What is Mercy?
theophilus March 30th, 2008
As I was growing up in foster homes and an orphanage, I developed a well-honed sense of guilt and the anxiety that comes from doing something wrong. I lived with the fear that if I screwed up, there was always the chance that I would be shipped off somewhere else.
Even after I was adopted, I couldn’t shake the fear, even though my Mom & Dad did everything they could to show me that I wasn’t going anywhere. As I progressed in school, the fear was always there. I went to a Catholic grade school and a Catholic college prep high school. Neither of these schools had to keep me – I could always be asked to leave.
So, as you can see, I felt like I needed to stay on the straight and narrow. I developed a sense of right and wrong – a concept of moral truth. I learned the importance of making the right choices. And I felt intense anxiety when I screwed up.
Now, most people would chalk this up to the “Catholic guilt” with which people – Catholic and non-Catholic alike – like to mock Catholicism. But this reference to “Catholic guilt” misses the point -we all feel like we screw up from time to time.
We all face regret throughout our lives. Authors, speakers and other personalities are getting rich with their offerings designed to help us overcome our failings. Therapists have their appointment books filled with folks struggling with the guilt of too many bad life decisions.
And that is where mercy comes in – specifically the Divine Mercy of Christ.
Today is Divine Mercy Sunday. The feast developed after Jesus appeared to St. Faustina in the 1930’s. This is the day to contemplate the immense mercy and forgiveness that Christ offers us – no matter how grievous our sins. That as an individual, a family, a community, a nation, a Church, a global people, we must turn to him and ask for his mercy for the times we’ve screwed up.
But, it takes a sense of right and wrong for us to recognize the need for this mercy. It takes a faith that we can be healed for us to pursue this mercy.
And most of us – regardless of our belief in Christ and in God – have this sense of right and wrong – recognize this need to be healed. But we are too afraid or self-reliant to seek this mercy.
I almost laugh when I think back on some of the anxiety I felt earlier in my life when I screwed up. I realize now that I just needed to trust in Christ’s mercy, seek his forgiveness, be healed, and resolve to change whatever behavior led to the screw-up. I still make mistakes – I still make bad choices. But, I’m more forgiving of myself now because I know Christ is forgiving of me. It’s just a matter of not repeating the screw-up.
But, how many of us seek this mercy? How many us believe that our sins are so bad that Christ can never possibly forgive us? How many of us try to bury our sins deep within our souls in the hope that no one, especially Christ, will find out about them? How many of us just don’t want to think about it?
How many of us avoid the confessional because we really don’t want to acknowledge the bad choices we’ve made?
And, if we are trying to hide, how many us feel a weight pressing down on our soul? How many of us feel wounded and hurt? How many of us find ourselves making the same bad choices over and over again? How many of us feel like there is no other way – that you are who you are and this is just the way it is?
Today is a good day to contemplate our own lives and the choices we have made. Do we need to be healed? Do we need forgiveness? Do we need the slate wiped clean so we can start anew? Do we need Christ’s mercy?
It is also a good day to contemplate where we are as a family, a nation and a Church. Do we need Christ’s mercy in these areas that define our lives?
Christ gave St. Faustina the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy. It is said on rosary beads. Say an Our Father, a Hail Mary, and an Apostles Creed. Then on the Our Father beads, say this prayer -
“Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.”
On the Hail Mary beads, say this prayer -
“For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.”
Conclude by praying three times -
“Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.”
The chaplet takes less than 10 minutes to pray. As you pray, think of the bad choices weighing down your life – think of the bad choices weighing down other people’s lives – and ask for Christ’s forgiveness – ask for his mercy – ask that you may be healed. Run, don’t walk, to the nearest confessional.
And then, move on – knowing that you have an open road before you.
- Faith , Family , Jesus , Liturgy , Mercy & Forgiveness , Prayer , Renewal , Saints
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