Bible
Study: Micah 5, 2 to 5. Hebrews 10, 5 to 10. And Luke 1, 39 to 45.
On this
last Sunday of the Advent season, our personality focus is none other but Mary,
the woman with a heart of mercy who carried within her the greatest treasure
ever possessed by a human being yet brought herself to the aid of a fellow
woman who was in need.
Being
merciful goes beyond forgiving others when they offend us, to be merciful is to
offer ourselves to the service of others in need of help. According to the
Catholic encyclopaedia (www dot new advent dot org), “Being merciful is a
virtue that influences one’s will to have compassion for, and if possible, to
alleviate another’s misfortune… its motive is the misery which one discerns in
another either as bodily suffering or a spiritual need.”
The moment
the angel Gabriel announced to Mary that her kinswoman Elizabeth despite in her
old age, the one who people call barren, has herself conceived and is now in
her sixth month, Mary immediately embarked on a journey through the hill
country and in HASTE to take care of her. This is mercy in action. Nothing else
would have moved a young teenage lady to go all the way to visit a grey headed
woman other than her knowledge that this old woman would need somebody to help
her around the house.
Ordinarily,
at her age, Elizabeth could hardly get things done by herself not to mention
now that her fragile bones and weak muscles were to be given the added task of
carrying a baby and pushing through to final delivery. Mary, despite being a
young girl who at her age would be concerned only about her own personal needs
immediately put herself in Elizabeth’s shoes, she had compassion on the old woman
and she ran to stay with her for three solid months. Mary was Elizabeth when
she eventually delivered John the Baptist and she was at the naming ceremony
where Zachariah’s speech was restored. She was there to alleviate Elizabeth’s
pains and make light her physical misfortune, she was there to carry out the
corporal works of mercy for Elizabeth.
What are
the corporal works of mercy? They are: Feeding the hungry, Giving Drink to the
thirsty, Clothing the naked, Giving shelter to the homeless, Visiting the Sick,
Giving Freedom to Prisoners, and Burying the Dead. Mary spent three months with
Elizabeth, helping her to cook, washing her clothes and scrubbing the floor,
keeping things neat and tidy in the house, ensuring that Elizabeth was taking
her medications, and just being there to support her with kind words and
melodious singing. Mary was there to multiply the joy of Elizabeth.
As we
celebrate a year of mercy, it is clear that Mary is our number one role model
and shining star of Mercy. Note that she would again display the depth of her
mercy when at a wedding feast at Cana, she noticed that the couple had ran out
of wine and she impressed on her son, Jesus, to work his first miracle on
behalf of the couple. No one complained to her about the lack of wine, she was
not under obligation to provide wine but for her natural compassionate spirit
of constantly putting herself in the shoes of others, Mary pleaded with Jesus
to do something about the wine and he did.
Mary was
not the complaining type. She was always conscious of what she had and she knew
that even if she could not get all she dreamt of as a young lady at that age
and time, there were so many people far worse than her. This explains why she
constantly reached out to help. No matter how difficult you think things are
for you right now, the truth is that you are still better off than over one
million people in this planet and if only you can open your eyes to look beyond
the four walls of your own world, you would see that there are so many people you
can help, there are so many people you can reach out to, there are so many
people who dream of having even a tiny fraction of the very things you take for
granted. Sometimes, what people really need is just our presence! Just knowing
that they are not alone, that we care about them and they can feel safe talking
about themselves without the fear that we shall go about telling everyone else.
We live in
a world of indifference. The new slogan we see in practical reality today is
“You are on your own.” And if at all, we think about others, it is from the
angle of competition, how to be better or richer than they are. Humans these
days are so self-centred that we are prepared to fight, kill and destroy just
to feel good about ourselves. We take so much pleasure in seeing people fall,
news doesn’t seem to make good enough headlines except if it is about the dirty
side of others, we love to talk about the misfortunes of others, their
limitations and incompetency. We know we can help but we are not willing to raise
a finger for the sake of another because we are too concerned our own personal
problems and needs.
Christmas
is a season of mercy and we all are called to be merciful like the father. It
was out of mercy that God came to take our human flesh to save us. He could
have remained in heaven and simply amused himself with the human condition
going down on a steep crescendo of moral decadence, sin and death. But he
stepped in. As the book of Hebrews in our second reading speaks about Jesus,
“Behold I have come to do your will.” Jesus came into the human condition, he
took our flesh and by that he raised the status of the human being to a higher
level. In his mercy for us, we all have been sanctified through the offering of
the body of Jesus.
Even in our
first reading today, Micah prophesises this fact of God himself performing a corporal
work of mercy for all humanity, he speaks of the Messiah who would come to “feed
his flock in the strength of the Lord… And they shall dwell secure…and this shall
be peace.” If God was so merciful to us, we are to extend that mercy to the rest
of humanity. Look out today for a person around you who is suffering, look out for
someone who may never be able to pay you back, someone who does not even deserve
it. Do to that person exactly what Mary did for Elizabeth, pay a visit. Show mercy!
Let us
Pray:
Lord
Jesus, infuse into my spirit today a deeper degree of mercy that rather than take
pleasure in the sufferings of others, I may constantly reach out to help them. May
this season of mercy provide an occasion for me to step out of my world and see
that even in my condition, there are many out there I can help. Amen.
Good morning.
Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. Happy Sunday.
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