Working for Mercy

In a day and age that perpetually screams at you if you attempt to tell someone that what they are doing is morally wrong, it can be pretty hard to convince yourself to even try anymore. Frankly, we as a people are starting to find it a little easier to just turn our cheek the other direction to pretend we don’t see what’s happening around us. I’m just as guilty as the next person on this. Not to say that we are going to follow in the wrong, or that if we were told to also do said immoral acts, we would participate or stay silent, but for the most part, we all like to play the passive role of going about our own lives and doing what’s right. And then there are the spiritual works of mercy.

It’s quite easy to say that we are guiltless when we’ve not done the immoral acts that others have done (We could get into the fact that we are not charged to compare ourselves with each other, but with the highest perfection of God, but another topic for another day). However, are we really guiltless when we are told to act in mercy at all times? There are the corporal works of mercy and the spiritual works of mercy. I’m going to focus more on the spiritual, given the fact that they seem to be highly relevant given our current world state. They are as follows:

• Admonish the sinner
• Counsel the doubtful
• Instruct the ignorant
• Comfort the sorrowful
• Forgive injuries
• Bear wrongs patiently
• Pray for the living and the dead

I don’t think the Church left us much room for creating justification for our willful ignorance of how we are to act toward those who are immoral. See, this is where love comes into play. I’m going to quote from a movie, Love Comes Softly, “[She] could fall down and hurt herself, even if I'm walking right there beside her. That doesn't mean that I allowed it to happen. She knows, as far as unconditional love, I'll pick her up and I'll carry her. I'll try to heal her. I'll cry when she cries. And I'll rejoice when she is well. In all the moments of my life, God has been right there beside me. The truth of God's love is not that he allows bad things to happen. It's His promise that he'll be there with us when they do.”

Bear with me, I know it’s a long quote. However, it seems applicable. Love is knowing when we have to help someone who is fallen. It’s not to say that they won’t blame us or that they won’t be hurting in the process. It simply means that we are going to have to hold each other up. It’s our God-given charge to help each other out on the journey to Heaven. We are all one body. When one cries, we all cry.

I can’t say that this is an easy concept to put into practice, but it is an undeniable truth that love is intertwined with mercy. If we love, we will have mercy. God is Love, and hence He is all merciful. Therefore, if we are to mirror God Himself, Love Himself, then we are going to have to start learning to be merciful. We have to admonish and instruct, even when it hurts us a little inside to see them hurt too. We have to be willing to say what’s right, because we are trying to lift them up, because we love them and desire to be merciful. We have to be just as willing to partake in the suffering that God gives us, united in His holy suffering, in order to make the world a better place, in order to lead souls to Heaven.

It is the year of mercy. Learn to be merciful. Learn to stand up and say what’s right. Even our Father in Heaven admonishes us to make us more holy.