Micah 6:6-8
Yesterday I missed an opportunity that I would like to correct today. If you are a regular reader of my blogs you will have figured out that I try to attend daily Mass. It is an important moment for me because it grounds me in what my day is suppose to be about and often inspires me to move in a new direction, to change and to grow. But mostly it is an opportunity for me to sit in the lap of God and rest. It is a constant cry I hear — Where is God? Why doesn’t God speak to me? Problem is most people look for God in all the wrong ways and as for listening… well, lets just say that cry is most often not about seeking truth but affirming choices already made. Anyway, as I was saying I love daily Mass.
Not always but usually there is one moment when I wonder if God did not orchestratethe universe just to communicate something to me. I am in a good place lately. I have finally made some inner decisions that have put me on a very healthy road. At Mass, as I opened my heart to hear the first reading this is what I heard:
With what shall I come before the LORD
and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:6-8! This is one of my all time favorite passages in the Bible. It is my theme passage, the one I base my life and my ministry on and it will be read at my funeral.
We all struggle to live. We struggle to form relationships. We struggle to know what to do and how to love and what job to take and whether we should forgive… And we turn our eyes to the heavens and beg God to show us, to teach us, to lead us in the way. Here it is folks! In three simple steps — act justly, love tenderly and to walk humbly with God.
Justice is not an easy thing to seek in life. We live in such an unjust world. But in truth few of us are called to work on a larger national or international scale. Most of us are asked to act justly in our day to day encounters. We wake up in the morning and we expect everyone around us to cater to our cranky mood. We don’t want to deal with a problem so we unfairly blame someone else. We tell white lies and cheat in small and big ways and yet scream “UNFAIR” when it happens to us. Justice is not something outside of ourselves. Justice is who we are. How we look at the person next to us — not as a thing there for our pleasure and purpose but a human being deserving of dignity and love from us. And it is about making the needs of others priority over our immediate comfort and wants.
Love — such a simple word but so hard to get and so hard to give. And its not just any kind of love but a tender love, a compassionate love that seeks mercy. Do you know the definition of mercy? “Compassion or forbearance shown especially to an offender or to one subject to one’s power” at least according to the Marian Dictionary. In one simple word — Forgiveness. Recognizing that we all have failed and are fallen and that we all make mistakes. Who am I to remain hard and unforgiving in the face of someone else’s failure. Remember the prayer the Our Father? “Forgive us our trespasses (our failures) as WE FORGIVE those who trespass AGAINST US” Each time we pray that prayer we ask God not to give us any more leniency or mercy then we show others. Loving mercy means we incorporate it into our lives on a daily basis. We forgive and move on.
Finally, we walk humbly with God. In the oral tradition of the early Israelites (Remember this was all created way before books and public librarys. Only the very rich and important had the written word. So everything that was important was pass on orally. And in that tradition they saved the most important for the last because in a list of things we are most likely to remember the last thing said. If we walk humbly with God all else will be added into our lives. To walk with God means that God is by our side, day by day, week in and week out. Most live like God is the divine Sugar Daddy. We call on Him when we need something and we pout when we don’t get it. I don’t want to live that way. I want God to be my destiny, my purpose and my plan and in that I will struggle each day to keep up with Him and to treat all I meet with justice and love.
Do I need say more? I remain, your servant in Christ,
Theresa
Tags: God, Justice, Love, Mercy, Micah 6:6-8
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