July 13, 2025

Dear Parishioners,

After Jesus gives the parable of the Good Samaritan to the scholar of the law, Jesus asks the man, “Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?” The lawyer responds, “The one who treated him with mercy.”

The lawyer’s answer is interesting. He could have said, The one who was kind…the one who was charitable…the one who was compassionate…the one who was generous. Instead he focuses on mercy: the one who was merciful.

Mercy seems weird to us, especially when we attribute it to another person. It’s one thing to think about mercy when we’re thinking about God. Or to think about mercy when we’re thinking of a person in a position of power, like a judge, a teacher, a coach, a police officer, etc. We’re fine with that. But another equal person being merciful? Strange. When someone drops off food at our food pantry, we don’t say, “Wow, they’re so merciful.” When a parishioner makes a donation to our parish, we say, “That person is so generous and thoughtful.” I write thank-you letters all the time, as many of you can attest. I don’t think I’ve ever written, “Thank you for being so merciful to me and to the parish for X,Y,Z.”

Perhaps we think it’s arrogant to attribute mercy to someone. Only God can be merciful, we assume. Or, perhaps we think it’s too humbling to acknowledge that we can be recipients of mercy. When we acknowledge someone as “kind” or “thoughtful” or “generous” for giving us a gift, there’s a little bit of safety we feel interiorly. It’s like we’re telling ourselves the gift is purely unconditional: we didn’t need the gift and would be fine without it. Mercy is a different story. We place ourselves in a position of dependency or reliance on the other. We do need the gift and our lives will be affected if we don’t receive it. There is much vulnerability and humility involved in this, hence we tend not to speak of mercy.

How radical it would be to concede more frequently mercy! Think about it. If I viewed every one of your donations to the parish, for instance, as acts of mercy, how would you feel? Maybe you’d be embarrassed and shy at first, but, in time, you might feel even more appreciated and needed. I know I would be. And your gift-giving would feel more in the Spirit. You wouldn’t feel like you’re losing out on something or being forced to do something you don’t really want to do. Your sacrifice would actually give you life because you see how important you are.

A few other examples might help bring home the point. Imagine the spouse thanked the other spouse for taking care of the children by saying, “Honey, thank you for being so merciful to me and the children.” Or, the adult-children thanked their parents for babysitting the grandkids: “Mom and Dad, without your mercy we’d be struggling.” Or, to the person who gives you a call on your birthday you say, “Your mercy has made my day.” Again, puts a different spin on acts of kindness, no?

This isn’t some mental trick to ease the pain of our service. It’s an actual truth. We participate in the mercy of God when we go outside of ourselves and help one another. Because the fact is that we do need one another and our lives would be different had we not received this kindness. We are not fine alone.

Jesus was doing more with this parable than just instructing us to be charitable to others in need. He was teaching us about the human condition. Mercy strengthens our love and joy. May we be givers and recipients of mercy.

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This Sunday, July 13th is New Parishioner Sign Up in the gym. We didn’t host it on the first Sunday of the month last weekend because of the holiday weekend.

The next session of the Discern and Decide prayer workshop will be this Saturday, July 12th at 9am in the HFC. Everyone is welcome, even if you missed previous sessions.

I hope you are enjoying these beautiful summer days and are able to take some time for leisure in your schedule. My prayers for you and your families.

Yours in Christ,

Fr. James Wallace