Low Sunday/Mercy Sunday 7.4.13
If Our Lord died for our sins He also rose for them.
His death was an offering of Himself in atonement for the sins of the world. A great act of love for the human race which sets free from eternal death.
His rising is also a great act of love because He has taken human nature to a level it has never reached before. Humanity is glorified - at least in part divinised.
We have come a long way. This is a fact not widely grasped – that humanity has changed status since the coming of Christ. God has become human and this has raised the status of humanity, as it must.
We tend to think of the human condition in terms of its weakness and frailty. We have to be aware of that but it is necessary also to realize what a tremendous victory has been won for us.
Many New Testament passages speak of this and call us to grasp our new status. For example: And you must not fall in with the manners of this world; there must be an inward change, a remaking of your minds, so that you can satisfy yourselves what is God’s will, the good thing, the desirable thing, the perfect thing (Rom 12,2).. Or Risen, then, with Christ, you must lift your thoughts above, where Christ now sits at the right hand of God. You must be heavenly-minded, not earthly-minded; you have undergone death, and your life is hidden away now with Christ in God (Col 3,1-3).
If we do grasp this new status we will live in a victorious manner, not just avoiding sin but doing good, living in the Spirit - able to do better things, to love one another, to forgive those who offend us, to be wiser etc. We will be able to live in ways never before thought possible.
The only reason this has not happened is that too many have believed the lie of the devil that it is not possible to be holy, to overcome sin. The devil has tricked us into staying with the old ways – and he has had a lot of success! But no more.
Not by our own strength, but by drawing strength from the humanity of Christ. The waters part in front of us and we walk through. Difficulties come and we keep overcoming them!
So the challenge is to grasp how alive we can be, just how fully we share in the risen life of Christ, the new humanity.
We come to this life in stages. The first thing is to ask forgiveness for whatever way in which we have denied the life of God, resisted His gifts to us.
We ask mercy for ourselves and this is freely given. We make use of the Sacrament instituted in the Gospel when Our Lord breathed on the apostles – Confession/Penance/Reconciliation.
Then we learn to convey mercy to others
By our own forgiving attitudes, showing mercy to those who offend us.
And by praying that they receive mercy from God. We pray for their forgiveness, their conversion, for every good gift to come upon them.
We cannot repent on behalf of others but by our prayer, penances and devotions we apply the love/mercy of God to a particular person, and that mercy will act like a blowtorch, having at least some effect. (The ones prayed for will usually resist but Mercy seeks to break down their defences.)
Whom do we pray for? Everyone. Families, friends, workmates, neighbours, strangers. They are not strangers to God. Anyone and everyone who needs help.
He died for us; He rose for us. He wants the whole human race to realise who they are and what they have.
How tragic that so many still do not know; that so many even oppose the Gospel, and mock it, as they mocked Jesus Himself 2000 years ago.
Even the mockers can be forgiven; can be converted. But it takes a lot of prayer and a lot of belief on our part. So we draw from the infinite love and mercy of Christ and what we find hard to believe or to want becomes possible through Him.
With St Thomas, the doubting apostle, we reach a new level of understanding and having reached there we do not retreat to the old ignorance.
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