Today, in Mercy, our Advent readings increase in joyously expectant tone:
Isaiah’s exultant description of the Peaceful Kingdom
the Psamist’s confidence in God’s intervention
Jesus’s miracle, and probable delight, for the paralyzed man lowered through the roof!
We have seen incredible things.. Luke 5:26
These passages are filled with an exuberant expectation, much like children feel as they discover an amazing gift. May we open our hearts with innocent hope toward God’s promise.
If you can, take the time today to read these passages slowly, listening for the particular word that will fall upon your heart like a blossom of hope.
Music: O Come, Divine Messiah – Jennie Lee Riddle and Robbie Seay
Today, in Mercy, Isaiah continues to describe the perfection of redeemed Creation.
Matthew’s accompanying Gospel shows us Jesus making this perfection apparent through the miracle of the loaves and fishes.
Many of us long for the coming of this future kingdom. But, through the grace of the Resurrection, this redeemed and perfect kingdom is already available to us who choose to believe in and foster it.
If we really live as redeemed people, the miracle happens around us! Our graces are multiplied, just like the seven loaves and few fish.
Today, in Mercy,majestic Isaiah bursts out, full-throated, in proclamation!
Messianic Psalm 72 picks up his jubilant strain.
Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.
And in our Gospel, Jesus affirms that the childlike will share the jubilation.
What a joy to hear these hope-filled readings once again!
We look forward with avid anticipation tothe redemption of all Creation in Christ.We long for the One born in the Spirit of the Lord who will lead us with wisdom and understanding.
As Handel intones in today’s musical selection, “The government shall be upon his shoulders …” – that realm of peace, love, mutual respect and appreciation that will allow even the rival animals to lie down beside one another in security.
Today, let us pray with Jesus as he speaks with his Father in our Gospel: “I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth…”
… and I ask you to bless our world with a foretaste of the peace you have promised. Let us see one another as sister and brother, not as enemy, foreigner, or rival. Let us put away the words of alienation, stereotyping and hatred. Let us all become your children once again.
Music:For Unto Us A Child Is Word – Handel’s Messiah
Today, in Mercy, we are struck with Revelation’s images of the end time!
a crowned Christ wielding a sharp sickle
angels commanding the final harvest of the earth
and perhaps the most powerful
the earth’s vintage thrown into the great winepress of God’s fury!
This author could write! We can almost imagine the scene, filmed with all the pyro-technics of today’s computer age.
But besides the amazing imagery, what does the passage say to our hearts?
In Biblical symbolism, the winepress almost always stands for judgment. The passage reminds us that we all will be judged.The divine winepress will compress the sinful gaps that plague our human existence.In the end time, there will be no “other” — no judgmental spaces separating us from one another.We will all be one, like wine mingled.
We will be judged on how we lived that oneness in this life, on where we have stood in the gap between the:
rich and poor
well and sick
citizen and refugee
abled and disabled
powerful and vulnerable
Do we live in ignorance or indifference to those who suffer on the other side of the human scale? Have we been impervious to the imbalances of justice and charity in this world?
And how do we respond? The passage suggests that we do some weeding of our spiritual gardens before the harvest of our souls. The intention of this fiery writer is to tell us that we still have a little time.
Music:The Day Is Surely Drawing Near – written by the prolific 16th century Lutheran hymnist Bartholomaüs Ringwaldt. This piece is a majestic instrumental rendering, but if you would like to see the words, they are below.
1 The day is surely drawing near
When Jesus, God’s anointed,
In all His power shall appear
As judge whom God appointed. Then fright shall banish idle mirth,
And flames on flames shall ravage earth
As Scripture long has warned us.
2 The final trumpet then shall sound
And all the earth be shaken,
And all who rest beneath the ground
Shall from their sleep awaken.
But all who live will in that hour,
By God’s almighty, boundless pow’r,
Be changed at His commanding.
3 The books are opened then to all,
A record truly telling
What each has done, both great and small,
When he on earth was dwelling,
And ev’ry heart be clearly seen,
And all be known as they have been
In thoughts and words and actions.
4 Then woe to those who scorned the Lord
And sought but carnal pleasures,
Who here despised His precious Word
And loved their earthly treasures!
With shame and trembling they will stand
And at the judge’s stern command
To Satan be delivered.
5 My Savior paid the debt I owe
And for my sin was smitten;
Within the Book of Life I know
My name has now been written.
I will not doubt, for I am free,
And Satan cannot threaten me;
There is no condemnation!
6 May Christ our intercessor be
And through His blood and merit
Read from His book that we are free
With all who life inherit.
Then we shall see Him face to face,
With all His saints in that blest place
Which He has purchased for us.
7 O Jesus Christ, do not delay,
But hasten our salvation;
We often tremble on our way
In fear and tribulation.
O hear and grant our fervent plea;
Come, mighty judge, and make us free
From death and ev’ry evil.
Today, in Mercy, our first reading from Revelation describes what has come to be known in modern culture as “the Rapture”. It’s a concept probably more popularized by modern fiction than by our devotion to scripture.
Maybe you are one of the60 million readers of the “Left Behind” books by Jenkins and LaHaye. This popular series captures our fascination with “the end times”.
The writer of Revelation is doing the same thing. This highly imaginative ancient author -adept at symbols, allegory, and poetry – writes to awake and engage us in our own salvation.
Whether or not his visions predict facts is not the point. The point is that there will come an end time to every life. When it comes to us, we want to have already become God’s familiar and beloved friend.
A second point is that this world, as we know it, is passing. We should not make our heart’s investment here. Our lasting treasure lies in God’s realm which, while present here, is often rendered invisible by our human hungers and distractions.
Revelation enjoins us to wake up, see beyond the visible, and live a life worthy of eternity.
How? The true and simple answer is in today’s Gospel:
“When Jesus looked up he saw some wealthy people
putting their offerings into the treasure
and he noticed a poor widow putting in two small coins.
He said, “I tell you truly,
this poor widow put in more than all the rest;
for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth,
but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood.”
This blessed widow, even in her impoverished circumstances, understood where her true treasure lay. She was already counted among the sainted“hundred and forty-four thousand”.
Music: When I read these apocalyptic passages, I like to imagine the scene by listening to compatible music. One of my favorite accompaniments is Richard Wagner: Ride of the Valkyries. Just imagine Jesus riding into our lives on these exalted melodies!
Today, in Mercy, we celebrate The Solemnity of Christ the King.
For some, the lofty, politically-tinged title might obscure the rich devotion offered by this feast. The title “king” carries with it suggestions of exaggerated power, wealth and dominance not compatible with our Gospel perception of Jesus.
We may be more comfortable with images of Christ as infant, brother, shepherd, lamb, vine, gate, way, truth, life…
But what all these images point out is that our ability to comprehend the fullness of Christ is severely limited by our humanity. We usually choose a specific image based on our circumstances and spiritual needs.
Pope Pius XI promoted the concept of Christ the King in his 1925 encyclical Quas Primas, in response to growing international secularism and nationalism. His intent was not to compare Christ to the challenged world leaders of the time. It was to raise the perceptions of all people to the lessons of Divine Leadership: mercy, justice, inclusivity, and peace.
Oh, how we could benefit from the same understanding today!
In this age with its culture of continual war, the human pain it causes, refugee crises, climate devastation, wealth distortion and indifference to the poor, how our hearts long for just, wise and loving leadership!
In his encyclical, Pius XI wrote:
Christ the King reigns “in the human hearts,” both by reason of the keenness of his intellect and the extent of his knowledge, and also because he is very truth, and it is from him that truth must be obediently received by all humanity. He reigns, too, in our wills, for in him the human will was perfectly and entirely obedient to the Holy Will of God, and further by his grace and inspiration he so subjects our free-will as to incite us to the most noble endeavors. He is King of hearts, too, by reason of his “charity which exceedeth all knowledge.”
— Quas primas, §7[4]
Let’s pray for these virtues for all who are charged with any form of power or leadership:
keen spiritual intellect
deep heart’s knowledge
uncompromising truth
obedience to grace
holy inspiration
noble character
and surpassing charity for all Creation
May Christ the King truly live and reign among us. May we behold the “sweet light in His eyes”!
Music: We Shall Behold Him – offered in American Sign Language by Kayla Seymour; sung by Sandi Patty
Today in Mercy, the author of Revelation says some pretty tough stuff in the name of God!
To the Church at Sardis: You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.
To the Church at Laodicea: Because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.
As most of us know from experience, it’s never really easy to accept negative feedback.But, couched in gentle, encouraging tones, it can be accepted and acted on. John of Patmos, author of Revelation, missed that lesson in coaching techniques!
How effective his words were with the under-performing churches is a matter left to history.
But in our Gospel, Jesus’s inclusive, forgiving words to Zaccheus proved very effective.Jesus doesn’t even address any shortcomings (not to make a pun) in Zaccheus.
He just says, “Come down from your tree.I’m coming to your house for dinner.” In other words, I’m coming into your life — now what’s your response?
Zaccheus is radically changed by Jesus’s lavish mercy. He responds,
“Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over.”
Today, we pray to have a simple, trusting faith. Sometimes, like Zaccheus, we get ourselves “up a tree”, all twisted and stretching to find God in our lives. And all the time, God has been walking straight down the path of our heart, smiling at our efforts, planning to stay with us tonight, tomorrow and forever.
Today, in Mercy, we celebrate the Memorial of St. Elizabeth of Hungary.Elizabeth, a princess in Hungary, was married at the age of fourteen to Louis IV of Thuringia, a German state. Both rulers were kind and saintly.
Elizabeth used her considerable royal resources to help the poor and hungry. She met them outside the walls of the palace, even building a small hospital there to care for the sick among them.
But there was some controversy within the castle, questioning her charity as a depletion of the governmental treasures.
Once, on a charitable journey, Elizabeth met her husband traveling with a band of such questioners. She carried baskets of bread to the poor, covered with her traveling cloaks. They demanded she reveal her cargo at which the bread is said to have been miraculously transformed into roses.
(St Elizabeth of Hungary with her crown and apron full of flowers. Blois château, France. One of a series of female saints in the Oratory (once the queen’s private chapel). Designed by Michel Dumas in 1858, the windows were painted by Claude Lavergne in 1859.)
As indicated by Pope Benedict XVI, Elizabeth is part of that long line of holy ones, whose relationship with Jesus moved them to justice and mercy for all people.
Praying with Elizabeth today, asking for insight on how to be loving and charitable in today’s world, one might consider this:
What would it be like to greet our border refugees with baskets of bread rather than barbed wire?
What would it be like if we built rose hedges rather than walls?
The caravan of refugees seeking asylum at our border mirrors many similar marchers throughout history, searching for a measure of equality and a livable life.
The music for today, aptly titled “Bread and Roses”, originated in the early 1900s, as women marched for improved working conditions and the right to vote.
“The coming of the Kingdom of God cannot be observed,
and no one will announce, ‘Look, here it is,’ or, ‘There it is.’
For behold, the Kingdom of God is among you.”
And it remains a bit of a secret, even after He tells it, because it is often very hard to discern the “Kingdom among us”. There is nothing more invisible than something hiding in plain sight.
Through prayer, we discover that it is about our eyes – not visibility. It is about the power of grace within us to see beyond appearances. We need a soul that can “peel the onion” of experience to find the face of God resident within all things.
With that kind of eyes, you don’t just have a business meeting today. You have an opportunity to build God’s Kingdom through respect, encouragement and mutuality.
You don’t just pass a person begging on the corner. You walk near Christ himself accompanying a broken spirit.
You don’t just encounter the hurts and challenges of your life. You are invited by God into a living faith that finds his will in all things.
You don’t live in the world with just other creatures. You meet and honor the Divine Presence in every living thing.
Indeed, the Kingdom of God is right here among us.
May we see it!
May we treasure it!
May we reveal it!
Lavish Mercy 