In today’s readings we hear the theme of mercy and generosity. In the first reading and the Entrance Antiphon we hear and read, “You are merciful to all, for you can do all things, and you over look men’s sins that they may repent. For you love all things that exist, and have loathing for none of the things which you have made.”[i]
The Church teaches us today through the liturgy about mercy and generosity; a reoccurring theme presented throughout the liturgical year..
What is mercy? Mercy is “the disposition to be kind and forgiving. Founded on compassion, mercy differs from compassion or the feeling of sympathy in putting this feeling into practice with a readiness to assist. It is therefore the ready willingness to help anyone in need, especially in need of pardon or reconciliation.”[ii] Mercy is one of the eight beatitudes. God’s Divine Mercy is centered by definition in the Incarnation. God does not just have a feeling of sympathy or compassion upon His people, His chosen ones. The Word becomes flesh and thus feeling is put into practice and readiness to assist. The famous verse John 3:16 does not say, “For God so loved the world” – period, it says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” God’s Divine Mercy is practice, readiness to assist, willingness to help a world in need, especially in need of pardon and reconciliation. We hear the words of our Lord, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”[iii] In the same way the God’s feelings for man are not the end, man’s feelings for God should not be the end. It is not enough that we have “feelings” for God. We must have faith, which is man’s response to God, and as the apostle James says, “For just as a body without a spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.” The Christian responds by faith to God’s Divine Mercy and then through good works imitates the Divine Mercy of God by giving that mercy to others.
Why does the Church speak so much on mercy? We must be reminded that God is merciful. If we are not reminded, one could fall into depression or even despair from their sin. “it is not surprising that the theme of mercy is so often repeated in the Sunday Liturgy, because God is infinite, inexhaustible mercy, and because we are so extremely in need of mercy. God, who created us in an act of love, recreates us daily in a never-ending act of mercy, by which he remedies our weakness, forgives our offenses, and redeems us from evil.”[iv]
Why is it important that God is merciful? If God were not merciful, we would not be here. “No one can continue to exist without the omnipotent mercy of God.”[v]
In today’s Gospel we hear of the generosity of God.. How was Jesus generous? One of the most precious commodities that Jesus gives is His time. Since Jesus is God, He has all the treasures, talents, and eternity, but in His humanity Jesus had a very limited time window. Jesus is generous with His time by going to the home of Zacchaeus, and spending time with Him.
How can we be generous? We look to our own time, treasures, and talents. God has given us a finite time on this planet. We should never want to waste a minute of it. We should look to want to give our time to God who gave it to us in the first place. When we place our trust in the time that God has given us, we will be in the exact place He wants us to be. There are times when we may think, “this is a waste of time.” We should ask our self, “Is this where God would want me to be? Is this what God would want me to do?” The Christian should not only strive to do the right thing at the right time, but to do the right thing all the time. It is not enough to be in the right place at the right time, but to strive to be in the right place all the time.
Our treasures have been entrusted to us by God, and God will judge us on how generous we are in using what He entrusted to us. We should be reminded of the story of the old woman who gave her last two coins to the synagogue. Jesus praises her for her generosity, but more importantly her trust because that was all she had in this world. When we detach ourselves from this world, and the things of this world the more we can obtain the heights of heaven. We can strive for heaven, but we will not be able to get off the ground if we are weighted down and worried about our iPhones, tablets, cars, houses, and other things. We have to remember they are just that, things. Zacchaeus in the Gospel Reading was practices generosity by giving four times more than he had to give back. He does it not because he has to or forced to, but because he wants to. Justice demands that he simply pays back what he owes, but in mercy he gives back even more (four times) what he owes.
Why does Zacchaeus act in generosity and mercy? Because He had a conversion and loved God more than money and things. How much more will we give back? Our talents should not be wasted. We should look to better our talents. Like an athlete who may be born with certain physical attributes, they can always work hard to make their talents better. We too have many talents, and we should work to make them better. We should be open to God when he presents us with opportunities to use these talents and not let them go to waste. We cannot be specific to talents because everyone has different ones, and the range and scope is too vast to detail.
What will God give in return of our generosity? He has already given us the best thing we could ever hope for, His Son, Jesus Christ. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in Him wouldn’t perish, but would have eternal life.”[vi] We must always remember that God will never be out done in His generosity. Saint Paul speaks of the generosity of God in the ninth chapter of 2 Corinthians..
Scripture tells us those who are generous will be blessed by God:
“He who is generous will be blessed, for he gives some of his food to the poor.”[vii]
“He who gives to the poor will never want, but he who shuts his eyes will have many curses.”[viii]
“Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed.”[ix]
“Let the rich learn that evil does not consist in having wealth, but in not putting it to good use; for just as riches are an obstacle to evil people, they are also a means of virtue for good people.”[x]
STORY – The Southern woman and her neighbor
There was once a faithful woman who praised God for everything even though she was very poor. When hardships came she continued to pray and was filled with joy. Her neighbor was not a man of faith in fact he scoffed at the woman’s faith and wanted to prove to this poor old woman that the God that she prayed to did not exist. One morning the woman was on her front porch and prayed from her heart to God. Please O Lord provide food for me today. The unfaithful man overheard the words and had an idea. When the woman went back into her home, he went into his home gathered up food and secretly left it on her front porch to see what would happen. Later that afternoon the woman opened the front door and saw the bag of food. She immediately praised the Lord saying, “O thank you good and generous Lord for providing the food I need.” This happened a few more days. The unbelieving neighbor thought in his head, what a foolish woman to thank God who is not real, when she should be thanking me, who is giving the food. He finally was going to prove his point to her that the God that she prayed to his day was fake. The next morning the woman as usual went to her porch and prayed, “Please O Lord provide food for me today.” That afternoon the neighbor let the bag of food as usual but this time he hid behind a bush in her front yard. The woman came to the door and picked up the bag and the neighbor jumped out from behind the bush and with a smile on his face said, “Ha, I got you. I have been leaving this food for you NOT God, your God is not real.” The woman with joy on her face and cheer in her heart said, “O Lordy Lordy, I thank you and praise you for you have even used my unbelieving neighbor that your holy will we be done and have provided me food through his generosity.”
[i] Wis. 11:23-24
[ii] Hardon, Modern Catholic Dictionary, pg. 348
[iii] Luke 6:36
[iv] Divine Intimacy vol. IV, pg. 179
[v] Ibid
[vi] Jn. 3:16
[vii] Proverbs 22:9
[viii] Proverbs 28:27
[ix] 2 Corinthians 9:6-8
[x] St. Ambrose, Expositio Evangelii sec. Lucam, in loc.