Extreme Demand of Mercy

  

For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ.

2 Corinthians 1:5

This week has been a roller coaster of emotions.

 We began the week with Job starting school. Job LOVES it! Apparently, they have the best cookies there! :) 

On Tuesday we were able to deliver a beautiful statue, gifted by a generous benefactor, to the Santa Cecilia chapel. They have the statue on the altar for Father to bless next Thursday at Mass. It was perfect for the chapel and we felt a great peace being back there again. Unfortunately, while we were delivering the statue, a few of our power tools were stolen from behind our house. 

I am usually pretty merciful, but that evening I became so angry I allowed my joy to be taken from me. And in response to that, my family was losing their joy as well. Negativity producing more negativity. The evil one was certainly having a hay day. 😔 After recognizing the damage, I tried to make amends with early St. Valentine's Day candy and hugs, asking for forgiveness. ☺️ I’d like to compliment our middle child because he responded by quoting Job- “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” Another lesson from our kids, right? 

We called our Landlord, Doña Norma, and told her about the incident. She came over right away. She was very anxious about it all and said she would try to get to the bottom of it. We sent pictures of the missing tools to her. 

After dropping Job off at school the next day, we checked the two pawnshops in our town. One guy, who we now know speaks English 🙌, told us he already heard about it and was on the lookout for us. 🥰 

When we returned home, we found Doña Norma crying. She told us something sad had happened and invited us to go into our neighbor’s house. Two of the three missing tools were under a bed. The wife was emotional. The husband was defensive and denying the whole thing. I can’t tell you all that was said in that room, but I’m sure you can imagine it was heartbreaking. Doña Norma ended the conversation by telling them that if the last tool didn't show up by Friday, she would get the police involved. 

My anger instantly turned into immense empathy and mercy.  Although I always knew a person was behind this action, I guess it just became “more real”. This was a huge gift of grace. As the man was scrambling around, denying the crime, and giving excuses and accusations, he looked like a little kid, embarrassed and anxious. We felt sorry for him. We eventually interrupted him. We told him we were super happy getting some of our tools back, but more worried about the person’s soul who took the tools, and we forgive. We said it's okay not to talk anymore, because the more he spoke, the more he looked guilty. We have already forgiven the situation. We took the tools and left in peace. 

Unfortunately, he and his wife moved the next day.

Our family learned a few lessons here: 

• We should put things away- not just to be clean, but also not to tempt someone to sin. 

• We are well taken care of. God has placed us with a few angels who look out for us. I can’t control the actions of others, but I can trust God has our backs, and it was proven once again that He does. 

• Mercy is powerful. No one is underlying the sin here, but when we opened our hearts to forgiveness, it changed everything- even when the guy didn’t show remorse. Can you imagine if he did? It gave us a glimpse of God’s Mercy for us, and for that, we are extremely grateful. 

If you haven’t already, we would like to encourage you to review last Sunday’s readings (Sirach 15: 15-20, Psalm 119, 1 Corinthians 2:6-10, Matthew 5:17- 37) and listen to Bishop Barron’s sermon in response to the readings:

https://www.wordonfire.org/videos/sermons/be-a-saint/

‘We are extreme in our demand (of moral virtue), and we are extreme in the mercy we offer.”

Bishop Barron

AMEN!

This couldn’t have come at a better time for our family! 

We ask for your prayers for our old neighbor. Be assured of our prayers for you as well.

Chris, Angie, CJ, Jonathan, and Job