Mercy, Mercy, Me

Picture from Catholictv.org site

It's been quite an interesting week for me. Of course, it started with Divine Mercy Sunday, which was amazing and uplifting and included a trip into the confessional with my Pastor. He thought he knew me well until I whipped out a piece of paper with a few indiscretions jotted on it and started to verbalize what I had written. The paper was a result of a case of insomnia from months ago. You know how it is when you can't sleep. You think of regrets, things you have to do and stupid things like what exactly is the purpose of a mosquito? So, there I lay with thoughts swirling around my head of events that happened, when I was about age 15, and regretting them. That's 46 years ago btw; I'm not a spring chicken. That's the incredible beauty of confession. Just as Our Lord sent his Apostles out to forgive sinners in His mercy, so too do the priests of today do that and we are absolved of our sins and sent on our merry way to repent and sin no more.

A day or so after that I got into a very deep discussion via chat with a good friend of mine about our histories and some rather startling and dark periods in our lives. From that, we went in even deeper to ask if we found it in our hearts to forgive those that had hurt us. I can't speak for my friend but for me it did momentarily bring me back to the depths of hurt that I felt, but it did also remind me that I had moved on. It had taken years to come to grips with it all but yes, I did indeed forgive them and had let go and I believed that the others that were also affected had done so as well.

Last week I was remiss when talking about Divine Mercy Sunday in not expounding on it, because, you see, mercy is a two way street. We run to Christ to ask for forgiveness, but how often do we do that for others? How often do we forgive others and show mercy to those that have truly and deeply hurt us? Yet, we are called to do just that. Jesus commanded it.

"Love one another. As I have loved you, love one another." ~ John 13:34
  
From the Sermon on the Mount ~ Lord's Prayer – “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” ~ Matthew 6:12

"Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven" ~ Matthew 18:21-22

It's not easy; it's probably one of the toughest things in the world to do, but not only is it expected of us it is also good for the soul and the psyche. Hate, resentment, revenge are not of God so why hang onto them? Light, love, healing, forgiveness, mercy are Christ-like and the more we practice it the easier it becomes. 

I ask for your forgiveness and mercy, if I have ever hurt you, regardless if it was yesterday or years ago. I am sorry. 

I leave you with the words of Paul for us to ponder and adopt. May we ALL live by these words.

"Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. " Colossians 3:13

"Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." ~Ephesians 4:32

Peace,
Mare