Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Mercy Without Your Mercy?



Popes in recent history have taken the opportunity to deepen the faith during the Wednesday General audiences in the Vatican.  One striking example had been St. Pope John Paul the Great and the Theology of the Body.  It further delved into the body-spirit dynamic which we all humans share and how God meant all our activities including the things in the bed chamber are divinized under God's unconditional love and our acting out God's full and faithful love.  That phrase, Sa Tamang Panahon, kinda fits in with the TOB.


Pope Francis recently begun meditating about God's mercy last January 13, 2016 which is especially helpful to us in this Jubilee Year of Mercy.  Pope Francis explained that God was the God of Mercy in the Book of Exodus and went back to the Hebrew word for mercy as "it evokes the tender and visceral love of a mother for her child."

Thus as recipients of God's mercy, we have experienced God's "steadfast love and faithfulness."  Do we enjoy it while we can?  Do we keep it to ourselves, like the chocolate bars your husband or boyfriend gave you?  Or do we finally begin to act merciful after receiving God's mercy?

So start small and move your way up.  Having been forgiven in confession for your temper, your misdirected anger could be channeled towards zumba or a really long 20-count smile.  By the way, that smile may work with incessant calumny.

You've really leveled up if you begin to practice one or two of the spiritual or corporal works of mercy, like feeding the hungry or forgiving offences willingly, especially without strings.


READ: Saint's Words: St. Francis de Sales on General Confession



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