A Reflection Concerning Mercy

Source: blessedmart.com

 Is An Apology Necessary?

Dear Parish Faithful,

"Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice'." Matt. 9:13

"To be united in a country with so many riches of diversity, we need mercy. We need compassion. We need empathy. And rather than list that as a broad category, as you heard me say, I decided to make an appeal to the president." 

Those are the words of Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde in response to president Trump insisting that she apologize to him for publicly pleading with him to show mercy to various marginalized Americans and non-documented immigrants. Now, as Orthodox, we do not accept women serving as bishops, but that is the reality in the Episcopal Church in America. And we may disagree on theological/religious grounds on the sexual choices and lifestyles of certain fellow citizens. But a clear plea for mercy rings absolutely true with the teaching of Christ and the entire Gospel message. 

I saw and heard the portion of her sermon when she made this appeal: "Millions have put their trust in you. And as you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now." It is difficult to live in fear - or even uncertainty - for your future. Hence, the plea for mercy towards the "other." We have to admit that Budde was quite bold in speaking straight to the president sitting right in front of her in the Washington National Cathedral. It seems as if that is the right "place" to basically quote Jesus and raise the issue of mercy and compassion. The tone was not at all "nasty" as president Trump claimed. It was bold, but the tone was also rather humble, as in an appeal not an aggressive demand. 

Be that as it may, I also agree with her assessment of non-documented immigrants in America. There is no evidence whatsoever, that there are "millions and millions" (how many millions?) of undocumented immigrants who are criminals, unleashed upon America from asylums and prisons. There is no data to support that claim. Rather, in her words: "The people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings; who labor in poultry farms and meat packing plants; who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals, they - they may not be citizens or have the proper documentation. But the vast majority are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors." There is really nothing to apologize for in those words in defense of "millions and millions"(?) of hard-working people trying to make a good life for themselves and their families.

Regardless of where one may stand on the issues raised in this now controversial sermon I, for one, admire the courage of Bishop Butte to preach the Gospel of mercy and compassion to those at the highest level of power. I wish that other bishops would join her in reminding our nation that mercy and compassion remain meaningful virtues that, if embraced, would lift us up on the moral and ethical level. At our best, that is the American way. Why must one apologize for that?

Fr. Steven

Fr. Thomas Hopko: An Orthodox Understanding of Acts of Mercy

 

Image source: https://store.ancientfaith.com/parable-of-the-good-samaritan-large-icon/

At the Liturgy yesterday, we heard the Parable of the Good Samaritan. I wanted to find an appropriate response to the parable, as I chose to continue with a series of homilies focussing on the Apostle Paul's designated epistle reading. Here is an exceptionally fine piece by Fr. Thomas Hopko on "Acts of Mercy:"

Christ commanded his disciples to give alms. To "give alms" means literally "to do" or "to make merciful deeds" or "acts of mercy." According to the Scriptures the Lord is compassionate and merciful, longsuffering, full of mercy, faithful and true. He is the one who does merciful deeds (see Psalm 103).

Acts of mercy are an "imitation of God" who ceaselessly executes mercy for all, without exception, condition or qualification. He is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.

To "do mercy" means to do good to others in concrete acts of charity. It does not mean, in the first instance, to forgive, or to "let off sinners." A merciful person is one who is kind, gracious, generous and giving; a helper and servant of the poor and needy. For example, St. John the Merciful of Alexandria was a bishop who helped the poor and needy; he was not a judge who let off criminals.

Mercy is a sign of love. God is Love. A deed of merciful love is the most Godlike act a human being can do. "Being perfect" in Matthew's Gospel corresponds to "being merciful" in Luke's Gospel. "Perfection" and "being merciful" are the same thing.

To love as Christ loves, with the love of God who is Love, is the chief commandment for human beings according to Christianity. It can only be accomplished by God's grace, by faith. It is not humanly possible. It is done by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. One can prove one's love for God only by love for one's neighbors, including one's worst enemies, without exception, qualification or condition. There is no other way.

To love God "with all one's strength" which is part of "the first and great commandment" means to love God with all one's money, resources, properties, possessions and powers.

Acts of mercy must be concrete, physical actions. They cannot be "in word and speech, but in deed and truth" (First letter of John and letter of James).

Jesus lists the acts of mercy on which human beings will be judged at the final judgment (Parable of the Last Judgment in Matthew 25). Acts of mercy are acts done to Christ himself who was hungry, thirsty, naked, homeless, in prison and "sick" i.e. wounded for our transgressions on the Christ, taking up of our wounds, and dying our death.

Christian acts of mercy must be done silently, humbly, secretly, not for vanity or praise, not to be seen by men, "not letting the right hand know what the left hand is doing", etc.

Christian acts of mercy must be sacrificial. By this, we understand that we must not simply give to others what is left over. We have to be sharing our possessions with others in ways that limit ourselves in some way (The Widow's Mite).

Acts of mercy should be done without qualification or condition to everyone, no matter who, what or how they are (Parable of the Good Samaritan).

Christians, when possible, should do acts of mercy in an organized manner, through organizations and communities formed to do merciful deeds. Throughout its history the Christian people have had many forms of eleemosynary institutions and activities.

Being the poor Christians are not only to help the poor; they are themselves to be the poor, in and with Jesus Christ their Lord. Christians are to have no more than they actually need for themselves, their children and their dependents.

How much is enough? How much is necessary? What do we really need? How may we use our money and possessions for ourselves, our families, our children and our churches?

These are the hardest questions for Christians to answer.

Coffee With Sister Vassa: BLINDED BY SECONDARY ISSUES

Coffee With Sister Vassa

BLINDED BY SECONDARY ISSUES

 

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faith; these you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!” (Mt 23: 23-24)

Here the Lord is warning me about focusing on secondary issues, while losing sight of the whole point of God’s law, or “the weightier matters” that are“justice and mercy and faith.” 

It’s easy to slip into neglecting “justice and mercy and faith,” while being very meticulous about some aspect of living our tradition. For example, I might be a member of the church choir, attending and singing all the church-services with zealous attention to every detail of the Typikon, while being complacent about, say, an outstanding resentment I am harboring against a certain someone. Perhaps the mere mention of them irritates or angers me, which should signalize to me that I’ve neglected “justice and mercy” (both of which are restored, when I responsibly make amends), but this fact doesn’t burden me nearly as much as those times when I skipped a church-service, for whatever reason. Or maybe I support the right causes and charities, while on a daily basis I am crippled, in my heart, by merely-human fears, say, of financial insecurity or of human opinion, rather than taking pause to fortify my faith; to let God be really present in my life.

Instead of continuously swallowing these “camels” and schlepping them around, today let me take pause to look at these ugly “camels,” and let God cast them out by the grace of His “justice and mercy and faith” in me. Lord, open my eyes to the “camels” I may have been ignoring, while focusing on what comes more easily to me, or the “gnats.”

_____

A very fair and honest point is being made here by Sister Vassa. As we strive to fulfill the words of the Apostle Paul: "but all things should be done decently and in order" (I Cor. 14:40); we can indeed neglect what Christ taught us about "justice and mercy." It is very important in parish life that we indeed do things decently and in order - think of the chaos caused by indecency and disorder! - yet, the core of the Gospel is revealed in the challenge to seek first "justice and mercy." When we blind ourselves to that, we have recourse to the Sacrament of Confession within which, by repenting of our sinful inclinations, we indeed restore "decency and order" to our interior lives and so recover our lost sense of "justice and mercy."

 

LENTEN MEDITATION - Day XXXII — The Mercy of God

 

 

Dear Parish Faithful,

Having mercy is God’s most distinguishing characteristic. Pouring out his mercy, his steadfast love, upon his covenanted people is his main occupation. Mercy is at the heart of everything that God is and does and gives to his people. It is the people’s most treasured possession. The psalms, for example, describe the steadfast love of the Lord, which is the mercy of our prayer, in numberless ways. The steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting and endures forever. It is higher and greater than the heavens, yet the earth is full of this steadfast love, and it extends to the heavens.

—Protopresbyter Thomas Hopko, The Lenten Spring

_____

In his inimitable style, Fr. Hopko is commenting on and expanding the meaning of the Hebrew word hesed. We certainly depend on it! And this is the background for our innumerable petitions: "Lord, have mercy!"

 

Justice and Mercy for All

Dear Parish Faithful,

"For I demand steadfast love (or mercy) and not sacrifice." (Hos. 6:7; Matt. 12:7)

This link is to the statement issued by the OCA's Holy Synod in the wake of the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer on Monday, May 25. I read this to those who joined the Liturgy on Sunday either through Zoom or Facebook live streaming. So much has happened since then, that it may already sound a bit dated, but I thought to send it out to everyone so that you can read how our hierarchs are responding to such injustice.

 

 

 

 

I am very supportive of such a statement. Yet, on a personal level - or according to my humble opinion - I find this statement rather tepid and even rather perfunctory. Meaning, it has the tone of an official statement articulating the obvious in a conventional manner; writing something that had to be written in just the expected style and tone. It deplores the killing of George Floyd and condemns racism, all of which are good and necessary. However, I do wish that more was said - or will be said in the future from "official channels" - about the repeated cases of police violence against black people (and other minorities?). How this has become systemic and that nothing has really been done about it over the years besides police "sensitivity training."

This is precisely why the reputations of good, decent policemen (the majority, I believe) who are not racist and who do their jobs in a conscientious manner unseen by the public on a given day, are being tarnished.  

 

In today's world, the public - meaning both black and white people - are no longer going to passively accept this kind of injustice enacted with seeming impunity. In today's world of ubiquitous social media, any such brutality can no longer remain hidden. People now rise up in protest, which is an American civil right, and many do so with passion. 

 

The roots of this American "right to protest" are found in the Boston Tea Party, an event that we now treat with near-mythic status, though it resulted in the destruction of property. Closer to our time, there was a character in the 70's film, "Network," who, though slightly imbalanced, would repeatedly say: "I am as mad as hell and I am not going to take it anymore!" And other disenfranchised people picked up this refrain. We (white people) while justifiably deploring rioting and looting, none of which can possibly honor the memory of George Floyd (as his own brother has publicly stated) or further the cause of seeking justice for all, will never be able to quite understand the anger and despair of the black community which continues to suffer the consequences of the racism very much alive in our country to this day. 

 

The Gospel is about justice and mercy for all human beings. It is not about power and privilege. Unfortunately, the escalating chaos is obscuring the initial impetus behind the protest.  Yet, it is on these Gospel principles of justice and mercy that we need to focus if our real interest is building up a civil society based on respect and dignity for all.