Skip to main content
ArchiveOthers

Who Isn’t Poor?

by Fr. Emile-Marie Brière

By February 19, 2018November 23rd, 2023No Comments

This content has been archived. It may no longer be relevant

It doesn’t take much perception for us to realize that we are full of imperfections.

Over and over again, pride and all the other sins living within our hearts break through the control of our will. Daily our weakness manifests itself in thought, word, and deed.

We eat and drink too much. We make unkind remarks, and we run away from people we don’t like. We work, but not too energetically. We are inclined to self-indulgence. We are often sensitive, touchy, moody.

We are Christians. Good and evil battle within our breasts. We struggle, and we are aware of the struggle. We know our need for mercy, for understanding, and for forgiveness, and we expect it from God and neighbor both.

Why then are we so intolerant of the weaknesses, the faults, and the mistakes of other people who share the same human condition and who also struggle with themselves?

Surprising, isn’t it? We ourselves constantly need mercy, yet we show so little mercy to others. We need forgiveness but demand payment for offenses against us. We need to be understood, and we have so little understanding for others!

Christ warned us about this aspect of our blindness in the parable about the unmerciful servant. (Mt 18:23-35).

A king wishes to settle accounts with his servants. One of them, who owes him a huge sum of money has no means of paying and pleads for mercy. The servant’s master feels so sorry for him that he lets him go and cancels the debt.

Now as this servant goes out, he happens to meet a fellow servant who owes him a trifling sum of money. “Pay what you owe,” he says. His fellow servant falls at his feet and implores him, saying, “Give me time and I will pay you,” but the other will not agree. On the contrary, he has him thrown into prison.

How often have we re-enacted this story in our own lives!

Lord, merciful Lord of all, may the strength of your love melt our hearts. Let us acknowledge that we are poor and completely dependent on you for all things. May we be merciful to everyone and so obtain your mercy and live in heaven for all eternity.

Excerpted and adapted from The Power of Love, (1990), pp.47-49, MH Publications, out of print

[icons icon=”fa-arrow-circle-o-left” size=”fa-3x” type=”normal” link=”https://madonnahouse.org/restorationnews/” target=”_self” icon_color=”#a3a3a3″ icon_hover_color=”#175f8f”]