by Sister Ellen McClure
Suddenly all the trimmings and music of Christmas are gone, and churches are looking and feeling different as the baptism of the Lord comes and goes in the liturgical year and we enter ordinary time. But, strangely, although season and arrangement of colors reflect our images like a white haired old man on a heavenly throne dispersing mercy to sorrowful sinners, sometimes mercy is making up after a quarrel in a family. Mercy is all this and more.
In the time of David, God resided in a throne of mercy (wooden box) and was carried solemnly through the desert where David communed with the Holy One and carried messages of mercy back to the community in Exodus from Egypt. God was present and available in the throne of mercy.
Today, God is also always present in the hearts of believers and doubters and even sinners who seek and grant mercy to and from God and one another. Today mercy is as wide as the sea and as simple as a change of heart – forgiveness, sorrow, love rekindled and mutual peace. Are you carrying something you can let go – and do you want to live in peace?
