From The Bishop

The Gospel for the Twenty-Eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time from St. Mark offers a thoughtful reflection on a theme that is closely associated with our Holy Father and the current Synod of Bishops in Rome. We are quickly approaching the Year of Mercy. This is a theme that is very dear to Pope Francis as he so often focuses on God’s mercy in his talks and homilies. In his Apostolic Letter proclaiming the Year of Mercy, Pope Francis stated, “I have asked the Church in this Jubilee Year to rediscover the richness encompassed by the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. The experience of mercy indeed becomes visible in the witness of concrete signs as Jesus himself taught us”. Jesus is the model of mercy. In this Sunday’s Gospel, we see Jesus in dialogue with a man who wanted “to inherit eternal life”. Jesus told him to follow the commandments. When the man informed Jesus that he was already doing this since his youth, the Lord said, “You lack one thing; go and sell what you own and give the money to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven, then come follow me.” We are told that Jesus’ words upset the man, “he was shocked and went away grieving”. Jesus significantly upset this man to the point of grief. Why did he do this if he is rich in mercy? Sensing that his words upset the man, he could have said, only give away half of what you own or keep everything and come follow me because I want you to be happy. Jesus did not do this because he had to proclaim the Truth to this man. Mercy can never be offered at the expense of the Truth; if it were, it would not be mercy. Jesus proclaimed Mercy and Truth because he is the Way, the Truth and the Life. The Gospel reminds us that the teaching of Jesus is not always easy; however, if we put our trust in the Lord and rely on His grace, great things are possible. For in God all things are possible. Let us hope and pray that this will happen at the Synod on the Family in Rome and throughout the Church. May we all be ministers of mercy who model Jesus Christ who is the Way, The Truth and the Life.