{"id":119,"date":"2014-04-25T14:22:42","date_gmt":"2014-04-25T14:22:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/?p=119"},"modified":"2014-04-25T14:24:54","modified_gmt":"2014-04-25T14:24:54","slug":"mercy-more-than-you-deserve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/mercy-more-than-you-deserve\/","title":{"rendered":"Mercy: More than You Deserve"},"content":{"rendered":"

So I say to you, \u201cI\u2019ll give you $20 if you wash and wax my car.\u201d And you say, \u201cDeal\u201d. So you wash and wax my car but, contrary to our agreement, I only give you $10. \u201cHey, you owe me $10!\u201d, you cry. \u201cI changed my mind\u201d, I say, \u201cand besides, you used my bucket and soap!\u201d<\/p>\n

Besides never washing my car again, you\u2019ll continue to remind me that I owe you 10 bucks. Why? Be-cause we made a deal, recognized by law. I was legally obliged to pay you $20 (in a larger case, you\u2019d take me to small claims court).<\/p>\n

So, knowing you\u2019d probably tell everyone in Webster that I\u2019d stiffed you, I finally decide to pay you the full amount. Our friendship will still need repair but at least JUSTICE IS SERVED. Justice is giving to another what they deserve or have a \u201cright\u201d to.<\/p>\n

So, you get into your shiny clean car and race across the Bay Bridge when suddenly you see those scary red and blue flashing lights in your mirror. \u201cLicense and registration please,\u201d says the officer. (you were going 68 in a 55 zone). Turns out to be $125 to the town court. Justice served.<\/p>\n

We get the idea sometime that justice is the highest form of human relationship . . . to give everyone what they deserve makes for a happy well ordered society. That may be true for a community wracked with poverty and crime – – – justice is a blessing. But, in the Christian perspective justice is the minimum that is expected of us. It\u2019s no big deal to be \u201cjust\u201d.<\/p>\n

We are called to a higher level of relationship. We are to be a people of Mercy. The Webster dictionary defines mercy as \u201ckindness in excess of what is deserved or demanded by fairness\u201d.<\/p>\n

We see it everywhere in the Gospels. Jesus tells us:<\/p>\n

\u201clove your enemies, do good to those who persecute you.\u201d Mt. 5:44<\/p>\n

\u201cFather, forgive them, they don\u2019t know what they\u2019re doing.\u201d Lk. 23:34<\/p>\n

\u201cIf someone asks for your coat, give them your shirt as well, to walk a mile, walk with them for two miles.\u201d Lk. 6:27<\/p>\n

The father put the gold ring and royal cloak on his wastrel son, because \u201cHe was lost, but now he is found.\u201d
\nThe laborers received a full day\u2019s wage for just one hour\u2019s work. Mt. 20:8<\/p>\n

And, St. Paul marvels at the mercy of God when he declares, \u201cthat while we were still sinners and ene-mies of God, Christ died for us.\u201d Rm. 5:5<\/p>\n

So, this second Sunday of Easter is called Divine Mercy Sunday. We are called to acknowledge God\u2019s mercy in our own lives (the countless times I\u2019ve re-ceived more from life and God than I ever deserved). And, in the joy of the Resurrection we have the grace to offer mercy to those who have offended us in some way.<\/p>\n

Happy Easter . . . 50 days of it!!<\/p>\n

Fr. Tim<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"linkedin\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So I say to you, \u201cI\u2019ll give you $20 if you wash and wax my car.\u201d And you say, \u201cDeal\u201d. So you wash and wax my car but, contrary to our agreement, I only give you $10. \u201cHey, you owe me $10!\u201d, you cry. \u201cI changed my mind\u201d, I say, \u201cand besides, you used my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weekly-column"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":122,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119\/revisions\/122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}