The Valley Catholic September 23, 2014 | Page 5

The Valley Catholic

September 23, 2014

spiritUality

5

September 28, Twenty-sixth Sunday in ordinary Time
First reading
responsorial Psalm
Second reading
Gospel reading

Ezekiel 18:25-28
25:4-5, 8-10, 14
Philippians 2:1-11 or Philippians 2:1-5
Matthew 21:28-32

“Remember your mercies, O Lord.”
By Jeff Hedglen, Catholic News Service

I

©2014, Diocese of Fort Worth

learned a great life lesson in a defensive driving class a number of years ago.
The instructor had us each introduce ourselves and say what brought us to the class -- why
we got a ticket. At the end of the introductions she
commented that many said it was not fair that they
were ticketed.
She went on to say that whenever her children
complained that life was not fair she would have
them read their birth certificate -- every word of
it. Then she would ask them: “Does the word ‘fair’
appear anywhere on that piece of paper?” Of course
it does not.
Fairness aside, the fact is we would prefer mercy.
Yes, my classmates and I really wished the police
officer had had mercy on us, but instead we were
facing the consequences of our actions.
This same scenario plays out in our relationship with God. We can see it clearly in this week’s
readings. In the passage from Ezekiel, the people
complain that God is not fair.
God replies by saying, basically, that it is not his
fault that we suffer when we sin; try not sinning
and see how things turn out.
A perfect follow-up to this comes in the psalm-

-- Psalm 25:6

ist’s response, “Remember your mercies, O Lord.” I
don’t know about you, but when I sin I usually say
to God, “OK, I just messed up, but remember how
merciful you are?”
St. Paul’s Letter to the Philippians is a beautiful
expression of the personification of the mercy of
God: God emptying himself and taking the form
of a human so that we all might be saved in the
name of Jesus.
Mercy is a hard thing for many of us to accept.
We like to “do it on our own” and “pull ourselves
up by our bootstraps.” But when it comes to eternal
life and forgiveness of sins, there are no bootstraps
strong enough to pull us up. Instead, all we need to
do is get to our knees and confess that Jesus Christ
is our Lord.
Then everything that, in fairness, we have coming to us is washed away in a flood of mercy.
QUESTIONS
• How have you experienced the mercy of God?
• Have you ever felt that life was not fair?
• How did you face that?

Saint Vincent de Paul
1581-1660 • feast Sept. 27
This French priest is known today
by the religious orders and charitable
society that bear his name. He had
boundless energy for helping the needy
and inspiring others to serve the helpless and less fortunate. He is founder of
the Vincentians and cofounder of the
Daughters of Charity. Aside from his
charitable ministry, Vincent encouraged priests to a simple, more practical
style of preaching and actively opposed
Jansenist teaching that all humans are
predestined to heaven and hell.
-CNS

www.dsj.org