivity and understanding reveals himself as our neighbor in order to attract the doubting man. Everyone should respond to the suffering of others, their pain and poverty. So, having present their needs before our eyes, it is necessary for the human community to develop such structure so that no man suffers and freed from all injustice. Everyone, as an individual and as a member of the community should be open-minded and ready to serve unconditionally and selfless. In some situations, individual action is sufficient, including giving others your time, listening, a good word will help. However, there are also situations in which the community turns out to be the indispensable subject of mercy, taking specific actions, especially towards some contemporary social problems.
How should we understand the words of Christ, blessed are the merciful, contained in the Sermon on the Mount? It does not only mean charity or giving offerings to those in need. Mercy is an attitude that imitates God's way of dealing with sinful people, it is an act of forgiveness. This attitude of people towards sinners was unknown in the Old Testament; they deserved anger and a curse. Jesus, against these tendencies, by word and gesturetaught compassion towards sinners who are poor people in God's eyes. Only in this way can they be won over to God. In order to live fully in the spirit of service, it is therefore essential to follow two principles: being generous in giving and forgiving. God's mercy mostly manifests itself in forgiveness. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus Christ calls every human being without exception: forgive and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you (cf. Lk 6: 37-38). Mercy manifested in the act of forgiveness is therefore a duty resulting from the covenant between God and man. This commitment to forgive, everyone should take joyfully, because only it can give us the power to recognize in moral law the liberating truth and the way of living according to God's will.
Until Tomorrow
fr. george
Novena to St. Joseph - Day Eight - St. Joseph, Man of Peace and Joy
Dear St. Joseph,
I know the Bible doesn't speak directly of your joy, but how could you not have been full of joy? I'm sure you were. You lived in the presence of Jesus and Mary. Well, St. Joseph, please pray for me that I will also find my joy by also living in their presence. And having yourself lived in their presence, you must have been a man of such peace. St. Joseph, please pray for me that I keep my joy and not give in to sadness, laziness, or discouragement. Also, pray that I keep my peace of soul and not hold on to anger and bitterness in my heart. Help me to be merciful to everyone by offering forgiveness that I might also, like you, be a man of true peace and joy.
Saint Joseph, Man of Peace and Joy, please put me at peace and help me find joy.