On mercy and wrath

I recently wrote a post entitled "What Does God Do When We Fail," pointing to God's ability to carry through with his plans regardless of our sins and failures. I didn't intend to downplay the seriousness of sin -- my premise is that those who are hid with Christ in God obey him in regular repentance and commitment to obey him -- but instead to remind us that without God we can do nothing, including derailing the sovereign purposes of God Almighty.

The thrust of that essay was the effect of our sin on the overarching purposes of God. But what about us as individuals?

A reflective friend says:

I would also add a word about His wrath and discipline. I recall the many that were slain on the day of the Golden Calf. And David and Bathsheba's first child was taken from them and the sword did not depart from David's house during his lifetime. The consequences of sin can be overwhelmingly crushing for our God is a consuming fire to be sure. But for those who are His children, His wrath has been diverted onto Christ - for us there is no longer any judgment but only the fatherly discipline of His love. And God's discipline, though dreadful to go through, is such a humbling, cleansing, healing and transforming work of His love and mercy to those who bow before Him. I give Him praise for this too!

My friend raises an interesting point about discipline. Forgiveness does not erase the temporal effects of sin and so does not rescue us from experiencing suffering resulting from our sinful acts. But the game has changed between the Old Testament and the New. The death of Jesus turned a corner, not in God's love for us or hatred for sin, but in the new availability of genuine reconciliation between the sinner and God.

I, frankly, am grateful for God's wrath. I look around at the awful realities of our world -- innocent people raped, slain and starved; hopelessness; lies and deception; verbal and physical cruelty; -- and I am glad that the Fountain of Mercy himself looks at such things with anger and hatred. But I would not be grateful for it if I were stuck with the unscrubbable stain of my sin marking me out as a worthy object for that anger. But for the gift of Jesus, that would be true. But the death of the Son of God has changed the game, and I will never stop thanking him.

God's mercy toward us extends to doing whatever it takes to free us from the things that block his outpouring of grace and our growing love relationship with Him. If my habitual sin is blocking the freedom of the Holy Spirit in my life, then I want him to bring it to my attention so I can hand it over to him to squash. Knowing, however, my own disinclination to launch uncomfortable change until it gets too painful not to do so, I shouldn't be surprised that the process of God getting my attention can be an arduous one.

God himself says in Ezekiel, "As I live, says the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live."(13:11) We needed a way out. The Good News is that Jesus took care of it. The better news is that God didn't stop there. Not satisfied with getting us out of the criminal dock, he wants to anoint us with fragrant oils, give us beautiful clothes and take us to the altar and marry us. The process of being a Christian isn't the process of becoming acceptable. It's the process of becoming more and more who we were made to be -- God's Delight.

Something good from Chicago

Cardinal George's plenary session address to the U.S. bishops:

The common good can never be adequately incarnated in any society when those waiting to be born can be legally killed at choice. If the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision that African Americans were other people’s property and somehow less than persons were still settled constitutional law, Mr. Obama would not be president[-elect] of the United States. Today, as was the case a hundred and fifty years ago, common ground cannot be found by destroying the common good.

And his closing prayer, in which I suggest we all join:

With you, I pray that all the topics we consider in our meeting now and all we do in the difficult days to come will be done together in the charity of Christ, who is the source of our unity and our strength. In so governing, in calling all to join us in listening to the incarnate Word of God from within his body, the Church, what we do now will have consequences for eternity; and we will be good shepherds to our people, good servants in our society and good disciples of Our Lord.

Reparation Day

A private litany for God's people of the United States of America:

R. Lord, have mercy on us.
Jesus, we trust in you.

Have mercy on me, O God, in your kindness.
In your compassion, blot out my offenses. (Ps 51)

R.

You have seen the trouble and sorrow,
You note it, you take it in hand.
The helpless trusts himself to you
For you are the helper of the orphan. (Ps 10)

R.

God of hosts, turn again we implore.
Look down from heaven and see.
Visit this vine and protect it,
The vine your right hand has planted. (Ps 80)

R.

And the apostles said to the Lord,
"Increase our faith." (Luke 17)

R.

God is our refuge and strength
A very present help in distress. (Ps 46)

R.

"Be it done to me according to your word." (Luke 2)

R.

You sit enthroned, judging with justice.
Have pity on us in our sufferings,
You who save us from the gates of death. (Ps 9)

R.

On this rock I shall build my church
And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Mt 16)

R.

I will remove disaster from among you
So that none may recount your disgrace. (Zeph 3)

R.

Many conduct themselves as enemies of the cross of Christ,
But our citizenship is in heaven.
Stand firm in the Lord, beloved. (Phil 3-4)

R.

Mortal man is no more than a breath.
O Lord, hear my prayer.
O Lord, turn your ear to my cry.
Do not be deaf to my weeping. (Ps 39)

R.

Whatever gains I had, I count as loss
Because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. (Phil 3)

R.

He, the Lord, is our God.
Throughout the eath his judgments prevail. (Ps 105)

R.

Before my people call, I will answer;
While they are yet speaking,
I will hear and answer them. (Is 65)

R.

Wait for the Lord with courage --
Be stouthearted. Wait for the Lord. (Ps 27)

R.

Hold onto the word of life. (Phil 2)

R.

My soul clings to you;
Your right hand holds me fast. (Ps 63)

R.

I say to God, my rock, "Why hast thou forgotten me?"
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
O send me thy light and thy truth,
My help and my God. (Ps 42-43)

R.

Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver us. (Ps 40)

R.

What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable.
It is sown in dishonor -- it is reaped in glory.
It is sown in weakness -- it is raised in power. (1Cor 15)

R.

Behold, a white horse. He who sits upon it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name inscribed -- King of Kings and Lord of Lords. (Rev. 19)

R.

Adonai says to my lord, "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet." Ps 110

R.

Be exalted, O God, among the heavens. (Ps 108)

R.

Let us pray.

O God who makes all things new, accept our sacrifice of contrition and praise, and glorify yourself in us.

Give us the grace to be conformed to your will and your heart in every particular.

Do not dispose as we deserve but have mercy on us as we offer you the body and blood, soul and divinity of your dearly beloved son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

We ask all these things with the help of all the saints and angels and in submission to our Lord, Jesus Christ your Son, our Lord, and the King of all Kings.

Amen.

Renewal

Renewal partners with springtime, the refreshing breath of the Holy Spirit first from Pentecost but for always, the conversion and belief that is Jesus' first exhortation in the Gospel of Mark -- but for your humble blog hosts, it is also some newfound energy after taking time off. Both Therese and I have missed the blog, as we discovered through frequent encounters with thoughts or incidents about which we'd like to write, realizing only after a beat that there was no longer any place to write it.

I, for one, struggled with the thought that any post after a long hiatus would have to be particularly profound, insightful, witty, and/or remarkable to justify either the absence or the comeback. As many of you will recognize far more quickly than I did, that is pride, naked and unblushing. Besides, I reason, we abandoned our readers for so long that there won't be anyone left to notice the quality (or lack) of our posts for weeks to come.

So, to the one or two of you who might still have us hooked into your automatic RSS feed and therefore will notice that we're back, we're back. We hope for stimulating and thought-provoking conversation with you here. We'll do our best to strew the bait around for it.