Eleventh Sunday Ordinary Time 2016

Some suggest that "mercy" is nothing more than a "get out of jail free pass." This fails to understand that mercy is a dynamic between two - the one showing mercy, and the one shown mercy. When mercy forgives it expects that something new and good will emerge.  Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel? Ezek. 33:11 Death is the fruit of evil. Mercy is the antidote to death. Mercy restores the possibility for good things to happen again. For this to happen, there must be a turn around. Repentance begins a rebuilding of a new person. Conversion orientates the repentant heart to work for good. Reparation undertakes the rebuilding of all that evil had destroyed. Jesus gives a chilling description of what happens when mercy is forsaken.  “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.” Mtt. 12:43  If indeed they have escaped the corruption of the world through their knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, only to be entangled and overcome by it again, their final condition is worse than it was at first. 2 Peter 2:20 Pope Francis is exhorting us to see that "Mercy" is the work the gospel sets before us. Without mercy there can be no healing, and the world remains broken. True mercy does not compromise with evil, nor does it fear rejection; it seeks the truth for only truth can set us free.  Lord, make me an instrument of your peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood, as to understand; to be loved, as to love; for it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life. Amen. Homily by Fr. Rosica for the Eleventh Sunday of Ordinary Time. Love as Consequence of  Authentic Forgiveness