Remembering Frailty

We are to be like God. We like the sound of that. When I think of that statement, I think of power, divinity, wholeness. But it means more. As Jesus says in today's gospel Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. (Luke 6:36) Now that is a tall order...

Dom Anscar Vonier says Our whole Christian outlook should be an outlook of goodness.What a witness of Christianity that would be! But for some reason, Christians tend to be very critical of others, very much judging and often condemning. How come? The Jesus of the gospel is anything but.

I believe it has to do with fear. Perhaps seeing others stumble, fail, fall reminds us too much of our own weakness and darkness. And perhaps that is scary because we have not yet gone beyond the possibility of failure. We want to put such thoughts out of our mind. We want to live without the remembrance of our frailty.

But we need to remember, because remembering is part of reflecting God's goodness.

To be merciful to others really means to remember my own weakness. If I do, I will allow others to find their way. Because I will remember that we are all on a journey toward discovery. We each need time to reach enlightenment, which also means we need time to stumble, to grasp, to grope in the dark. Being merciful means remembering I don't have it all together either. And if I need time, I should also give time to others.