Abundant in Patience and Mercy is Our Lord
            This weekend’s reading affirms the generosity of our God.  God has the abundance of patience and mercy.  Our resource for Liturgy of the Word for Children states that our Gospel conveys “God is willing to wait an entire lifetime for a bad person to give up his or her sins.”  As God allows the weeds to grow, he allows us the time we need to turn back to him.  If only we had the same patience and mercy with our family, neighbors, co-workers, fellow parishioners and even ourselves.
            One of the things this COVID pandemic might be teaching us is patience and mercy.  Maybe someone we care about is not ready to meet publicly and we are.  We place on order for food delivery and it is not exactly what we want.  We take the time to go shopping, yet what we want or even need just is not on the shelf.  We yearn to hug a grandchild, niece, or nephew, yet we must wait.  We are anxious for answers, yet we must wait.
            St. Francis of Assisi, our patron, exemplified mercy, and patience.  He spent a great deal of time with those who were outcast in society giving abundantly of his time and care.  He was gentle with his Franciscan brothers when they broke fast.  He spoke of “true joy” as being when the only thing he could relay on was God.  May we be inspired during this time by St. Francis and the Gospel to extend an abundance of patience and mercy to those we encounter.

Abundante en paciencia y misericordia es nuestro Señor
La lectura de este fin de semana afirma la generosidad de nuestro Dios. Dios tiene la abundancia de paciencia y misericordia. Nuestro recurso para la Liturgia de la Palabra para los Niños afirma que nuestro Evangelio transmite "Dios está dispuesto a esperar toda una vida para que una persona mala abandone sus pecados". Cuando Dios permite que crezcan las malas hierbas, nos da el tiempo que necesitamos para volver a él. Si tan solo tuviéramos la misma paciencia y misericordia con nuestra familia, vecinos, compañeros de trabajo, compañeros feligreses e incluso con nosotros mismos.
Una de las cosas que esta pandemia de COVID podría estar enseñándonos es la paciencia y la misericordia. Tal vez alguien que nos importa no está listo para reunirse públicamente y nosotros sí. Hacemos un pedido para la entrega de alimentos y no es exactamente lo que queremos. Nos tomamos el tiempo para ir de compras, pero lo que queremos o incluso necesitamos no está en el estante. Anhelamos abrazar a un nieto, sobrina o sobrino, pero debemos esperar. Estamos ansiosos por respuestas, pero debemos esperar.
San Francisco de Asís, nuestro patrón, ejemplificó la misericordia y la paciencia. Pasó una gran cantidad de tiempo con aquellos que estaban marginados en la sociedad dando mucho de su tiempo y cuidado. Era gentil con sus hermanos franciscanos cuando rompieron rápido. Él habló de "verdadera alegría" como cuando lo único que podía transmitir era Dios. Que seamos inspirados durante este tiempo por San Francisco y el Evangelio para extender una gran cantidad de paciencia y misericordia a aquellos con quienes nos encontramos.

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