Mercy Is One and Diverse
Today’s Reading
God indeed is my
savior;
I am confident and unafraid.
My strength and my courage is the LORD,
and he has been my savior…
I am confident and unafraid.
My strength and my courage is the LORD,
and he has been my savior…
Give thanks to the
LORD, acclaim his name;
among the nations
make known his deeds,
proclaim how exalted is his name….
Sing praise to the LORD for his glorious achievement;
let this be known throughout all the earth.
Shout with exultation, O city of Zion,
for great in your midst
is the Holy One of Israel!
proclaim how exalted is his name….
Sing praise to the LORD for his glorious achievement;
let this be known throughout all the earth.
Shout with exultation, O city of Zion,
for great in your midst
is the Holy One of Israel!
(cf. Isaiah 12.2-6)
Today’s Reflection
I call three men the “holy trinity” of
Guatemala: Jorge, a chicken farmer noted for just wages and concern for his
employees; Alvaro, a bishop who risks his life defending the poor from
industrial exploitation and pollution; and Jose, a doctor serving the poor, who
began his practice among native Mayans, living in a dirt-floor house. To me (using language the church uses to
speak of the Holy Trinity) these three are all “equal in majesty and undivided
in splendor” because of the witness of their Christian lives, but distinct in
“what is proper to each person”—that is, in the way each shows mercy to the
poor.
It is as if these three had asked John the
Baptist in the gospel, “What should we do?”
To the doctor he said: “If you have more education than others, use it
for those who have none; if you have skills, use them for the poor.” To the businessman: “Don’t take more money
than is right.” To the bishop: “Do not
abuse power or suppress the truth for favors.”
One and the same divinity shines through
their humanity in the diversity of their personal acts of mercy. Knowing these three makes me “shout with
exultation…for great in [our] midst is the Holy One of Israel.”
--Fr. David M. Knight
Response
• Ponder the ways in which you are equal to others but distinct in
what gifts and talents are unique to you…
• Think of a way in which someone has used their unique gifts and talents to show mercy to you…
• Think of a way in which someone has used their unique gifts and talents to show mercy to you…
• Remember a time when you used your unique gifts and talents to
show mercy to someone else…
• Imagine who might be waiting for you now to use your unique
gifts and talents to show mercy to them…
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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