–an excerpt from an article bySr. Theresa Aletheia Noble, FSP, (Daughters of St Paul) a former atheist who, thanks to the grace of God, has returned to the faith she was raised in and now tries to help others bring their loved ones back to the faith. A few years after returning to the Church, she heard God calling her, so she left her job in Silicon Valley to join the Daughters of St. Paul. She now lives in Miami, where she prays, evangelizes, bakes bread, and blogs.
“I have found that when it comes down to it, my mercy toward others often sums up to being merciful toward others who are merciful to me, or toward those who can repay me in some way.
I try to reach out to the elderly sisters in the convent where I live. It is much easier for me to be kind to the sisters who smile and squeeze my hand than it is to reach out to the sisters who are more abrasive or needy.
I also have realized that I forgive friends, family and my sisters in the convent who I want to remain in relationship with, but with others, I choose to maintain resentments. I don’t usually do this consciously, but sometimes it is just easier not to expend the energy it would require to work through even the smallest slights. Instead, I avoid some people or write them off after they have wronged me once, or have been rude one too many times. I quickly lose patience; I stop reaching out. I stop trying.
I have found that extending mercy toward a person who has slighted me in the smallest of ways can sometimes be more difficult than forgiving those who have truly hurt me deeply. Perhaps it is the small things that are easier to push under the rug of our subconscious, while the larger wounds are sometimes more difficult to ignore. It is much more in our interest to address them, to search for healing and to move on.
This is human mercy. It is a mercy that is generous when it is in one’s personal interest, but forgetful when it does not seem to matter. It is a stingy mercy that is often really just looking out for oneself.
But Jesus calls us to a mercy that is bigger, more generous, more divine. It is a mercy that flows from the “fullness” of grace that we have been given through the birth, life and death of Jesus Christ. It is a mercy that is rooted in our Merciful Savior and extends forgiveness in the same way to everything and everyone, even people who hurt us in small, seemingly easy-to-forget ways.
God’s mercy is indulgent. It goes overboard. It goes beyond the law. If God were only interested in justice, he would cease being God, for humans are interested in merely the fulfillment of the law. His mercy shocks and astounds with an overabundance of generosity. God’s mercy is not just for our big sins, it is for our small sins, the ones that even we have a hard time living with. So must ours be, if we would follow Him. If we would have Him be so with us. Mt 7:2.
Every New Year’s I try to think of some resolutions I can make to help me both on a human and a spiritual level. Sometimes resolutions are simple, like exercise or read more spiritual books.
This year, in honor of the Jubilee of Mercy (and the pope who I unashamedly love), I plan to think of resolutions that are in line with these questions:
How can I be more open to God’s mercy?
How can I become the face of mercy to others?
What are the obstacles to receiving/giving mercy in my life, and how can I work with God to overcome them?”
Do you dare do the hard work above?
Love, and praying for new and more ways to show mercy to others, that mercy might be shown to me!!! God have mercy on my soul. Amen. Amen. Amen.
Matthew
Summa Catechetica, "Neque enim quaero intelligere ut credam, sed credo ut intelligam." – St Anselm, "“Si comprehendus, non est Deus.” -St Augustine, "Let your religion be less of a theory, and more of a love affair." -G.K. Chesterton, “When we pray we speak to God; but when we read, God speaks to us.” -St Jerome, "As the reading of bad books fills the mind with worldly and poisonous sentiments; so, on the other hand, the reading of pious works fills the soul with holy thoughts and good desires." -St. Alphonsus Liguori, "And above all, be on your guard not to want to get anything done by force, because God has given free will to everyone and wants to force no one, but only proposes, invites and counsels." –St. Angela Merici, “Yet such are the pity and compassion of this Lord of ours, so desirous is He that we should seek Him and enjoy His company, that in one way or another He never ceases calling us to Him . . . God here speaks to souls through words uttered by pious people, by sermons or good books, and in many other such ways.” —St. Teresa of Avila, "I want a laity, not arrogant, not rash in speech, not disputatious, but men and women who know their religion, who enter into it, who know just where they stand, who know what they hold and what they do not, and who know their creed so well that they can give an account of it, who know so much of history that they can defend it. I want an intelligent, well-instructed laity… I wish you to enlarge your knowledge, to cultivate your reason, to get an insight into the relation of truth to truth, to learn to view things as they are, to understand how faith and reason stand to each other, what are the bases and principles of Catholicism, and where lie the main inconsistences and absurdities of the Protestant theory.” (St. John Henry Newman, “Duties of Catholics Towards the Protestant View,” Lectures on the Present Position of Catholics in England), "We cannot always have access to a spiritual Father for counsel in our actions and in our doubts, but reading will abundantly supply his place by giving us directions to escape the illusions of the devil and of our own self-love, and at the same time to submit to the divine will.” —St. Alphonsus Ligouri, "The harm that comes to souls from the lack of reading holy books makes me shudder . . . What power spiritual reading has to lead to a change of course, and to make even worldly people enter into the way of perfection." –St. Padre Pio, "Screens may grab our attention, but books change our lives!" – Word on Fire, "Reading has made many saints!" -St Josemaría Escrivá, "Do you pray? You speak to the Bridegroom. Do you read? He speaks to you." —St. Jerome, from his Letter 22 to Eustochium, "Encounter, not confrontation; attraction, not promotion; dialogue, not debate." -cf Pope Francis, "God here speaks to souls through…good books“ – St Teresa of Avila, Interior Castle, "You will not see anyone who is really striving after his advancement who is not given to spiritual reading. And as to him who neglects it, the fact will soon be observed by his progress.” -St Athanasius, "To convert someone, go and take them by the hand and guide them." -St Thomas Aquinas, OP. 1 saint ruins ALL the cynicism in Hell & on Earth. “When we pray we talk to God; when we read God talks to us…All spiritual growth comes from reading and reflection.” -St Isidore of Seville, “Also in some meditations today I earnestly asked our Lord to watch over my compositions that they might do me no harm through the enmity or imprudence of any man or my own; that He would have them as His own and employ or not employ them as He should see fit. And this I believe is heard.” -GM Hopkins, SJ, "Only God knows the good that can come about by reading one good Catholic book." — St. John Bosco, "Why don't you try explaining it to them?" – cf St Peter Canisius, SJ, Doctor of the Church, Doctor of the Catechism, "Already I was coming to appreciate that often apologetics consists of offering theological eye glasses of varying prescriptions to an inquirer. Only one prescription will give him clear sight; all the others will give him at best indistinct sight. What you want him to see—some particular truth of the Faith—will remain fuzzy to him until you come across theological eye glasses that precisely compensate for his particular defect of vision." -Karl Keating, "The more perfectly we know God, the more perfectly we love Him." -St Thomas Aquinas, OP, ST, I-II,67,6 ad 3, “But always when I was without a book, my soul would at once become disturbed, and my thoughts wandered." —St. Teresa of Avila, "Let those who think I have said too little and those who think I have said too much, forgive me; and let those who think I have said just enough thank God with me." –St. Augustine, "Without good books and spiritual reading, it will be morally impossible to save our souls." —St. Alphonsus Liguori "Never read books you aren't sure about. . . even supposing that these bad books are very well written from a literary point of view. Let me ask you this: Would you drink something you knew was poisoned just because it was offered to you in a golden cup?" -St. John Bosco " To teach in order to lead others to faith is the task of every preacher and of each believer." —St. Thomas Aquinas, OP. "Prayer purifies us, reading instructs us. Both are good when both are possible. Otherwise, prayer is better than reading." –St. Isidore of Seville “The aid of spiritual books is for you a necessity.… You, who are in the midst of battle, must protect yourself with the buckler of holy thoughts drawn from good books.” -St. John Chrysostom
