Being Convicted

Short Homily on the Midday Prayer Texts

Motherhouse, Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet

When I bought my cute VW Jetta wagon a few years ago

It was so novel

I NEVER saw them on the road

But as soon as I drove off the lot they were

EVERYWHERE

It’s been that way with MERCY this week

I started highlighting the word

as it appeared in our prayer and worship

I gave up after the first day

Everywhere

       In Word at least...if not practice;)

It brought to mind the line of T S Elliot:

We know too much and are convinced of too little

Mercy is something to be convinced of

God wants Ezekiel to communicate clearly:

If the good person turns bad

their past good

doesn’t count

And likewise, if the bad person turns good,

their past bad

it doesn’t count either

Mercy is not a math problem  

Mercy is Now

In the Psalm:

Have mercy on us, O Lord,

The contempt and scorn...are overflowing!

God’s Mercy

and Contempt and Scorn

They don’t cohabitate well

Mercy needs room

Mercy needs an open space

And we hear God through Jeremiah:

Be gone!  Frowning and Resentment and Disloyalty!

I am merciful...and safe...Come back...

The dinner table I grew up around 

was a place of lively conversation

My Dad, the die-hard republican would joke

“this is a safe table…

you can even be a democrat around this table…”

I remember One night

In particular

When my older sister talked of a friend

Who had been kicked out of her home

I'm not clear on the details…

Drinking/Drugs…pregnancy...unsuitable boyfriend

What I do remember

Was my Dad’s response

Now listen very carefully

I want to be very clear…

There is nothing

Nothing you can do

NOTHING

that would be so terrible

that you couldn’t come home

I know now that my father couldn’t have offered

What he offered

had he not first received it…

from his own parents,

from his relationship to God,

maybe from my mother

The habit

That I am called to live into

The thing that I hope be more convinced of

is a continuation of that safe family dinner table

Which is itself a continuation 

of every truly Eucharistic table

Where unforgiven-ness

Is swallowed up in Mercy

I'm thinking

that that's what

Discipleship is...

becoming ever more convinced 

of MERCY