Today’s readings are so appropriate for us as we remember the twenty-first anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. There is an entire new generation of people who will not remember what the USA was like before this tragic event. For those who do remember, some still respond to the events of that day with anger, bitterness, anguish and fury. For the people who actually witnessed the planes crashing into the twin towers, the Pentagon and the field in Pennsylvania, for those who lost family members, friends and colleagues, today must rekindle heartbreaking and painful memories. Yet in the midst of our sorrow and hurt, Pope Francis reminds us that “mercy is not only an action of the Father, it becomes a criterion for ascertaining who his true children are. In short, we are called to show mercy because mercy has first been shown to us. Pardoning offences becomes the clearest expression of merciful love, and for us Christians it is an imperative from which we cannot excuse ourselves. At times how hard it seems to forgive! And yet pardon is the instrument placed into our fragile hands to attain serenity of heart. To let go of anger, wrath, violence, and revenge are necessary conditions to living joyfully” (Misericordiae Vultus, 9).
All our readings for this Sunday highlight the role of mercy in our lives as daughters and sons of God. Even the wrath-filled God of the Old Testament presented in our first reading from Exodus had a capacity for mercy. Saul the Pharisee who testified that he was “a blasphemer and a persecutor and arrogant” in the 1st Letter of Timothy experienced the transforming, merciful treatment of God becoming St Paul, the greatest evangelizer history has ever known. But it is in the Gospel from Luke 15:1-32 that we see the full impact of God’s merciful intervention in our lives. Pope Francis writes, “In the parables devoted to mercy, Jesus reveals the nature of God as that of a Father who never gives up until he has forgiven the wrong and overcome rejection with compassion and mercy. We know these parables well, three in particular: the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the father with two sons (cf. Lk 15:1-32). In these parables, God is always presented as full of joy, especially when he pardons. In them we find the core of the Gospel and of our faith, because mercy is presented as a force that overcomes everything, filling the heart with love and bringing consolation through pardon” (Misericordiae Vultus, 9).
As we begin this week, let us make it a week of prayer, repentance and forgiveness as we ask God our Father for the grace to grow in love. Again, quoting Pope Francis from Misericordiae Vultus, “mercy is a key word that indicates God’s action towards us. He does not limit himself merely to affirming his love, but makes it visible and tangible. Love, after all, can never be just an abstraction. By its very nature, it indicates something concrete: intentions, attitudes, and behaviours that are shown in daily living. The mercy of God is his loving concern for each one of us. He feels responsible; that is, he desires our wellbeing and he wants to see us happy, full of joy, and peaceful. This is the path which the merciful love of Christians must also travel. As the Father loves, so do his children. Just as he is merciful, so we are called to be merciful to each other.”
What do you look like, O God of compassion?
A shepherd who carries home the lost sheep:
a woman who sweeps the whole house to find a single coin:
a father who never gives up hope that the child who hurt him
will come home to be loved.
So in Jesus you have come searching for us.
May we never forget how much we are loved.
May we never refuse to love others as much.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God for ever and ever.
AMEN.
