A Thought For The Week Of May 14

"Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy." (Matthew 5:7) The fifth Beatitude, and on the surface perhaps the easiest to understand. Mercy is a fine quality. We'd all agree with that. Mercy is a good thing. It's amazing, though, how difficult it actually is to show mercy. Most straightforwardly, we probably have trouble being merciful because we find ourselves caught up with our own problems. Whatever bad thing is happening to us right now is the worst thing that could possibly be happening! That's an understandable reaction, because if it's happening to "me" then it's very direct and in my face. It blinds me to the needs of others. I start to think I'm in need of mercy, not that I should be offering it. But there's another problem too. The growing (at least that's my perception) "blame the victim" mentality. We probably see that directed most obviously toward the poor or those on welfare. To many people, they don't need mercy - they need a good kick in the behind! "Get up and get a job," I hear people say. "We shouldn't make it so easy on these people." "They're not grateful." "My taxes shouldn't support them being lazy." I hear such things a lot. The funny thing is - even though being poor and on welfare is apparently so great, I never hear anyone who says those things also say that they want to be poor or on welfare. Curious. Where's the mercy? Let's find it in our hearts and show some today. Then Jesus can bless us, too! Have a great week!