21st Sunday after Pentecost 9 Oct 2016 Sermon

21st Sunday after Pentecost 9.10.16 Treasury of Mercy

Did you ever wonder where all that mercy comes from?

Imagine if you could go to the automatic teller machine and be able to take out as much money as you like, and as often as you like, and the supply of money would never run dry.

We cannot do that with money, but we can with grace and mercy.

We can go to the ‘bank’, the treasury of mercy, and be forgiven every time, provided there is true sorrow for the sin.

The treasury of mercy never runs dry. God’s mercy is infinite, as are all His attributes.

And also acting in our favour are the infinite merits of the sacrifice of Christ, by which He atones for the sin of the world, and enables any sin to be forgiven.

So we can understand the debtor having his huge debt removed. We owe God a debt of reparation that we could never repay. We have offended His infinite majesty and nothing of our own could set that right.

We have gone over the limit many times over.

The more hopeless it seems the more remarkable that God's treasury of mercy will prevail.
We cannot break this bank.

With a normal person the more often we offend him, the more likely he is to be annoyed.

We can think of God in these terms but it is not actually the case. God does not ‘lose His temper’ or ‘get mad’ at us.

However, if we continue to sin against Him, without appropriate sorrow and intention to amend our ways, we will be receiving less mercy, and the effects of the sin will accumulate.

We receive less mercy because we are not claiming it properly. It is not that God is any less willing to give mercy; we are less willing to take it.

It is called God's anger, but it is the natural consequence of what we do if we do not seriously seek mercy.

This much we must do: form purpose of amendment. I cannot just keep going to ask for mercy without some adjustment to my life. I have to think: what is causing the sin? How can I change what I am doing?

For this also we need God’s help - Grace.

We have Mercy for the sins, and Grace for the ability to break away from sin. Grace is also infinite in supply if only we ask for it.

Although they are in such ready supply it seems that both grace and mercy are neglected in these times.

Many do not see that they have any sin to be forgiven. Others see the sin but do not believe mercy is possible for them.

Others might believe in mercy but not get around to asking for it, or forming any serious intent to change their lives.

Many Catholics do not go to Confession, and thus deprive themselves of important grace.

So it can happen that despite the abundance of mercy one could still fail to benefit from it. It is like starving outside a bakery.

This leads in turn to further sin and general decline of faith and morals, of which we see too much evidence today.

We have to take God seriously – His word and His will. If we make any effort to engage with Him He will hasten to our help, move us to true contrition; remove the debt; and set us up to live properly from then on.

(Including that we will freely forgive anyone who has offended us).

If we are right with Him all else will be right.

It comes to this: we must change our bad habits, or at least be sorry that we have not done so. If it is genuine sorrow we will receive the grace to make the change, and so we are set free.