Each weekday for the next 14 days, Father James Lyons (Wellington) will be helping us reflect on God’s Word while we are in lockdown. What is God saying to us as we globally unite to defeat Covid-19?
THE NAME OF GOD IS MERCY
Setting: crucifix and candles with some violet or purple cloth, palms or other greenery.
Prayer in praise of this day:
A new day signals freshness
and the chance to make a new start.
I want so much to leave behind the fear, the anger,
the upsets and unloving thoughts I have allowed
to enter this time of isolation. Cleanse me, merciful God.
Flood me with your calming Spirit.
Free me from any sense of isolation
that I may feel and know your presence and
the embrace of your mercy.
In a conversation that became a book in 2016, The Name of God is Mercy, Pope Francis told journalist, Andrea Tornielli, that he thought of the Church as a field hospital, where treatment is given to those most wounded. He pointed out that Jesus declared himself as having come, not for the healthy who do not need the doctor, but for the sick. [Mark 2:17]
Mercy is a key ingredient for the Christian faith. It is not about letting people off the wrong they have done or the harm they have caused; it is about understanding the guilt they feel, the trap they have got themselves into, the choices they shouldn’t have made, and about providing the opportunity to heal. It is also about knowing my own mistakes, deliberate or otherwise, and the overwhelming feeling that there’s no way out.
A word that has sprung into life with the coronavirus crisis is KINDNESS. Be kind is the first piece of advice health officials give. Look out for one another. Kindness is closely related to mercy, as it is to love.
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. [1Cor.13:4-8]
Using this well know quote from St Paul, make a personal examination of conscience. The following quotes, psalm and prayers may help bring you peace.
The more conscious we are of our wretchedness and our sins, the more we experience the love and infinite mercy of God among us, and the more capable we are of looking upon the many “wounded” we meet along the way with acceptance and mercy. So we must avoid the attitude of someone who judges and condemns from the lofty heights of their own certainty…
[The Name of God… p.67]
Psalm 51. Verses 1-2; 10-12; 15
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy blot out all my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from your presence
and do not take your holy spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and sustain in me a willing spirit.
Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
Prayers
Create a clean heart in me, God. Dust off the unmindful activity that constantly collects there. De-clutter my heart from harsh judgements and negativity. Wash away my resistance to working through difficult relationships. Rinse off my un-loving so the beauty of my generous and kind heart can shine forth. Remove whatever keeps me from following in your compassionate footsteps. [Joyce Rupp, Out of the Ordinary, 2000, p.116]
Holy and merciful God: Your loving kindness breaks the hardness of my pride and heals my reluctance to see the good in others or even to accept their sorrow. I open myself to your mercy that, knowing your forgiveness, I might open my heart to share your life-giving gift of pardon and peace.
God, ever patient, ever hopeful, abounding in kindness: You stand at the door and knock, prepared to keep knocking. You watch the road for any sign of your returning child. You pray through the night that those you love might be safe in the storm. Help me feel your longing, and the warmth of your love and open myself to your welcome.
“At the foot of the Cross, Mary, together with John, the disciple of love, witnessed the words of forgiveness spoken by Jesus. This supreme expression of mercy towards those who crucified him show us the point to which the mercy of God can reach. Mary attests that the mercy of the Son of God knows no bounds and extends to everyone, without exception. Let us address her in the words of the Salve Regina, a prayer ever ancient and ever new, so that she may never tire of turning her merciful eyes upon us, and make us worthy to contemplate the face of mercy, her Son, Jesus.”
[The Name of God… p147-8]
HAIL HOLY QUEEN
Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy,
Hail our life, our sweetness and our hope.
To you we cry, poor banished children of Eve.
To you we send up our sighs,
Mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.
Turn then, Most Gracious Advocate,
your eyes of mercy towards us
and after this, our exile,
show us the blessed fruit of your womb.
Jesus.
O Clement, O Loving, O Sweet Virgin Mary.
Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God
Make us worthy of the promises of Christ.
Our “In Reverse” theme points to how different things have become in society even in the space of a few months. Self-isolation, shut-down and avoiding contact with others are not community habits. The quieter streets, job losses and economic hardship for all levels of society push us further back from where we were and from what we were used to and expected. Panic buying for fear of supply shortage has brought out the worst in some, illustrating just how quickly behaviour patterns can change.
Metanoia, the word that is used in the call of Jesus at the beginning of his public ministry, normally translates as Repent. But the challenge in being repentant is to do more than say “sorry”. It means reversing and turning around and re-orienting ourselves to the direction we’re meant to be travelling
We are quite literally out of our “comfort zone” in the face of COVID-19. We have a new appreciation of what it means to be “in need”, “vulnerable”, “helpless”. We can use this unexpected and unprecedented opportunity to focus the gift of faith in the context of daily life, and to make Mercy a priority.
The Name of God is mercy – Jesus is the Face of God
