Christian Catholic Mystic Hermit: Compassion, Mercy, Essential to Love as God Loves

Awoke to thick snowflakes falling like manna from heaven.  Stuck to ground but melted now; very late spring here, and unusual.  I suppose every day and night and how God unfolds them are unusual!

My thoughts have been regarding the importance of compassion, indiscriminate compassion regardless of persons' actions and words, especially when it comes to the usual human decline and the life situations that occur by our errors in judgment, decisions, and wrong-turns from the narrow path.  God always has compassion, no matter what, even if we deserve what we get coming to us, even if we have caused some of our own problems, even if we choose unkindness and a type of ugliness in our lives.

To learn to love to love as God loves, I realize I need this indiscriminate compassion.  I need to have compassion as God has compassion, as this is crucial and indispensable in loving as God loves.  Love requires compassion; love requires mercy. Compassion (mercy) does not condone ugliness, unkindness, evil, wrong word and wrong action or even wrong thoughts; but compassion (mercy) is a form of loving understanding and empathy for all souls (and the persons whose souls are within them.)

Compassion, or mercy, is very difficult particularly if we have been the recipient of ugliness, unkindness, rudeness, wrong thoughts, words, and/or wrong actions.  Compassion or mercy, is most challenging when we read or hear about or are recipients of (even if in being part of the community of humankind) evil. God never fails nor falters in having mercy, or compassion, on even the worst of humankind; of the most vile and vicious of persons He maintains mercy and compassion.

I took time yesterday to ponder various situations, the worst and most heinous of humankind I could fathom and had read about or heard about in my long lifetime.  In each, I came to realize that God had mercy and compassion for these souls and the persons whose souls were or are within. Yes, there are temporal and eternal consequences for those who think, say, and do wrong; but that is not the point.  Having mercy and compassion is the point:  I need to have compassion, to show mercy, without hesitation and for any and all, if I am going to learn how to love as God loves.

Jesus looked over Jerusalem one evening, prior to His being trapped, arrested, brutalized, unfairly tried and convicted, and cruelly crucified,  He overlooked Jerusalem and saw and had seen as God sees--all the persons with their souls, and all the sins and the sins yet to be perpetrated for years and centuries to come.  And the Living Word simply states:  Jesus wept.  Jesus wept due to the compassion and mercy He holds and offers, always, eternally; he has compassion and mercy as part of what it is to love as God Loves, as Jesus Christ is the Son of God and loves as God loves, being God Himself.

I'm practicing and learning to love as God Loves; and now I must also focus on having compassion and offering mercy no matter what others have thought, said, and done in action.  The mercy and compassion I am learning and possess within me, to be released from His Real Presence within me to without of me--this is how I am on my way to learning to love as God Loves.  Nothing is as crucial to me as is now learning to release His compassion within me, His mercy that is within me because I am within His Real Presence and He is within me. This compassion is always with me and able to be released, dispensed, without hesitation, for mercy is His and now also mine, to give without critical review but freely, instantaneously. 

This is the next step in learning to love as God Loves: to recognize and release His mercy and have compassion instantaneously, automatically, for as I am His and He is mine, His mercy and compassion is also mine to give freely and fully, without hesitation or mental deliberation, review, inner conflict.

I must practice this, for my humanness has made me rusty; grace and my cooperation with His grace will remove the rust and create in me a clean heart to see and release mercy and compassion no matter all else no matter who it is I encounter in whatever aspect, including memory of those of the past.

God bless His Real Presence in me!  Love in His Love!

Dear Lord, please keep showing me all the facets and what I must learn to learn to love as You Love!

Letter to the Philippians 2,6-11.

Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance,
he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.
Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father 

Hermit, Christian, Catholic, etc.: St. Vincent Ferrer and Other Thoughts

A spiritual friend has sent information on this St. Vincent Ferrer, while the person humbly and courageously lives with mental illness, takes meds no one would want to take, doing great mystical good with suffering, along with the heroic compassion and fidelity of spouse and adult son--inspirational Christians and Catholics.The person's brother Tom remains battling COVID-19 for breath and life with blessing of ventilator, in ICU in major hospital.  We keep praying for him and for everyone the world over!

I've had many thoughts and a phone conversation, a couple emails from spiritual friends, who have given me input on my lamentation.  One reminded me of something I don't even recall having sent in the past: Treasure of Humility.  From that gift long forgotten, was sent to me this morning a quote.   "The lower you descend, the higher you ascend."  This is helpful.  Another spiritual friend emailed the reminder that we are all sinners. 

Someone called to apologize if had ever added to or encouraged me by being receptive to what I find in myself so reprehensible.  How humble of that person!  Has not encouraged in my sin; I do well on my own in that!  Was reminded that Jesus loves us all and forgives us.  This is true, of course, but I did explain that last night I let the Lord know that it does not even matter to me if He forgives me.  I know He does, for He loves me and puts up with me no matter what awful of my ugliness and sin.  I don't even want to add that on of what He must do for me.  HE DIED FOR ME--an act that is for all eternity.

But of course, I understand all the theological aspects, so please, readers, do not think ill of me all the more for not understanding what I'm trying to express.  I did ask the one spiritual friend to not think I was "beating up on myself."  The person knew instinctively, grace of God and wisdom the person possesses in great measure and so loves the Holy Spirit.  Realized that my lamentation is necessary, very real, very rightful--even more rightful, needful, than what I myself realize.

I will share some of what the person who has such great suffering of mental illness wrote in regard to St. Vincent Ferrer.  Of course, we are aware of daily saints, can read stuff ourselves.  But I am so taken and inspired by this person, writing out the saint of the day and adding poignant thoughts.  All is very regulated from the mind extremely intelligent, but moderated as such medications effectuate.  How I cherish what this person writes!  Really is miraculous, the spiritual immensity of that soul.

I appreciate, also, the person's pointing out to me that even saints were sinners, the Church has had times of such sinful foolishness.  Even pointed out that there are 36 Doctors of the Church, four of them women.  There is but one Virgin Mary, but who on earth of any gender  embodied more grace, perfection, or more power, prestige, position--not that she wanted any of these last three?  She was content with her gender, with her mission and purpose, God's will.  Who was more humble, more nurturing, more influential and necessary to the maternal birthing and the earthly life of Jesus Christ, God-Man, who more respected of humans and for the ages?  So in that regard, there are women who look to Mary, who do not envy, nor try to imitate, or wish they were men.  Why would they in what matters in God and eternally?  (And I'm not disregarding the good and holy need of economic, educational, societal, and various other temporal rights of women as much as these being rights for all people.)

"St. Vincent Ferrer...presbyter, religious, missionary (c. 1350-1419).  Vincent Ferrer was a Spanish Dominican priest, born in the city of Valencia.  He was one of the greatest preachers of his time.  With singleminded determination he made preaching journeys through Spain, France, the Netherlands and Switzerland, drawing large crowds.

"Unfortunately, Vincent was also know for his attacks against the Jewish people and for trying to convert Jews to Christianity against their will.

"There are other saints guilty of this terrible sin, just as there are saints who supported slavery and saints who treated women badly. Saints re human beings and therefore are sinners.  In the gospels, Jesus reminds us that He came for sinners, and that even the angels rejoice whenever a sinner repents.

"If you read his [Vincent Ferrer's] bio, he was alive when there were squabbles about who was the true pope.  Vincent continued to preach, working until just before he died at the age of 70."

All very good aspects to remember.  I've had various thoughts come to me in the silence today, and even with bits of news on in background off and on, as I like to keep up some with what is affecting the peoples of the earth--and now some animals, such as those in Brooklyn Zoo or such.  Heard something of one or more getting COVID-19.

I'll try to write of the thoughts on subsequent posts.  Going to now watch Mass from St. Patrick's Cathedral.  Our parish live-streams daily on FB and on youtube, but I'm not on FB and laptop has warning when I try to open youtube site.  Parish closed, so St. Patrick's will be my adopted one.

Please continue on this Palm Sunday:  #PrayforEasterMiracle; we pray for miracles through this global coronavirus pandemic.  Whatever God wills, however many, for any and all miracles.  Let us recognize them daily!

God bless His Real Presence in us!