23rd Week, Ordinary Time, Sat, 12.09.09

1 Tim 1:15-17

Lk 6:43-49

If we come across a beggar and he asks for money and if we do give him some money, we do it most probably out of pity.

But showing pity does not equate to showing mercy.

Because mercy comes from a compassionate heart; it shows a desire to be with the other in equal terms.

In the 1st reading, St Paul saw himself as a living example of God's mercy.

He called himself the greatest of all sinners, and yet God showed him mercy, so that he may know the inexhaustible patience of God.

If we had known and experienced this great mercy of God, then there is no other way but to show mercy to others.

One obvious way to know whether we have experienced God's mercy and shown that mercy to others is by our words.

As Jesus said in today's gospel, a good man draws what is good from the store of goodness in his heart.

And a man's words flow out of what fills his heart.

Our words cannot deceive us because they are our own words and we know exactly what we mean in what we say.

Let us speak words of mercy, as we ask God to be merciful to us.