I thought it might be nice to have a thread dedicated to different stories, homilies, videos, etc. on mercy and forgiveness to perhaps encourage us. Here is one from a homily a priest gave to illustrate how God looks at us with merciful eyes: Pancakes God’s Forgiveness Six year old Brandon decided one Saturday morning to fix his parents pancakes. He found a big bowl and spoon, pulled a chair to the counter, opened the cupboard and pulled out the heavy flour canister, spilling it on the floor. He scooped some of the flour into the bowl with his hands, mixed in most of a cup of milk and added some sugar, leaving a floury trail on the floor which by now had a few tracks left by his kitten. Brandon was covered with flour and getting frustrated. He wanted this to be something very good for Mom and Dad, but it was getting very bad. He didn’t know what to do next, whether to put it all into the oven or on the stove, (and he didn’t know how the stove worked)! Suddenly he saw his kitten licking from the bowl of mix and reached to push her away, knocking the egg carton to the floor. Frantically he tried to clean up this monumental mess but slipped on the eggs, getting his pyjamas dirty. And just then he saw Dad standing at the door. Big crocodile tears welled up in Brandon’s eyes. All he wanted to do was something good, but he’d made a terrible mess. He was sure a scolding was coming, maybe even a smacking. But his father just watched him. Then, walking through the mess, he picked up his crying son, hugged him and loved him, getting his own pyjamas dirty in the process. That’s how God deals with us. We try to do something good in life, but it turns into a mess. Our marriage gets all sticky or we insult a friend or we can’t stand our job or our health goes sour. Sometimes we just stand there in tears because we can’t think of anything else to do. That’s when God picks us up and loves us and forgives us, even though some of our mess gets all over Him. But just because we might mess up, we can’t stop trying to “make pancakes,” for God or for others. Sooner or later we’ll get it right, and then they’ll be glad we tried. (See homilies on the Sacrament of Reconcilation)
Your Value A well-known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20 bill. In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this $20 bill?" Hands started going up. He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this." He proceeded to crumple the dollar bill up. He then asked, "Who still wants it?" Still the hands were up in the air. "Well," he replied, "What if I do this?" And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now all crumpled and dirty. "Now who still wants it?" "My friends, you have all learned a very valuable lesson. Because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20. Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value in God's eyes. To Him, dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to Him.
St. John Paul II great Encylical on Mercy: http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-p...jp-ii_enc_30111980_dives-in-misericordia.html
From this we see how Pope St John Paul truly inspired Pope Francis to continue the work of Mercy. Thanks Miker.
As I climbed through the stations of the cross on the hill behind Garabandal contemplating the Passion of Jesus I asked Him "What is in it for You?" His reply was loud and clear: "you." And so for me God's Mercy became personal. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.
When I was about 14 years old the Army came to our house and arrested my father,myself and my brothers. In the jeep I had my head down and my hands joined, praying as I expected to be badly beaten. One of the soldiers asked me what I was doing and when I told him he promised to protect me. In the barracks he let none of the other soldiers near me. blessed are the merciful...
It’s time to rediscover God’s mercy, Pope says at Jubilee launch By Ann Schneible Vatican City, Dec 8, 2015 / 06:52 am “This Extraordinary Holy Year is itself a gift of grace,” Pope Francis said in his homily for Mass, just before opening the Holy Door in St. Peter’s Basilica. “To pass through the Holy Door means to rediscover the infinite mercy of the Father who welcomes everyone and goes out personally to encounter each of them. This will be a year in which we grow ever more convinced of God’s mercy.” Mercy, he said, must be placed before judgement, though “God’s judgement will always be in the light of his mercy.” “In passing through the Holy Door, then, may we feel that we ourselves are part of this mystery of love,” he said. “Let us set aside all fear and dread, for these do not befit men and women who are loved. Instead, let us experience the joy of encountering that grace which transforms all things.” http://www.ewtnnews.com/catholic-news/Vatican.php?id=13006
by FATHER RAYMOND J. DE SOUZA 12/07/2015 Comments (3) Pope Francis opens the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica, opening the Jubilee of Mercy, – Rex Features via AP Images When Pope Francis opens the holy door for the Jubilee of Mercy on Dec. 8 in Rome, he will be drawing attention in a pastorally imaginative and compelling way to the conviction, growing in the Church for nearly two centuries, that the mercy of God is at the heart of her proclamation to the world. “The theme of mercy has been strongly accentuated in the life of the Church, since Pope Paul VI,” Pope Francis said recently, in an interview with Credere, the journal of the jubilee year. “John Paul II stressed it strongly with Dives in Misericordia [his encyclical on mercy], the canonization of St. Faustina and the institution of the feast of Divine Mercy on the octave of Easter. In line with this, I felt that it is somewhat a desire of the Lord to show his mercy to humanity. … It is the relatively recent renewal of a tradition that has, however, always existed.” Of course, the mercy of God has been central to the Christian Gospel since the beginning. Indeed, the title of St. John Paul II’s encyclical, Dives in Misericordia, is biblical, taken from St. Paul, who writes that God is “rich in mercy” (Ephesians 2:4). The Holy Father, though, is right to note that, in recent times, the Church’s magisterium has emphasized Divine Mercy in a more urgent way. Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/two-centuries-of-mercy/#ixzz3tm9rsXDj
In several significant ways, the pontificate of St. John Paul II took up the themes and vision of the greatest of the 19th-century pontificates, that of Leo XIII. So as Leo put the Sacred Heart at the center of the jubilee of 1900, John Paul put Divine Mercy at the heart of Jubilee 2000. He made St. Faustina Kowalska the first saint of the third millennium and extended the feast of Divine Mercy to the whole Church. Again, as with the Sacred Heart, the Polish bishops were the pioneers — Divine Mercy Sunday had begun there in 1993. “The message of Divine Mercy has always been near and dear to me,” said John Paul when addressing St. Faustina’s fellow sisters in 1997 at the shrine in Krakow. “It is as if history had inscribed it in the tragic experience of the Second World War. In those difficult years, it was a particular support and an inexhaustible source of hope, not only for the people of Krakow, but for the entire nation. This was also my personal experience, which I took with me to the See of Peter and which, in a sense, forms the image of this pontificate.” In his funeral homily for John Paul, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the late pope’s closest collaborator, summed up his long pontificate in the framework indicated by Pope Pius XII, saying that John Paul “interpreted for us the Paschal Mystery as a mystery of Divine Mercy.” Given the vast magisterium of John Paul, it is noteworthy that the only quotation from the Holy Father selected by Cardinal Ratzinger for the funeral homily was that “the limit imposed upon evil is ultimately Divine Mercy.” Six years later, Pope Benedict decided to beatify John Paul II precisely on Divine Mercy Sunday, and three years after that, Pope Francis canonized John Paul on Divine Mercy Sunday in 2014. Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/two-centuries-of-mercy/#ixzz3tmBCIuKG
What a great reflection and practical advice for bring mercy to another person. I've always loved this Gospel passage on Zachaeus. I think one of the most moving parts of the Bible is Jesus' response to Zachaeus after he repents and Jesus is dining in his house when he says, Today salvation has come to this house. That is mercy!!!!! http://aleteia.org/2016/01/11/year-...-the-outcasts-whether-they-deserve-it-or-not/
