24th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Be Merciful Like the Father)

On this 21st anniversary of the events that occurred on September 11th, we bear in mind all the different meanings that it holds for us, the range of feelings and responses it evokes within us: fear, anger, sorrow, anxiousness, etc. But when I think about Jesus, his teachings and how he lived, one of the most prevalent concepts at work is mercy. On this anniversary of September 11th maybe it calls us to ask for mercy on the souls of those whose lives were lost; mercy on those who continue to bear the effects of trauma; and mercy for those who carried out these heinous acts, and mercy on us all. More than fear, anger, sorrow or anxiousness, Jesus demonstrated and spoke of mercy. Mercy—the greatest of all God’s attributes, the very notion of getting something good, even when our worldly sense of justice tells us we don’t deserve it. Today’s readings ask us to consider the depths of God’s love for us and His enduring mercy, and as Jesus commands us: to be merciful like the Father (Lk 6:36).

This week the Church celebrated the feast day of a man who embodied the mercy: Peter Claver. Born in 1581, not far from Barcelona, he entered the Jesuits at age 20. Soon after, he began to feel a stirring in his heart to serve as a missionary and 8 years later (1610) he was sent to the new world, what we today call Cartagena, a port-city on Columbia’s coast.

It had been about 120 years earlier that Spanish colonials first arrived in the new world. Some were opportunists, seeking to make Spain larger and more powerful. Others though, were simply trying to bring the Gospel. Too often though, it was difficult to distinguish between these two endeavors.

This was also about the time that the African slave trading had begun. By the time Peter had reached the new world as a missionary, this practice was well underway, and Cartagena had become an important port-city for receiving the ships filled with slaves. Although Pope Paul III had condemned the slave trade, it did little to stop it.

Some of the slaves—men, women and children—were those that had been captured by the Spanish traders, but others were what we might simply call misfits of their African society—war criminals, the mentally unstable, the ill—people that the African chieftains were willing to sell.

Every year about 10,000 slaves were shipped across the ocean to work in the mines and on farms. On the long journey across the Atlantic, the conditions were horrible. It’s estimated that only two-thirds survived the voyage.

Peter quickly saw the inhumanity of it, and he began to care for the slaves. In fact, those would be the souls to whom Peter would give his life. When he would receive news of a new ship having arrived with slaves, he would go to the dock and find access into to the cargo-area. There he would go to the Africans and care for their wounds and get them clothing, blankets, food and drink, in hopes providing relief and quelling their fears.

In all this, Peter sought to restore their human dignity, but he also knew his task was also to teach them about Jesus, which, because of their fear, but also the language barrier, was not easy. He said, “We must speak to them with our hands before we try to speak to them with our lips.”

And for all this, Peter met contempt and rejection, mostly from the slave traders, but also from brother Jesuits, some of whom believed Peter was desecrating the sacraments by administering them to slaves.

As he came to be known, Servant to the Africans, Peter never stopped trying to change the mindset of his fellow Europeans, even as the ships filled with slaves never stopped coming. After 40 years of tireless of this Christ-like work, at age 69 Peter contracted an illness from a widespread epidemic. It left him unable to continue his work. For the remaining few years of his life, most of his days were spent in sickness and alone in his private quarters. He died on September 8th, 1654.

And so whether it’s on this September 11th anniversary, or at any other time, as Christians we keep before us, Jesus’s call to be merciful like the Father. We continue to celebrate and study the lives who have shown us particular ways, like Mother Teresa, St. Vincent de Paul and Peter Claver, so that it might lead us and those to whom we reveal that mercy, deeper into the heart of Christ—the very fount of mercy.

I’ll give you two things to consider: I believe Jesus gave us his parable to challenge whatever way we put limits on God’s mercy. So, how does God’s radical mercy challenge you? Even as we believe that that there is a distinction between wrong and right, and that there is a consequence to our choices, we’re likely being challenged by this parable to hold it in tension with the call to reflect His mercy. So, how is it challenging you?

Second, look over the list of the Works of Mercy: 7 Spiritual Works of Mercy and 7 Corporal Works of Mercy. Find one of those that is not already on your schedule, that you’re being called to do for someone who needs to see God’s mercy through you. Do it. Be merciful like the Father.