21st Sunday after Pentecost 3.11.19 Mercy for
others
A notorious serial killer died recently in Australia. People
were saying, as they usually do, that he
can rot in hell.
It is understandable to be angry with someone who does so
much evil. But how we respond is important.
We cannot just give way to hatred and revenge. When people say,
‘rot in hell’, it means they want the person to suffer. This is clearly not the
way. It is really just revenge, an unbridled passion.
We learn to love - not hate - those who hurt us.
We see the soul in need. Just as we would help someone in
physical need – would feed a hungry man, would free a man who was trapped
… the spiritual domain operates the same
way.
This man is in trouble; you can help him find what he needs,
namely salvation.
To be cleansed of sin. Every soul still in transit could be
moved to a better state than present.
However good or bad one might be, we all need improvement,
and it is always possible.
The closer we look the more we realize everyone needs grace
and mercy. Not all sins are as dramatic as murder. There are many others, not
so easily detected, which can do their own damage: such as worshipping false
gods, corrupting the young, sacrilege, blasphemy, pride, refusal to forgive.
We don’t need to know which sins are worse than which, only
that any sin needs to be cleansed, and attachment to that sin needs to be
loosened.
Those who know have a duty to help those who know less. We
try to do as much as we can to help the whole process.
We do not have to assess each other soul - which we could
not do anyway. All we have to do is pray for the salvation of each soul.
And we should not pray like it was a task, against the
grain, but we are supposed to want the soul to be saved.
If you get to Heaven and you meet someone there who hurt you
a lot… by that stage both he and you will be at one with God, and at peace with
each other.
At this time of year, especially, we recall our practice of
praying for the dead.
If the person is beyond help and cannot be saved, the prayer
will not be wasted; it will help someone. It increases the flow of charity
within the whole Body of Christ.
We believe we can help the dead, in two phases: one to be
forgiven for their sin, and the other to be purified of all attachment to sin.
We believe we can hasten the time, or lessen the severity of
the purification.
If one is contrite enough not so much punishment is needed. We
seek to reach perfect contrition. And pray that we all do.
We need continuous cleansing on this point, to be drinking
from the spring of Christ’s mercy – which flows like a torrent from His side.
This will change our hearts of stone to hearts of flesh, and
make us more yielding and forgiving.
And it will make our prayer more powerful, able to touch the
most hardened sinners.
We seek to grasp more fully the mind of God on these
matters. It is really necessary that we come to this topic from a spiritual
perspective and not the usual earthly way.
So it is not ‘may he rot in hell’ but ‘may he
reach the courts of heaven’, however long it may take. And his victims, and
the rest of us who struggle with the power of evil.
In any case, and all cases, Lord Have Mercy.
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