Monthly Spiritual Message, September 2008
By Br. Carmel Flora OFM Cap.
The “Peace Prayer” of St. Francis reflects the sentiments of the Psalms which have a lasting value. Psalm 102 (103), for example, tells us to praise the God of merciful love…”My soul, give thanks to the Lord; all my being, bless his holy name. My soul, give thanks to the Lord, and never forget all his blessings. It is he who forgives all your guilt, who heals every one of your ills…who fills your life with good things, renewing your youth like an eagle’s. The Lord does deeds of justice, gives judgment for all who are oppressed….The Lord is compassion and love, slow to anger and rich in mercy. His wrath will come to an end; he will not be angry forever…
“He does not treat us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our faults. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so strong is his love for those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our sins….for he knows of what we are made, he remembers that we are dust…..But the love of the Lord is everlasting upon those who hold him in fear…The Lord has set his sway in heaven, and his kingdom is ruling over all….
” Give thanks to the Lord, all his hosts, his servants who do his will. Give thanks to the Lord all his works, in every place where he rules. My soul, give thanks to the Lord .”
God’s loves for us is expressed most wonderfully in his mercy. This truth is expressed very clearly in a book written by Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen O.C.D. titled, Divine Intimacy, published in the 1960’s. He writes: “God’s love for us assumes a very special character, one that is adapted to our nature as frail, weak creatures, the character of mercy. Mercy is love bending over misery to relieve it, to redeem it, to raise it up to itself. It almost seems that God, in loving us, is attracted by our weakness, not because it is lovable, but because being infinite goodness, his compassion stoops to compensate for it by his mercy. He wants to heal our imperfection by his infinite perfection, our impurity by his purity, our ignorance by his strength. God, the supreme, eternal good, wants to be the remedy for all our ills, “for he knows our frame, he remembers that we are dust.”
“Since our greatest evil – rather, the only real evil – is sin, infinite mercy would be the remedy. Assuredly, God hates sin, but, although he is forced to withdraw his friendship – that is, his grace – from the soul of a sinner, because of the offence, his mercy still finds a way of continuing to love him. If he can no longer love him as a friend, he loves him as a creature, as the work of his hands; God loves him for the good that is still in him and which gives hope of his conversion. God’s mercy is so immense that no misery, however great, can exhaust it: not even the most infamous sin can halt it, provided the sin is repented of.
“There is no limit to God’s mercy. He never rejects us because of our sins. He never grows weary of our infidelities. He never refuses to forgive us. He is always ready to forget all our offences and to repay our ingratitude with graces. He never reproaches us for our offences, even when we fall again immediately after being forgiven. He is never angered by our repeated failures or weakness in the practice of virtue, but always stretches out his hand to us, wanting to help us. Even when others condemn us, God shows mercy to us, he absolves us and sends us away justified, as Jesus did with the woman taken in adultery: “Go, and now sin no more.” He also said to us: “Be merciful therefore, as your heavenly Father is also merciful.”
“How far does our mercy go? How much compassion do we have for the faults of others? The measure of God’s mercy toward us will be our mercy toward our neighbour, for Jesus has said: ‘With what measure you measure, it shall be measured to you again.” Jesus revealed to us the mystery of his heavenly Father’s merciful love, not only for our own consolation and personal benefit, not only to give us absolute confidence in God, but also to teach us to be merciful to our neighbour. Good attracts good, goodness engenders goodness, kindness inspires kindness. Therefore, the more we penetrate the mystery of infinite mercy, the more we will be incited to emulate it.
“When we feel irritated with someone and little disposed to indulgence and pardon, we ought to plunge with all our strength into the consideration of the infinite mercy of God, in order to smother all harshness, resentment and anger in ourselves. It would not be difficult for us to realize that there is no moment of our lives in which we do not need the mercy of God.”
A beautiful prayer of St. Bernard may help us in our efforts to forgive, to show mercy and love to those who hurt us in some way,…”O Lord, I run to you because you are so good and merciful, and because I know that you did not despise the poor nor hate the sinner. You did not reject the thief who confessed his sins, nor the weeping Magdalen, nor the suppliant Canaanite woman, nor the woman taken in adultery, nor the tax collector sitting at his counter, nor the publican who implored your mercy, nor the Apostle who denied you, nor even those who crucified you …
“O Lord, pour into my soul the dew of your mercy, fill my heart with charity, that I may know how to be all things to all people….Teach me to distil the sweet perfume of your mercy, which is composed of the needs of the poor, the anguish of the oppressed, the anxieties of the afflicted, the failures of sinners, and finally, all the pains of those who suffer, even if they be my enemies….All these things are repugnant to my nature, but you have said: ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they shall find mercy.’
“O Lord, grant that I may pour out the perfume of mercy, not only on your head and your feet, but on your whole body, which is the church, so that it will lessen the sorrows of all your suffering members.”
Carmel Flora OFM Cap.
National Assistant SFO – Oceania.
