Mercy is the Currency Of God

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."

Have you ever noticed that you get from God what you give to others?  The economy of salvation is like that.  The Treasury of God's Mercy is infinitely vast and inexhaustible because no matter what we do, no matter how far we stray, He will always take us back.  He loves us so much that the insults and hurts that we hurl at him, which we call sin, are absorbed by Him and yet His love does not diminish. This is good news for all of us! But there is one caveat.  We must be willing to forgive others in the same measure that He has forgiven us.  That is the economy of mercy.  We will receive mercy in the exact same measure that we dole it out ourselves.  

What does this mean to us?  It means that we have to be as generous as God in forgiving the insults and hurts that are hurled at us. We must be peacemakers and we must be meek, we must recognize others as being better than ourselves.  In other words, we must turn ourselves around and be less human and more like our Father. 

I once read in a book about a brother named Brother Bernard.  Brother Bernard was a rough-hewn man who did the physical labor at the monastery that he was a member of.  While some of the brothers were doing spiritual reading and studying, he would be doing gardening or repair work.  It was not that he was dumb, it was that he felt called to simple work and he did what he did so that his other brothers could do what they do.  He never liked gossiping or telling tales out of school about others.  When confronted with such a situation he would always say in reply, "Wouldn't it be interesting if he were closer to God than we are."

So, on this Friday, where I am it is humid and warm and the weather gurus are promising us a steamy, rainy day, I am going to try to be more generous with my mercy supply.  I will bet you that if all of us were to do this that the world would be a better place and that we would find that God has given us an inexhaustible supply of mercy of our own to dispense as freely as He does. 

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I know I ask this every day but today the Lord is calling me to be especially persuasive but He has challenged me to do it in just a few words so here it goes:  

Pray for the Poor Souls in Purgatory

 sow your mercy for them 

and they will grow in love for you.