“Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.”
The Gospel reading ends today with Jesus speaking these words. How fitting is this for this Advent and Christmas season where so much of our time is focused on giving and receiving gifts. This season celebrates the ultimate gift – the arrival of God’s son, in the form of a man, sent to earth to live among us, teach us, and in time show us God’s love, and His mercy.
Mercy. Mercy is perhaps, the most powerful gift we can give and receive. Mercy is defined as compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one’s power to punish or harm. God could choose to show us no mercy, and punish each and every one of us as a result of our sins. He has that right and power. And in fact, we could choose to punish those around us who hurt us, or who we don’t agree with, or who we do not simply like and completely disregard them, maintain that anger or hate and resentment towards them. We have that choice. And ultimately, God has that choice. But He chooses to give us His mercy. He continues to forgive and forget all the bad things we do, so long as we ask for His forgiveness and are truly sorry. He gives us His love and mercy. As Christians, we are called to do the same.
But do we? Not always. We hold on to the littlest things. Things that seem so huge at the time, but in the grand scheme of things are small in comparison. We remember things people did or said to us that hurt us and don’t let it go. We judge and condemn others because of their beliefs, lifestyle, and shortcomings, knowing full well we have our own vices and hurtful things we do and say. To paraphrase what St. Augustine once said, “Love the sinner, hate the sin.” Well, as well all know, there are a lot of sinners out there. A little over 7 Billion of them! Jesus knows this, as He said:
“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few.”
We as Catholic Christians are called to do His work and “go to the lost sheep…” There are so many out there. So many lost sheep – so many people who simply need love, compassion, and mercy. Even those who anger us, mistreat us, or annoy us need our love and mercy. This is a tough thing to do for most of us. How do we show mercy and forgiveness to those who have hurt and, and to the rest of the world? Well we need to no further than the readings for today. The Psalm says, “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”
We are constantly wounded and brokenhearted to some degree. How can we possibly show mercy and forgiveness when we ourselves are broken and wounded? We simply first seek God’s mercy and forgiveness. We ask Jesus to heal us, and forgive us and do this with a sincere and open heart. We truly have to want it. We have to need it. We have to believe it. As Isaiah said:
“He will be gracious to you when you cry out, as soon as he hears he will answer you. The Lord will give you the bread you need and the water for which you thirst.”
When we sincerely open our hearts to God asking for His mercy, He will give it to us. There is no better gift to receive, and it’s a gift He wants to continuously give. It’s so easy to receive as well; there are so many ways, from Confession to Eucharistic Adoration to consuming the Eucharist in Holy Communion. We just have to want his mercy, His grace and forgiveness. He gives it, at no cost.
But this is only one side of the coin. The other side is that we have to give it as well, to those close to us and out in the world. We have to give mercy to others and forgive them, just as God does for us. Forgiving someone heals both yourself and the one you forgive. Forgiving someone and showing them mercy despite their faults is what it means to be Christ-like.
Do you know someone that you have not forgiven? Is it a family member or a friend who hurt you, or continues to say and do things to offend you? Do you hold onto the past, and things that were said years ago that you have never forgiven someone for? Forgiveness and mercy is the key to healing these relationships. Life is too short. And the lack of mercy and forgiveness you give on this earth might well dictate the amount of mercy and forgiveness you receive at the gates of Heaven.
We all give each other many types of gifts. If you are feuding or harboring resentment or anger towards someone, perhaps you should give the gift of forgiveness and mercy this Advent and Christmas season. And as Christ says, do this free of cost.
