Wis 11:22 – 12:2
Because the whole world before you is like a speck that tips the scales,
and like a drop of morning dew that falls on the ground.
But you are merciful to all, for you can do all things,
and you overlook people’s sins, so that they may repent.
For you love all things that exist,
and detest none of the things that you have made,
for you would not have made anything if you had hated it.
How would anything have endured if you had not willed it?
Or how would anything not called forth by you have been preserved?
You spare all things, for they are yours, O Lord, you who love the living.
For your immortal spirit is in all things.
Therefore you correct little by little those who trespass,
and you remind and warn them of the things through which they sin,
so that they may be freed from wickedness and put their trust in you,
O Lord.
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
Doing as God Does
There’s a strange phrase in today’s reading from Wisdom – “But you have mercy on all, because you can do all things…” Ours is a powerful God with a tender heart.
It often happens that people who have power abuse power. People with it seem to realize at times that their power gives them a chance to dismiss entire communities, to take the easy way out, to put other people on their backs for personal gain, to determine who does and doesn’t matter.
But Wisdom suggests that our God – the God after whom we model our lives – only uses power for good. Creation is well made, sins are forgiven, and love abounds. Our God – who can do all things – always chooses compassion and gives us the power to do the same.
If we, even just today, turn our own power into mercy, we will be making a world in which it is easy to exist. We will be doing as God does.
—Fr. Eric Immel, SJ, is a vocation promoter for the Midwest Jesuits. He was ordained in June 2022. Learn more about Jesuit vocations at beajesuit.org.
Prayer
Merciful Lord, it does not surprise me that you forget completely the sins of those who repent. I am not surprised that you remain faithful to those who hate and revile you. The mercy which pours forth from you fills the whole world. It was by your mercy that we were created, and by your mercy that you redeemed us by sending your Son.
—Saint Catherine of Siena