Beatitudes of Hope - “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.”

I don’t know about you right now, but I am really struggling with mercy these days.

More often than not, scrolling through social media or engaging with news outlets has me encountering stories where human beings are regarding other human beings as a problem to be solved as opposed to a gift to be encountered. Even in some of my conversations with people I love, I find myself getting frustrated with our inability to find common ground when it comes to the state of the world. I want to talk about everything that is going on, but others either want to avoid the conversation entirely or just want me to see where I am wrong. Admittedly, I want others to see where they are wrong as well, so that does not make it easy to have the conversations I so desire. To be honest, I find myself way more indignant than merciful.

Still, I am tasked at this moment with reflecting on the beatitude “Blessed are the merciful” and letting that reflection help both you and me find some hope and peace in this mess.

So, where do I begin?

I start by looking inward at where I might need God’s mercy.

At times, I can be blinded by my righteous indignation about the state of the world right now. This blindness keeps me from reflecting on my own sinful actions. How many times have I sat in the pews on Sunday huffing so much to myself about the homilist not starting with a direct engagement of the latest world event that I fail to listen to what he is actually saying? How many times have I cut off a peer or family member mid-thought because I can “see where this is going” instead of listening to the whole of what they think? How many times do I utter my truth instead of pausing to prayerfully consider the truth God wishes me to speak?

In order to be one of the blessed merciful, I have to first consider where I need God’s mercy.

Then, I need to ask for it.

Each Sunday, I dutifully utter the words “I confess that I have greatly sinned” during the Penitential Rite alongside the rest of the parishioners. More often than not, the words come out of me automatically, almost robotically. How often do I utter words that I do not truly mean or have not fully considered to my community and to God? How often do I genuinely pause to lay my righteous indignation at the foot of the Lord and ask with true humility for him to have mercy on me, a sinner?

In order to be one of the blessed merciful, I have to be humble enough to ask for mercy myself.

And then, I need to let God’s mercy transform me.

Looking inward at where I am most in need of mercy and then genuinely asking God and my community for it has the power to transform me, if I let it. There is a phrase I have heard many times before: “hurt people, hurt people.” If this declaration is true, then the opposite must also be true: “Loved people, love people.” How often do I pause to let the love and mercy God shows me seep into me and transform how I show up in this world? How often do I pause to contemplate the firm foundation of my own belovedness and allow it to be the foundation from which I navigate this world and all its messiness? How often do I receive the person in front of me as a gift to be encountered instead of a problem to be solved?

I don’t know about you, but I am really struggling with mercy right now. However one thing I know is that God never struggles to offer me and every other created being all the mercy we need. It is in this magnanimous offering of mercy to each and every one of us that the hope and peace we seek lies. So, I’ll start there, and hope God will bring me the rest of the way forward.

What about you? Where will you begin?

Going Deeper:

• Are you struggling with mercy right now? What grace(s) do you need from God in this struggle?

• What are some tangible signs of hope you have encountered this Lent? Who are the people who have shown you or others around you mercy?

• How has God been merciful to you in the past? How did that mercy impact how you showed up in the world?

• Reflect more with this guided Examen on the Beatitudes

  • audio found here on Loved as You Are: An Ignatian Podcast
  • video found at the base of this article.

Photo by: Vincenzo Di Giorgi on Unsplash

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Gretchen Crowder

Gretchen Crowder has served as a campus minister and Ignatian educator for the Jesuit Dallas community for the last fifteen years and counting. She is also a freelance writer and speaker. She has a B.S. in mathematics and a M.Ed. from the University of Notre Dame as well as an M.T.S. from the University of Dallas. She resides in Dallas, TX with her husband, three boys, and an ever-growing number of pets.