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Theo Tigno•
8/13/2003 11:56 am
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Wednesday, August 13th 2003 |
Mt 18:15-20
Jesus said to his disciples: "If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother. If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, so that every fact may be established on the testimony of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell the Church. If he refuses to listen even to the Church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector. Amen, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again, amen, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything for which they are to pray, it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."
Dawg's thought:
Today's prayer intention is for those people in your life who you struggle with who you have a hard time forgiving.
What is mercy?
During the trip through California, we had the opportunity to see those who serve the outcasts of society. There are two places that stuck out in my mind in the way that they served. Both places freely distributed clean IV needles and condoms to those who live on the streets. I couldn't not see how this was God's work, and even after prayer and contemplation, I failed to see how this was God's work.
I can understand their reasons behind this work. The thinking is that they're going to use drugs and have sex anyway, so why not make it safer. I equated this to giving someone who wanted to commit suicide a cleaner knife that wouldn't infect you.
On the surface, this could be seen as an act of mercy, but it an act of love and in the context of the dignity of the human person, it is anything but merciful. In such a simple act, they have settled for two lies: God does not have the ability to transform lives and those who struggle with addiction are not good enough to get out of their addiction. Even more than that, the message sent is that sin is okay, and sin is never okay.
So, what is mercy and how does this apply to your lives? Who have you failed to challenge? Who have you disregarded because you couldn't deal with their sins? Who have you enabled sins for? Following Christ is a tough challenge, and we will continue to be challenged. There will be those who will challenge us to trust God's redeeming power. There will be those who will challenge us to want better for our brothers and sisters. There will be those who will challenge you not to settle for anything less than the will of God.
What is mercy? Take care and God Bless.
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