Mercy is Harmony
Today’s Reading
Jesus said to the
crowds:
“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart;
and you will find rest for yourselves.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”
“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart;
and you will find rest for yourselves.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”
(Matthew 11.28-30)
Today’s Reflection
Everyone knows the story of the young boy
carrying his injured brother piggyback.
When asked, “Isn’t he heavy?” the boy replied, “He isn’t heavy, he’s my
brother.”
We keep retelling the story because it is
true. Love gives strength. And awareness activates love. When we carry our brother or sister, it is
never a dead weight.
Nor is it a weight we ever carry alone. God keeps his own command, “Do for others
what you would like them to do for you” (Matthew 7.12). If God let a human, Simon of Cyrene, help
Jesus carry his cross, we can believe Jesus will never let any human carry a
cross alone.
Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who labor
and are burdened…. Take my yoke upon you….”
A yoke links two together. When
things are hard, remember Jesus is working with you, in you, and through
you. When we are having mercy on others,
Jesus is having mercy on us. No one
having mercy sings solo; the sound of mercy is humans singing harmony with God.
When Jesus prayed that we might “all be one”
as the Father, Son and Spirit are one (see John 17.21), did he have the
“harmony of mercy” in mind?
--Fr. David M. Knight
Response
• Ponder what Fr. Knight means by ”the harmony of mercy”…
• Think of someone(s) with whom you find it easy to sing with in the “harmony of mercy”…
• Think of someone(s) with whom you find it easy to sing with in the “harmony of mercy”…
• Remember someone(s) with whom you find it difficult to sing with
in the “harmony of mercy”…
• Resolve to “sing in harmony with God” the next time your load
seems too heavy.
Advent Prayer
Lord, I have let myself be deceived. In a thousand ways I have shunned your love. Yet here I am once more, to renew my covenant with you. I need you. Save me once again, Lord; take me once more into your redeeming embrace. You are the Lord, Emmanuel--God-with-Us.
Lord, I have let myself be deceived. In a thousand ways I have shunned your love. Yet here I am once more, to renew my covenant with you. I need you. Save me once again, Lord; take me once more into your redeeming embrace. You are the Lord, Emmanuel--God-with-Us.
Today’s
reflection is excerpted from “A Season of Mercy—Daily Reflections, Practices
and Prayers” by Fr. David M. Knight.
Copyright by Twenty-Third Publications.
Used with permission.
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