Mercy Training > Divine Mercy
Questions we had about judgment and mercy: With all the evil in the world today, shouldn’t judgment and mercy be given equal weight? Shouldn’t I be able to have holy anger in the face of the injustices of this world? Why does my heart hurt when I turn someone into the authorities because they are dishonest? Isn’t that person only getting what he deserves?
Mercy without Judgment
Will Bart Simpson be in heaven?In case you don’t know, Bart Simpson is a rather obnoxious cartoon hero. He says what others like us only think. At the Evangelization school of the Emmanuel Community in Rome, I started the teaching session with the question about Bart Simpson. The students gave various responses like, “One day he will choose.” “Only God knows.” “God will be the final judge.” “It’s not a good example.” “He will be in purgatory.” “Why is it important?” And my favorite…“Why not?”
The real question is, will someone as obnoxious and rebellious as Bart Simpson make it to heaven? What do you think? Your answer reveals what you believe about the judgment and the mercy of God. Are you ready for this chapter? The students weren’t. The first day they wanted to crucify me. By the last, they weren’t ready to canonize me, but at least they better understood the Mercy of God. Buckle your seatbelts…
It all started in Aix Les Bain in a Chinese restaurant. We were eating with our old Evangelical friends Henry and Gisele Chas. They are among the few Evangelicals who still talk to us since we became Catholic. While eating, a young, well dressed woman came into the restaurant with a hand-full of little cards with something written on them. A Bart Simpson pin was attached to each card. She very discretely went from table to table laying the cards down. I watched her while everyone else in the restaurant avoided her eyes and acted as though they didn’t see her. Then, she quietly returned to each table picking up the cards. On the card it was written, “I am deaf and need help. Can you help me by buying this pin for two Euros? Thank you.” When she got to our table, I stopped her and gave her five Euros and a smile. Danelle said to keep the pin, so I took it off and put it on my shirt. The woman gave us an appreciative smile and left the restaurant. We were the only ones that had “bought” a pin. (I wore the pin the following week in Rome. During evangelization on Saint Peter’s Square, people stared at my Bart Simpson pin to see which “Religious Congregation” I belonged.)
Our friend Henry looked at me as though he was deciding whether he should tell a child, who was naïve, a seemingly obvious truth. After a moment of hesitation, he leaned across the table and said, “You know, she probably wasn’t deaf!” Without thinking I answered him, “Henry, I hope she wasn’t deaf.” Now, he looked at me even more confused and said, “But if you knew she wasn’t deaf, then why did you give her money?” In essence he said, “Dishonesty rewarded will just encourage more dishonesty, won’t it?”
This made me think of another strange experience which I shared with Henry. Several years ago someone living on one coast of the U.S. was left homeless when his house burned down. He and his wife and children were left with nothing. Another man, a builder on the other side of the country heard what had happened and decided to build the family a house for free. He got together the materials on one of his big trucks, and started to drive to the man’s city. In the mean time they determined that the man had burned down his house to get the insurance money. What would you have done then? Well, the builder, knowing about the dishonest act, just continued to drive across country. He arrived with the building materials, built the house and left. A journalist contacted him and asked, “If you knew he was dishonest, why did you build him the house.” His reply, “Because he needed a house!”
Does a person have to be deaf, but honest to “merit” an act of Mercy? Is honesty a criterion for “deserving” an act of Mercy? Does a heart of mercy only respond if the person needing help asks in truth? We had quite a different answer twenty years ago than we have since we experienced the mercy of God through the Catholic Church.
if the person asks in truth?
While in Rome we visited the Chiesa Nuova or New Church of Saint Philip Neri. Kneeling on the front bench, we noticed a very old priest sitting in a corner to our right. One by one, young Italian men, who had been playing soccer outside, came into the otherwise empty church and went up to the priest. I remember thinking, “Oh, how nice, they are confessing to the priest.” As I looked closer, I noticed that the young men were not confessing, but were teenagers who looked like they were trying to take advantage of the priest, by begging from him. Why didn’t he tell them to leave, or convert, or something? In fact, what he did do was reach into his pocket, and to each dishonest youth who asked, he gave some money. Neither the youth nor the priest seemed to be under any stress. The youth were just smiling and holding their hands out, while the obviously very poor priest was being merciful toward them.
The unveiling of the “Mercy Saints” at this time in history reveals God’s intention in the present development of His Body the Church. The Church canonizes saints according to the world’s need at the moment. A number of “Mercy Saints” have recently been canonized. The “Mercy Saints,” as we call them, are Sister Faustina, Mother Teresa, Padre Pio, Edith Stein… To get an idea of what God is saying to the Church right now, a good place to start is the diary of St. Faustina Kowalski.
Perhaps the world’s greatest need at this moment in history is to understand God’s infinite Mercy lived out through the Catholic Church. Now we are called to cry “Mercy,” not “judgment” or “justice.” (See Appendix Mercy for further explanation of our choice of words.) Our heart’s questions on judgment and mercy found their answers in the Bible and the Catholic Church. Please have “Mercy” on us as we try to explain the progression of our search.
at this moment in history
is to understand God’s infinite mercy
lived out through the Catholic Church.
“There was a rich man who had a steward, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his goods. And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.’ And the steward said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the stewardship away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do, so that people may receive me into their houses when I am put out of the stewardship.’ So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ The master commended the dishonest steward for his prudence; for the sons of this world are wiser in their own generation than the sons of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous mammon, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal habitations. He who is faithful in very little is faithful also in much; and he who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. If than you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s who will give you that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” (Jesus speaking in Luke 16)
Now there’s a passage that every Christian financial manager and pastor has taught to encourage people to manage their finances in a godly way. So much the better. The only problem is that the original intent of Jesus was not to exhort his disciples on good financial management or being faithful in the little things so they could get more. My Evangelical upbringing taught me that I better manage God’s finances correctly or else…the judgment.
invested to hold back the judgment of God on sinful man
Jesus is talking about investing the riches of our Master. What are those riches? How can we invest them? The true eternal riches are those that come from God. They are not financial, though He may well bless our finances. (And we all, us included, pray that He will bless our finances.) Perhaps the most valuable riches of our Master is Mercy, invested to hold back the judgment of God on sinful man.
There was a definite progression in our understanding of judgment and mercy as God drew us to the Catholic Church. Not all Catholics think like us, happily. But understanding the dynamics of judgment and mercy, after years of heart searching, were paramount in our growth in Grace. The above passage and its context reveal a great truth about mercy that will set the heart free to love as God loves. This passage is only one of many that convey a steady line of thought, taught from Genesis, to Revelations, to Mary and the Catholic Church.
Chapter 15 of Luke finishes up with the merciful father trying to encourage his judgmental son to have mercy on his younger brother. The parable of the prodigal son is really the parable of the merciful father. The runaway son had poorly mismanaged his early inheritance. He came crawling back home as a last resort. What an opportunity to teach him a lesson! Well, the father missed his chance, and decided instead to have a party, with his wretched rebellious son as the guest of honor. Not a word about wasting the inheritance. Not a judgmental word from the father. The father was almost unjustly merciful as the older brother pointed out.
How many times I have been that older brother, when I see God being merciful to someone who needs a good lesson and a long penance. Someone that I have decided is overweight gets a double cheese deluxe, and I mentally give them a lecture about eating less. Or, an American Christian is having a glass of wine with dinner, and I’m judging their judgment. Or, a poor person is begging, and I feel like telling him to get a job. Or worse yet, I think that they aren’t really deaf, poor, whatever. Or, a mother with seven children is on welfare, and I’m counting the kids. Or, the priest speaks with an accent, and I’m criticizing his English. Or a child hollers during mass and I’m saying, “I love you Jesus,” and thinking “why don’t they shut that kid up.” Or, my wife scrapes the car against a post, and I’m furious, even though I did the same thing a few weeks earlier. Or, it’s raining, and I complain…to God. Or, a jillion other judgments. Well, it’s only human! Yes that is true. It is only human to judge. And God will have mercy on us. So shouldn’t we have mercy on the rest of humanity? I like being treated by God the way He treated the younger brother, all the while acting like the older brother towards others. That’s the message of Luke 15.
Jesus seems, as usual, to know that the disciples aren’t going to get the message. So He tells the story about the rich master and the steward. He even goes to the point of commending the steward who is quite dishonest for his prudence. Even the disciples didn’t take as long as me to get what He was saying about mercy. What does prudence have to do with it? Prudence is evidently pretty important, because Jesus emphasizes it at the risk that we might end up misunderstanding and mismanaging the riches.
Prudence is about getting ready for the future. Any good insurance agent, or banker, can explain better than I the need for prudence. Of course, it is good to have insurance, and save, and prepare for the future financially, but in the parable Jesus is not talking primarily about financial prudence. He is talking about eternal prudence. Getting ready for our eternal future, and more importantly helping others get ready for their eternal future, is His message. Maybe we are wrong, you decide.
The decreasing or canceling of debts
without the repentance of the debtor.
In the story, the steward is making friends for himself for when he will be in need, by decreasing the debts of his master’s debtors. He is being “dishonestly prudent” for himself and for others. Sounds crazy, I know, but Jesus is showing us how mercy works. It is the decreasing or canceling of debts without the repentance of the debtor. The only condition for receiving mercy in the parable is telling what you owe. If it was the canceling of debts because of repentance, then it wouldn’t be mercy. It would be earned debt canceling, and that’s not Mercy.
Jesus said to the adulteress, “I forgive you. Go and sin no more lest worse things happen to you.” He didn’t say this because she repented. He forgave her, period. If she stopped sinning, which we don’t know if she did, it was probably because of the Mercy Jesus showed and not because of her self improvement. Jesus didn’t condemn; He showed mercy. Mercy is supposed to be the catalyst. (Rom.2:4)
Here’s how we think it is supposed to work. Someone ‘owes’ God a lot, because of sin. The person, like each of us, is a debtor, indebted beyond anything he can pay. You are the steward of God’s riches. Rather than grabbing the person by the throat and crying, “Pay up you no account worthless person,” you cry out to God, “O, God, reduce the debt, reduce the debt. Have mercy on this person. He doesn’t deserve it. He can’t pay and neither can I. Have pity.” This is eternal prudence.
We are learning that our part is to cry, “O, Master, have mercy.” And not, “O, God, judge justly.” God is the judge. We are the stewards of His mercy to humanity. The riches we distribute are goodness, kindness, compassion, love and Mercy. They are never judgment, vengeance, law, and the commandments. Heaven is our offer to humanity. Hell is not part of the Master’s riches.
because the debtors don’t pay all they owe.
I used to think, “Wait a moment. If I am always talking about God’s mercy, then people will take advantage of God and me” Perhaps that’s true. But I am not God, and judgment is of God and not of me. But someone has to pay! It is not right what that person did to me. Ah, yes, someone has to pay. Someone did pay. Someone is paying. It is the master in the parable who loses because the debtors don’t pay all they owe.
Only as a Catholic does my heart fully understand that every time I see sin I should hold up a crucifix and cry, “MERCY BECAUSE OF JESUS CHRIST.” The recent film on the passion of the Christ is one of the bloodiest films ever produced. Surely, no single person in a film has shed so much blood. Every drop of the Blood of the Christ cries, “Judgment for Me and Mercy for humanity.” As stewards of that Blood’s mercy, it is our heart-cry also.
How liberating to know that we are not called to judgment but to Mercy. The law is linked to judgment, the love of God to mercy. Some people must be incarcerated for their own protection and the protection of their fellow men. We are not evil. We are sinners that commit evil acts. A person possessed by demons is not evil; he is possessed by evil demons.
At the root of every evil act is a wounded person who needs to come face to face with the love and mercy of God. Some people are so hurt that it is difficult to communicate with their hearts. Our job is to try by any and all means to be instruments of God’s Mercy leading them to their perfect Father, perfect Mother, and imperfect brothers and sisters who are lovable and loving. To be healed, the hurting heart of humanity must touch the perfection of the Father and Mary and the loving imperfection of the Church family. Every single hurting heart is ultimately seeking the unconditional Mercy of God. As we have said before, we used to speak of the unconditional love of God, but it was always taught that it could only be received with the condition that a person repented.
the unconditional mercy of God.
Just Cause
As searching heart Christians we always had questions about such things as capital punishment. Is man God’s instrument to judge an evil person or nation? We can no longer answer that with a yes or no. But in the study of the Bible and Catholicism, we found the answers our hearts were seeking.
This is not an exposé for or against just cause or capital punishment or war. You may have strong opinions on the subjects mentioned. Please forgive us for anything that we might say here that makes you angry. And then please ask yourself why it makes you angry! I used to think my anger was righteous indignation. The best way to describe righteous indignation is to say that it is “getting angry for God.” God doesn’t need us to be responsible for His anger. If anyone ever had a right to a holy anger, it was Jesus during the passion. Yet He refused to act in anger, as did Mary in the face of the murder of her only Son. And that is the crux of the dialogue between judgment and Mercy. God will take care of judgment. We are called to Mercy.
it is God’s heart of mercy.
As an Evangelical I felt a moral obligation to be for capital punishment. The crimes we experience and read about every day seem to dictate an eye for an eye, a life for a life. We have worked in countries and prisons where the crimes are indescribably violent and inspired by vengeance. The logical answer to rape and murder is lifelong incarceration and even death. The problem is that the heart the Lord gave us is not logical; it is God’s heart of Mercy.
In our heart’s search for answers, we found that answering violence with violence left us ill at ease. I would say, “It is not easy to have to punish for a crime, but it is the law. God wants us to be instruments of judgment as well as instruments of Mercy. You can’t just let criminals run free without punishment.” That is true. Thank God for courts, and policemen, and the Ten Commandments. The problem for us was that our hearts were seeking something that our Evangelical background was not satisfying.
In Africa there was no such thing as a prison until the white man came with his big cities. The Africans told us that when someone committed a crime he was punished by exclusion from the group. He was separated from the village until he repented. This sounds like the Apostle Paul’s counsel to the Corinthians in ICor.5. In the early Church, like in Africa, the worst punishment was exclusion from the Family. The reason for that separation was not judgment but Mercy. The purpose was to bring the person to repentance, so that the criminal could be restored to the Family. It was not good for him to be excluded too long, for the life of the Church Family was at stake (IICor.2:5-11).
We cannot, in the context of this book, simplify society’s complex problems. Such things as war and prison are sometimes necessary. (About one-third of the American army is made up of Catholics.) But what happens to the heart of a person who takes a life? What happens when we are rejected by society? Just this morning in my Bible reading I was thinking about three killers that got off unjustly. They were Moses, David and the Apostle Paul. But God will take care of them, I thought. And that is the heart’s answer. “To God the judgment and to us the Mercy.”
It is so expensive to keep hardened criminals in prison for the rest of their lives. It is more expensive to carry the burden of the death of another human being in our heart. God created us as instruments of mercy. Vengeance is His (Rom.12).
The heart is at peace as an instrument of mercy. The heart is deeply troubled if it has participated in the death of another human being. Fortunately, God sometimes heals the bleeding heart and may He heal yours if you have participated in the voluntary death of another person. Christ, have Mercy on us all!
As we studied Catholicism, our hearts were nourished by the emphasis on God’s mercy expressed through His children. We no longer had the answers to what to do about killers, but we knew that we were created as instruments of mercy, peace, and reconciliation. This was true no matter how much our minds cried out for vengeance.
The Rapture or The Cross
There is a strange phenomenon in which we used to believe called the rapture or taking away. Jesus was going to come back one day soon and rapture all of the Evangelical Christians, like us. Then, we thought, He would just leave the pagans, and Catholics, and more traditional Christians to fight it out here on earth without the Holy Spirit. We learned about the teaching first from a man named Scoffield who put together a reference Bible about a hundred years ago. We also studied a book called The Late Great Planet Earth, by Hal Lindsey, which spoke of similar scenarios. Good material for doomsday books and movies. But the idea of a taking away of an elect group who will escape the suffering of this world in the last day is neither scriptural nor the way God does things.
Taking certain verses out of context and putting together diverse passages of the Bible can be done to construct such a theory. But if the Bible is studied in its entirety, the theory of an exclusive rapture evaporates. Jesus will come back one day, even the Moslems believe that. But it will be at the end of time, and the Church will be part of the sufferings of that end time. The subject here is judgment and mercy and not the rapture. But reading passages like Mark 13 and Mathew 24 clearly indicate what the Catholic Church has always believed for 2000 years: we will be instruments of mercy in a suffering world right up to the end of time.
to suffer with humanity.
As long as man walks on this earth, God will be trying to communicate His mercy to him through His instrument the Church. We, as Catholics, are not trying to escape the suffering, as is seen by the millions of voluntary Catholic martyrs in the long history of the Church. Even before becoming Catholic, our hearts didn’t like the commonly accepted rapture theory. It is not like God to leave when there is great suffering no matter what evil things are being done. On the contrary, when there are genocides and wars and atheism, God sends His instruments of mercy to suffer with humanity.
God does not make orphans. It is contrary to His nature. Being Christian does not qualify us to escape suffering but rather qualifies us to invite orphans into the family that has unconditionally accepted us. Jesus said that He does not want to take us out of the world but will keep us from the evil one, Satan (John 17). This idea of suffering with is not popular but it is God’s way and satisfies the seeking heart. Catholicism runs God’s adoption agency from the Cross (Gal.2:20).
We agree that if Christians were taken out of the world, then there would be pure judgment in this world. The world minus the Mercy of God equals judgment. Thinking that God would do such a thing warps our concept of God’s love for all humanity. It also leaves the message of the Gospel with no one to deliver it. I used to like to scare people with the idea that they could be left behind if they weren’t careful. God’s way is the way of wooing by love, and not by scaring through the threat of judgment. Mercy laughs at and triumphs over judgment (James 2:14).
Mercy is in a higher order, on a higher plain, than judgment. Judgment is like the law of gravity that says if you let go of something, it will fall to the earth. Mercy is like the law of propulsion that says something that normally falls to earth does not because there is a power greater that the power of gravity. Mercy is greater than judgment. Judgment is linked to justice. It says that if you sin, you die. That’s the law of sin and death (Rom.7). Mercy says that you don’t die, because you are lifted up with Christ to the cross and to heaven.
“If anyone stays behind, I stay too.”
Mercy says, “If anyone stays behind, I stay too.” Judgment says, “Crucify him, he deserves it.” Judgment speaks the truth, without mercy. Mercy speaks of a higher Truth, without judgment. Mercy is unlawful in that it transcends the law of sin and death with the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. Nothing is more unmerciful that a Christian who sees himself as God’s instrument of judgment. (Be careful not to confuse the word justice here with judgment or the upholding of the law. Justice implies without partiality, prejudice or favoritism. The world is full of laws that are unjust.)
Deserving Mercy
Every house, car, school and heart should be filled with a cross, the symbol of Mercy triumphing over judgment. Then when we look at someone and start to judge, we consider the Cross and cry, “Mercy.” The best symbol we have found to remind us of God’s mercy is the crucifix. A cross without Christ signifies the resurrection. That’s very good. The Christ is raised from the dead. But for every time we think of His resurrection we need to consider two times His Passion and death. Before becoming Catholic the knowledge of the resurrection alone left us judgmental. The Christ crucified filled us with mercy for ourselves and for others. Everyone “deserves” Mercy, because of the Cross.
Since my encounter with the Christ crucified the fog has lifted and I see the whole message of the Bible to be a message of Divine Mercy. The whole story of humanity is a story of man not getting what he deserves. That’s mercy. From Adam to Cain to Abraham to Moses to Sampson to David to the New Testament, the story is one of mercy, not judgment. Jesus got what everyone else deserved. The story of Divine Mercy continues on today. It’s surprising how much judgment we used to see in the Bible story. Or we saw what we called mercy for the elect and judgment for the un-elect. God could not be a just God if He only showed mercy for the chosen. Whatever the reason for God’s mercy in the history of humanity, it took an encounter with the crucified Christ to open the eyes of my heart to see the God of Mercy as He really is.
As we write this, we are entering for our sixth time as Catholics into the Lenten season. It is a time for us to encounter anew the Mercy of God for us and for a needy world. Walking with Jesus through His brief time of active life, less than three years, is like walking on stepping stones of Mercy to the cross of judgment. Up to the cross in the Old Testament, and from the Cross in the New Testament, God’s message is a message of mercy. We get Mercy, Jesus becomes our sin and gets judgment (II Cor.5:21). Lent is the time of seeing our own mercilessness and becoming once again a Catholic (universal) Church of mercy.
Almost every teaching of Jesus to His disciples had but one central message, mercy. Be merciful as God has been merciful to you! Here’s an example from the book of Danelle chapter one. (Her interpretations of the Bible text are so inspired that I think about writing a book of Bible interpretation according to Danelle.) In the parable of the workers, the master hires certain ones for a certain salary. A few hours into the day’s work, he hires some more. Then near the end of the day he hires a few who were just standing around waiting for someone to hire them. I used to think they were lazy or they would have been working all day. Come time to pay the workers and the boss does something rather strange. He pays the ones who worked just a short time the same salary as those who worked hard all day long. And stranger still, he pays the ones who just worked a short time before he pays the others. And stranger still, he pays them in the presence of the ones who wore themselves out all day working. I can’t even imagine what would happen on a construction site if the boss did that today. Jesus tells the story and makes the conclusions you can read about yourself.
Now, we will “pay” you what it took us thirty years to figure out. Danelle looked at the story recently, and while I was giving all the obvious conclusions she says, “I think I know what Jesus was trying to get across to his disciples.” When she says something like that I run for some paper because it is going to be good.
though they didn’t work for it like you all did.
“I think Jesus was saying two things,” she says, “one to the day laborers and one to the hour labors who got paid the same thing. To the day laborers, He was trying to teach them about mercy. Have mercy on those who get blessed, though they didn’t work for it like you all did. Rejoice that the Boss is merciful. To the hour laborers, He paid them a day’s wage so that they might experience what it was like to have a lot, which perhaps they had never experienced before. In both cases He was teaching the most difficult lesson and yet the most Christ-like lesson. Be instruments of mercy, not judges.”
Danelle and I are overwhelmed by the Grace and Mercy that God shows us. We are like the prodigal son off wasting the riches of the Father for so many years. Then we come Home to the Catholic Church, and are received without reserve. We are also like those hired late in the day. We did not suffer the difficulties of the years around Vatican II. We just came in and received the blessing that other Catholics have earned through suffering, so that we might be blessed. Thank you, Catholics, for so graciously receiving us. Thank you for letting us share the rich truths we have received, that you labored for. I hope there are no older brothers or disgruntled all day laborers reading this. If so, may we some day be able to thank you in person for your faithfulness and enduring service that makes God’s Mercy available for us.
At the root of Divine Love is Divine Mercy. Blessed are the merciful… The good Samaritan (who might not have even thanked the man who helped him), the parable of the last judgment…, and so many others. Instead of seeing Mat.25:31-46 as a blueprint for avoiding the judgment, we now see it as a blueprint for letting God’s mercy flow through us. For as much as you did it to the least of these, you did it to Me.
One Rule
Maternity and mercy live together in Mary. Encountering a woman who is cruel sets off an alarm deep within each of us (or should). Men lost something when Eve was made that they get back through their mother, Mary. They get back the kindness that flows from the mother’s Mercy. Without Mary, mercy was elusive for me though it was always evident in the life of Danelle. We think that womanhood received mercy from God. Women, especially mothers, manifest mercy’s kindness naturally. Few are the men that are naturally merciful, especially to those who are the closest to them. That is unless they received Mary through Catholic baptism. Since there is a whole chapter on Mary we won’t freak the men out anymore here, except to mention a powerful testimony of the results of loving Mary and living in the fullness of Catholic faith.
Philippe and Carolyn are friends who have decided to be instruments of mercy in all relationships. We first met Philippe and Carolyn in St. Aignan in 1998. What puzzled us about them was that they didn’t talk much. We were invited to their house for dinner and found them cordial but excessively quiet. At the dinner table they would answer questions, but then filled the silence with silence. A second time we ate with them and found the same thing even though we knew them better. Just three months earlier, we had encountered Mary in our pilgrimage into the Catholic Church. Philippe and Carolyn had a deep and loving devotion to both Mary and the Church. Could that be a reason for their silence in conversation?
One night we were at their house and asked them to tell us about the Catholic community of which they were members. The name of the community is The Emmanuel Community. After describing it, which is a “new” (as compared to old like the Benedictines established fifteen hundred years ago) community established in the early 70’s, they quietly waited for our next question. Being rule-minded, we asked them what the rules of the community were. They looked at each other and smiled and waited patiently for each other to answer. Finally, one of them, Carolyn I think, said, “The only rule in the community is that you can’t criticize anyone even jokingly. And that rule is unwritten.”
even in joking.
Instantly, Danelle and I understood the reason for their long periods of silence during our conversations. They had decided to never criticize anyone, even in joking. Since half or sometimes more of our words were negative words of criticism, we always had plenty to say. We were judges of everyone, including God. We criticized God, complained about the weather, about our ailments, about our lack of finances, about His lack of finances. We were continually asking Him judgmental questions, criticizing His ways and means with “whys” and “how could yous.” We criticized ourselves, with “should ofs”, and “could ofs”, and “would ofs”. We were often commenting on our own incapacities and mistakes and failures. But the worst was our constant judgment of others.
We felt it was almost a point of honor to point at and out the errors of others. We criticized other church leaders for everything, from the way they looked, to the way they taught. Verbally and in our thoughts, we often had comments about the way the news was announced on TV and the way the newscaster was dressed. No one escaped our protestations. Protesting was in our protesting blood. “Did you hear what that priest did? What a scandal, and with young boys… I don’t like to talk about people, but… If only she would have listened to me… I’m only telling you so that we can pray…” We found a perverse pleasure in announcing and denouncing, all the while justifying it with seeming spirituality.
Imagine a world without judgmental criticism. That’s our friends Philippe and Carolyn. They would never see themselves like that, but we sure do. That’s a voluntary decision to be merciful and speak positively or not speak at all. Perhaps we can not constantly be free from criticizing, but we can grow to hate the pride and ambition and fear that cause us to judge with thoughts and words. Then, and only then, will we stop the flow of pollution coming out of our mouths. Philippe and Carolyn were so totally pollution free, that we were hungry for what they had. What is it they have besides a conscious decision to not criticize?
the means to be merciful.
Five things come to mind in the lives of our dear friends that help them to be speakers of mercy. First, they love the Church with all its humanity. Loving the Church as a Family keeps them free from roots of bitterness. Second, they love Mary with all her humility. Mary didn’t criticize in word or thought. Even when men were killing her Son unjustly, she was not judging them, even in her thoughts. We know that because she is without sin. Third, they pray together daily as a couple. Many times we have been at their house when they gather their children and light a candle before the Blessed Virgin, and pray. Fourth, they belong to a community where, every week, they get together with other members and share positively what is happening in their lives. They need loving accountability. Fifth, they take advantage of the graces received through the sacraments, especially the sacrament of reconciliation, monthly if possible. And the most important of all, they try to go to Mass daily with an hour of daily Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament.
Thanks to God, working through the silence of Philippe and Carolyn, we are striving to become instruments of mercy in our thoughts and deeds. We had made the decision to not criticize many times over the years, but we never seemed to have the power to live out that decision. We now believe it is because God gave the Catholic Church the means to be merciful. Without those means, with all of our good intentions, we couldn’t live continually free from criticism in word and/or thought. Those means are: love for the Church, intimacy with Mary, prayer as a couple and family, some kind of Catholic community life with the local parish is God’s intended place of community life, and the power of the sacraments.
I hear someone saying, “What about Jesus? Isn’t it enough to have Jesus to be free from criticism?” Perhaps in some cases. With God all things are possible. But I can honestly say that I had Jesus and still criticized. I loved Jesus and still criticized. I witnessed constantly and still judged. Also, sad to say, I have never met a non-Catholic that has anywhere near the self-control I feel around Catholics like Philippe and Carolyn. Also, sadly to say, I still struggle from years of an ingrained critical spirit. Please pray for us that we might imitate the faith of Philippe and Carolyn. “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me. Then the God of peace will be with you” (Phil.4:8, 9).
The Shape of Freedom
We love our country the United States of America where freedom reigns. We are free to do everything but judge others, no matter how much they aren’t like us. We are free to be merciful. We are free to help those who didn’t work all day. We are free to visit those in prison and clothe those in need. We are free to forgive, even when there is no repentance. We are free to love the unborn and old. The Christ crucified is in us to bring hope to the world (Col.1:27). We are free, free to be merciful, like God.
when you don’t know what to do,
be free to be merciful.
Freedom is heart shaped. God is free, and since we were created in His image, we were created to be free. What does the image of freedom resemble? What organ of the body most resembles God? The heart (Ez.36:25-27)! We, as Catholics, venerate the Sacred Heart of Jesus. We cannot speak of Divine Mercy without thinking of the Sacred Heart of Jesus revealed to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque. All of the Sacred Heart churches get their name from that encounter between Margaret Mary and Jesus. He pointed to His chest and she saw His heart bleeding for humanity. The incarnation of mercy is the Sacred Heart of Jesus bleeding in us. Whoever saw a statue of Jesus where his skull is open and He has His finger on His brain? Have you ever heard a priest say, “Let’s venerate the sacred brain of Jesus?” We are created in the image of His heart to be merciful, and not in the image of His brain to judge. To us Mercy; to Him judgment. When you don’t know what to do in the face of injustice, be free to be merciful. We are the most free when we are merciful. May God recreate us in the image of His Sacred Heart!
Conclusion
We are the most free when, in the face of injustice, our heart’s cry,
“Mercy, Mercy, Mercy, for the oppressed and for the oppressors.”
The Catholic Church is God’s instrument of mercy in this world.
Plunged in the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary,
the Church shows us by example how to live out day by day
the Mercy in our hearts.
Evangelization is the transferal of the Divine Mercy from our hearts,
to the hearts of those who are seeking Paradise.
As we grow in age and in the Divine Mercy,
rather than becoming more and more judgmental,
we become as we were created to be -
MERCIFUL HEARTS.
Let us open our hearts to allow the Christ to instruct us Himself in the ways of Divine Mercy. Being new Catholics, Danelle and I often have no idea what feast day we are celebrating. In Mass, during a time of silence, I heard from deep within me a voice instructing me in the ways of Divine Mercy. I took out a piece of paper and noted several things that I heard from within - the proofs of Divine Mercy: baptism of children, the life and teachings of Jesus, the Cross, Mary, my life, and purgatory. After Mass I was sharing with someone about what I had received about mercy, and to my astonishment he replied, “Of course, today is the feast of The Divine Mercy.” I had no idea. But my heart knew.
Here’s our Lenten prayer taken mostly from the Diary of St. Maria Faustina of the Divine Mercy:
O, Most Holy Trinity! As many times as I breath, as many times as my heart beats, as many times as my blood pulsates through my body, so many thousand times do I want to glorify your Mercy. I want to be completely transformed into Your Mercy and to be Your living reflection, O Lord. May the greatest of all Your divine attributes, that of Your unfathomable mercy, pass through my heart and soul to my neighbor.
1. Help me O Lord that my eyes may be merciful, so that I may never suspect or judge from appearances, but look for what is beautiful in my neighbor’s soul and come to his rescue.
2. Help me, that my ears may be merciful, so that I may give heed to my neighbor’s needs and not be indifferent to his pains and moaning.
3. Help me, O Lord, so my tongue may be merciful, so that I may never speak negatively of my neighbor, but have a word of comfort and forgiveness for all.
4. Help me, O Lord, that my hands may be merciful and filled with good deeds, so that I may do only good to my neighbors and take upon myself the more difficult and toilsome tasks.
5. Help me, O Lord, that my feet may be merciful, so that I may hurry to assist my neighbor, overcoming my own fatigue and weariness. My true rest is in the service of my neighbor.
6. Help me, O Lord, that my heart may be merciful so that I myself may feel all the sufferings of my neighbor. I will refuse my heart to no one. I will be sincere even with those who, I know, will abuse my kindness. And I will lock myself up in the most merciful Heart of Jesus. I will bear my own suffering in silence. May Your Mercy, O Lord, rest upon me.
7. Help me, O Lord, that I may proclaim, openly and without shame, to all You send to me, that You are, above all, the God of Mercy.
Mercy vs. Judgement
In the chapter on Divine Mercy we decided to use the words mercy and judgment, instead of mercy and justice for the following reasons:
All truth has at least two sides to make it complete. A bird with one wing flies in a circle. A river with only one bank becomes a swamp. And one sided truth opens the way to extremes and heresies. In the 350-page book published in France entitled The Balanced Kingdom of God, we treat the subject of our pilgrimage from extremes to balance. So we won’t bore you here with a two-hundred page explanation. Suffice it to say that for our purposes here, we don’t feel that the other half of Divine Justice is Divine Mercy.