All my trials will amount to nothing if I but seek the Mercy of God...

Thomas Merton wrote in his journal on December 7, 1965:

       “What is primary?  God’s revelation of Himself to me
        in Christ and my response in faith.”

I was two years old when Merton composed his powerful prayer, yet his words still resonate with me.  With “ears of Faith", I hear the dialogue he had with himself as he scratched 16 words on paper, words that would come to summarize how he was “wagering everything on God’s mercy to him”1.  With my “ears of Faith", I can hear Merton even now, as he responded to his first abbot, Dom Frederic Dunne, who asked the newly received novice, Merton:  “What is it you seek?”  Merton replied:  “The Mercy of God….”  

Once a person realizes that the Mercy of God is all that is needed, God begins to frequently reveal Himself.  His Mercy becomes apparent in all things. I have only just recently learned to recognize this truth.  I have only recently begun to pray these words daily:  I seek the Mercy of God!  

“Seek and ye shall find”…and I did in the following true story, this modern day parable of The Good Samaritan.  This is a lesson I know Christ, in His Mercy, is administering to me so that I might respond in faith and share it.

         A man had fallen victim to clinical depression as he grew older.          The disease stripped him of all joy, of all his interest in
         living fully in this world… it robbed him of all his dignity.
         He was stripped, beaten by this unseen force, deeply wounded
         and left half- dead. This man was a non-practicing,
         baptized Catholic.  Circumstances, coincidentally, put
         him in front of a priest… but the priest was of no help.
         The depressed man reached out to his family (and
         many of his friends), but they eventually stopped
         answering his calls.  They would only avoid him. 
         Even his dog ignored him and passed by him on
         the opposite side of the room.

         But a “none”2 who came upon him was
         moved with compassion at the sight of him.
         He answered the depressed man’s call for help
         spending hours of his own time listening to the man
         speak of his unbearable pain.  This same “none”,
         in an attempt to administer a healing balm to care for the
        depressed man, tried to recall what he had read about a
        Catholic’s privilege in attending Mass and receiving the
        Eucharist.  He reminded the depressed man of God’s
        Baptismal promise to him and urged the depressed man
        to “trust in Him” and return to the Church so that he might
        receive the Body of Christ.  “From my understanding…” the
        “none” offered:  “For a Catholic, it’s all about the
        Eucharist.  If you believe in God,” the “none” added,
.      “Surely, there is help for you there.”   
        But in his despair the depressed man could only answer:
        “I’m not ready for that.  I don’t even remember the prayers.
        Once again, the “none” assured him that someone was
        there at the church who could help him.  “Just go.”  he said.

Now I ask you this:  “Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robber’s victim?“   (Luke 10: 36-38)   

 

1  From The Intimate Merton Edited by Patrick Hart and Jonathan
   Montaldo 

2 “None” is a tag for a person who does not identify with any religion.  And yet it is clear that God’s Mercy was most at work in the actions of a man that one would least expect God to work through.   It is also clear that God is at work in the life all people, whether they recognize Him or not.

1  From The Intimate Merton Edited by Patrick Hart and Jonathan
   Montaldo