BLESSED ARE THE MERCIFUL FOR THEY SHALL OBTAIN MERCY (MT 5:7)

20160724 BLESSED ARE THE MERCIFUL FOR THEY SHALL OBTAIN MERCY (MT 5:7)

Readings at Mass

Liturgical Colour: Green.

First reading

Genesis 18:20-32 ©

The Lord said, ‘How great an outcry there is against Sodom and Gomorrah! How grievous is their sin! I propose to go down and see whether or not they have done all that is alleged in the outcry against them that has come up to me. I am determined to know.’

  The men left there and went to Sodom while Abraham remained standing before the Lord. Approaching him he said, ‘Are you really going to destroy the just man with the sinner? Perhaps there are fifty just men in the town. Will you really overwhelm them, will you not spare the place for the fifty just men in it? Do not think of doing such a thing: to kill the just man with the sinner, treating just and sinner alike! Do not think of it! Will the judge of the whole earth not administer justice?’ the Lord replied, ‘If at Sodom I find fifty just men in the town, I will spare the whole place because of them.’

  Abraham replied, ‘I am bold indeed to speak like this to my Lord, I who am dust and ashes. But perhaps the fifty just men lack five: will you destroy the whole city for five?’ ‘No,’ he replied ‘I will not destroy it if I find forty-five just men there.’ Again Abraham said to him, ‘Perhaps there will only be forty there.’ ‘I will not do it’ he replied ‘for the sake of the forty.’

  Abraham said, ‘I trust my Lord will not be angry, but give me leave to speak: perhaps there will only be thirty there.’ ‘I will not do it’ he replied ‘if I find thirty there.’ He said, ‘I am bold indeed to speak like this, but perhaps there will only be twenty there.’ ‘I will not destroy it’ he replied ‘for the sake of the twenty.’ He said, ‘I trust my Lord will not be angry if I speak once more: perhaps there will only be ten.’ ‘I will not destroy it’ he replied ‘for the sake of the ten.’

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 137:1-3,6-8

Second reading

Colossians 2:12-14 ©

You have been buried with Christ, when you were baptised; and by baptism, too, you have been raised up with him through your belief in the power of God who raised him from the dead. You were dead, because you were sinners and had not been circumcised: he has brought you to life with him, he has forgiven us all our sins.

  He has overridden the Law, and cancelled every record of the debt that we had to pay; he has done away with it by nailing it to the cross.

Gospel Acclamation

Jn1:14,12

Alleluia, alleluia!

The Word was made flesh and lived among us:

to all who did accept him

he gave power to become children of God.

Alleluia!

Or

Rm8:15

Alleluia, alleluia!

The spirit you received is the spirit of sons,

and it makes us cry out, ‘Abba, Father!’

Alleluia!

Gospel

Luke 11:1-13 ©

Once Jesus was in a certain place praying, and when he had finished one of his disciples said, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.’ He said to them, ‘Say this when you pray:

“Father, may your name be held holy,

your kingdom come;

give us each day our daily bread,

and forgive us our sins,

for we ourselves forgive each one who is in debt to us.

And do not put us to the test.”’

He also said to them, ‘Suppose one of you has a friend and goes to him in the middle of the night to say, “My friend, lend me three loaves, because a friend of mine on his travels has just arrived at my house and I have nothing to offer him”; and the man answers from inside the house, “Do not bother me. The door is bolted now, and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up to give it you.” I tell you, if the man does not get up and give it him for friendship’s sake, persistence will be enough to make him get up and give his friend all he wants.

  ‘So I say to you: Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For the one who asks always receives; the one who searches always finds; the one who knocks will always have the door opened to him. What father among you would hand his son a stone when he asked for bread? Or hand him a snake instead of a fish? Or hand him a scorpion if he asked for an egg? If you then, who are evil, know how to give your children what is good, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!’

BLESSED ARE THE MERCIFUL FOR THEY SHALL OBTAIN MERCY (MT 5:7)

SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ 18:20-32; Ps 137:1-3, 6-8; Col 2:12-14; Lk 11:1-13  ]

“Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy.”  (Mt 5:7). How do we understand this teaching of Jesus?   Does it mean that if we do not grant mercy, we will not be able to obtain mercy?  In the same vein the gospel also speaks about forgiveness, which is closely related to the theme of mercy.  In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught us to say, “Forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive each one who is in debt to us.”  Does it mean to say that if we do not forgive, we will not be forgiven?

It is important to situate the context of our theme, which is taken from the gospel of Matthew on the Sermon on the Mount.  It is said that the Sermon on the Mount was meant for the community of Christians during the time of St Matthew.  They were already converted to the Lord.  It is to be read as a didache, not a kerygma.  That is to say, the Beatitudes presented in the Sermon on the Mount, sum up for us the highest ideals of how a Christian should live after baptism.  They are meant for the true disciples of Christ, that is, those who have been converted; not for unbelievers or lukewarm disciples.  For that reason, the apostles and the disciples did not carry out the teachings of Jesus before His passion, death and resurrection.  The reason was simple.  They were still ignorant and lacked the capacity to do so even if they had wanted to.  They were still squabbling for position and power, even until the last days of Jesus’ sojourn on earth.  They would not have had the capacity to live out the Beatitudes.

Indeed, many of us, like the apostles, are not capable of mercy, of forgiveness, of compassion, of generosity.  Why?  This is because we are wounded in life.  We have been betrayed and abandoned in relationships.  We cannot forgive and let go of the hurts because the memories still haunt us.  Many of us have never been loved unconditionally and so we do not know what is true love.  So how can we give what we have not got?  For some of us, we have lost everything in life through misfortune, war, or we have been cheated.  We become very insecure of our future.  We begin to hoard and trust no one.  We want to grow our wealth so that we never have to be poor or destitute again.  So because of past hurts, disappointments fear and anxiety, we become protective of our interests, suspicious of others, fearful of suffering and rejection.   We have obstacles in loving, giving and sharing.

Hence, we must begin with the foundation for mercy.  There is no way to be merciful unless we first have had a personal encounter of the mercy of God. The scripture readings today underscore the limitless and unconditional mercy of God. 

Divine Mercy is expressed primarily in forgiveness.  In the first reading, we read of Abraham’s appeal to God for mercy on his people.  Abraham was confident of God’s mercy and compassion. At the risk of testing the patience and mercy of God, he bargained for the city of Sodom to be spared if only ten good people could be found, down from the initial 50 he started with.  Alas, even ten good persons could not be found in the notorious and evil city.  The message is clear; God is tolerant of man’s sinfulness and He desires to save all.   He is patient and forgiving if man repents.

So great is the love and mercy of God that He sent His only Son to assume our humanity, to suffer with and for us; and even to die for us.  St Paul wrote, “You were dead, because you were sinners and had not been circumcised: he has brought you to life with him, he has forgiven us all our sins.”  Through His sacrifice on the cross, He manifested the utter love of God for us by His death on the cross.  By taking our sins upon Himself, “He has done away with it by nailing it to the cross.” By so doing, he “has overridden the Law, and cancelled every record of the debt that we had to pay.”

Secondly, the mercy of God is also seen concretely in His looking after our physical and material needs.  In the gospel, Jesus assures us of God’s attentive love and care for us.  In the Lord’s Prayer, not only did He teach us to do God’s will and ask for His forgiveness, but He also taught us to ask for our daily bread. Jesus assures us that God not only hears our petitions but He is certainly more caring and compassionate than the man who was forced to get up in the middle of the night to attend to his friend’s persistent call for bread. He does not do it grudgingly, like the man who acted only out of coercion.  In the case of our Lord, He reaches out to us not because we are pesky. Our merciful and loving God is not like that.  He cares for us more than any earthly father on this earth.  He cannot be outdone in generosity, in mercy and in compassion.

Thirdly, He invites us to ask for the Holy Spirit, apart from our material needs.  “If you then, who are evil, know how to give your children what is good, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”  Truly, what we need, in the final analysis, is the Holy Spirit; the Spirit of God for us to live our lives meaningfully and happily.  To acquire the Spirit of God is to acquire the Kingdom of God as expressed in the Lord’s Prayer.  “Father, may your name be held holy, your kingdom come.”  The coming of God’s Kingdom is always the rule of God’s love in our hearts.  Only when His love is in our hearts can we then do His will.  As we do His holy will and allow the Kingdom of love, peace and justice to rule our lives, we can then sanctify His name by the way we live and so be recognized as God’s children and His channels of mercy.

Finally, the daily bread is also the bread of heaven, the manna from heaven, the bread of tomorrow given to us today as a foretaste of the fullness of life in heaven.  It is also through the Eucharist that we receive the Spirit of Jesus as we receive Him, the Word of God made flesh.  As we receive His Spirit, we are transformed into Him, sharing more and more His sonship.

Hence, if we want to be merciful like Jesus, we must first pray that we encounter God’s mercy.  This is what Jesus asks of us.  His mercy is always there for us if only we ask, seek and knock.  God our heavenly Father will not fail us for He is incomparable to our earthly father in love, mercy, compassion and generosity.

But why must we ask, search and knock?  Because mercy is only given to those who are humble, like Mary. When we are proud and self-sufficient, haughty and arrogant, we cannot receive mercy because we cannot empathize with the weak, the sinners and the hungry.  But for those of us who are conscious of our limitations, our weaknesses and needs, we learn to identify with the poor and fellow sinners.  Only then can we avail ourselves of God’s mercy.

Secondly, He shows His divine mercy at times by not giving us what we ask or want.  Rather, He opens our eyes to see what is really good for us. We are often mistaken in what is good for us and what the mercy of God is like.  We are easily deceived by the snares of the world; of power, glory and wealth.  When we seek the wrong things in life, instead of being contented, we feel more insecure and more miserable. In truth, if we are able to find love, relationship, generosity, peace and contentment in our hearts, we have already found God and life.

Thirdly, by asking, searching and knocking, we too will recognize the messengers of God’s mercy when they come.  They often come through the prophetic words of our friends, priests or teachers.  They come through the sacraments that we celebrate, especially the Eucharist, Reconciliation and the Anointing of the Sick. The channels of God’s mercy come through our loved ones, parents, friends and even strangers who come to our help and offer us love and service without conditions.  So God is always showing us His mercy in the diverse ways of daily life and events, if only we open our eyes to receive His mercy.

Having experienced His divine mercy, we are now called to imitate God’s mercy.  Having been baptized in Christ and shared in His divine sonship, we are now called to live out our sonship.  We do this by remembering the mercy we have received.  Gratitude for God’s mercy is the prerequisite for extending that same mercy to others.

Indeed, this is true, especially in the area of forgiveness. The most critical and foundational form of mercy is forgiveness. The lack of forgiveness is the cause of many reactive sins and sadness.  Many of us continue to live in our past and are haunted by the mistakes we made.  We cannot forgive ourselves.  At times, especially when things are not right, we think that God is punishing us for our past sins.  At times, we cannot forgive those who have hurt us and we allow the pain to grow in us, making us bitter and angry with life, our enemies and ourselves.  We need to ask for God’s mercy for our sins and seek forgiveness.  Only then, can we begin the process of healing relationships, especially with our loved ones.

But why must we pass on the mercy we have received?  In the Lord’s Prayer, we pray, “forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive each one who is in debt to us.”  The truth is that it is only possible to receive God’s forgiveness if we forgive others who have hurt us.  Otherwise, the forgiveness we receive would be incomplete as our hearts would not be totally healed and our pains not completely released.  God forgives us first, so that we can have the capacity to forgive our fellowmen.  So if we desire to receive the complete mercy of God, we must render the same mercy to others.  By forgiving and showing mercy to others, we share in the joy of God’s mercy.

Of course, this mercy extended to others includes also charity and almsgiving.  By helping others and by reaching out to the poor, we share the great joy of being life-givers.  We also forget about our own problems because we see our sufferings in a larger perspective.

Happiness is not what we keep for ourselves but what we share with others.  The more we share what we have, the richer we will be in God’s joy, love and mercy, even though we may become poorer materially.  We receive a double portion of what we give out to others.  There is great joy in receiving, but as St Paul says, greater is the joy in giving.  “In all things I have shown you that by so toiling one must help the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.”  (Acts 20:35)  Giving transforms us and helps us to see life as love.  Love is the only meaning in life.

Finally, when others receive mercy from us, they in turn will also become messengers of God’s divine mercy.  This is what St Paul says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.” (2 Cor 1:3-5)  In this way, we who have received God’s forgiveness and healing in His mercy, must extend the Divine Mercy to all of humanity so that all can be reconciled with God and with each other.  Through divine mercy, humanity can become once again the family of God, and the Church truly become the Sacrament of God’s love and unity through mercy.

Written by The Most Rev William Goh Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved