Kindness & Mercy

The psalm response for this weekend’s liturgies is the refrain, “The Lord is kind and merciful”. Do you really believe this? We say it repeatedly echo it in the psalm of the day, but how authentic is our reciting or singing this particular part of the today’s readings? Perhaps some time in reflection and looking back might facilitate how true we see the kindness or the mercy of God. As you think back over your life’s experiences, when were those moments of these two gifts from God apparent and obvious in your life? Certainly when one comes to the sacrament of Penance, the mercy of God is there for the taking with a good confession of one’s sins. When one receives the forgiveness from another for a mistake or an error in judgment, mercy can be experienced. But the first question still returns. Do you really believe in the kindness and mercy of God? Looking through Sacred Scripture, it is replete with many, many moments when God has chosen to be kind, has chosen to be merciful. It is evident in both the Old Testament or the Hebrew Scriptures and perhaps more familiar to us in the New Testament or Christian Scriptures. But for us who live in today’s world, we hear in the daily news, we read in the various magazines we might subscribe to and we act towards one another with just the opposite realities: cruelty and a lack of any leniency. Besides looking backwards, we can also look toward the future. Seeing kindness and mercy from our God is oftentimes clearer with hindsight. But to look into the future – even so short a time as this coming week – where might God’s kindness and mercy be seen by you or experienced by you? Better yet, where can you GIVE the kindness or the mercy that you have received to another who will populate your days this week? Be on the lookout. The opportunities will be there. They will present themselves to you to act on. The last question is: Will you?

Msgr. Mike