November 30, 2015
Yesterday was the first Sunday of Advent and the beginning of what Pope Francis has proclaimed as a special Year of Mercy.
As we look around our world, the daily news tells of unspeakable acts, too often performed in the name of God. It seems like mercy is in short supply.
Here in the US, we struggle with mercy. Even our amusements on TV often rely on the put-down, the trash talk, the harsh criticism, the "thank God, I am not like that person" judgment. We find it easy to identify the other as in some way inferior, deficient, not at all to our liking.
With less than a year until the Presidential election, the debates and the commentary on them often come across as high on judging and low on mercy. Of course, it has long been recommended that one should never discuss politics in polite conversation. Today, that stance may strike us as quaint. Partisanship is such that opposing viewpoints can scarcely stand to be in the same room. It is not enough to differ; we must offer scorn to those who see the world differently. As we have learned from recent acts of terrorism in France, Egypt, and Mali, taken to its end, the absence of mercy amounts more than contempt; it's total annihilation.
What can we do in Olney? Here at Good Counsel, we work to embed the five values that are hallmarks of a Xaverian education. Mercy is not one of those explicit values, but it is surely implicit in the life of any person who has embraced humility, compassion, and trust. We are working this school year on issues of diversity and inclusivity to better honor our differences. Following the example of the Holy Father, let us approach the year ahead with a little imagination. We ask God for the gift of mercy, which might enable us to be people of sympathy, able to listen, able to walk a mile in the other's shoes before passing definitive judgment. More than simply striving to be civil or tolerant, may we take seriously Jesus's command that we love one another.
The old English teacher in me thinks of Portia's speech in The Merchant of Venice. Let us commit ourselves to what Shakespeare called "deeds of mercy." In our own encounters with those who differ from us--in appearance or personality, wealth or faith--may we appreciate how:
The quality of mercy is...
...twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown;
...It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice.
In the exercise of Mercy, may each of us help build up the Kingdom of God.