Assume to presume

“What did I do to deserve this?” is a question which we are reminded by PatrickBorchers, of The Werner Institute, which we ask when the misfortunes of the type described by Jesus in the Gospel of Luke from the Roman CatholicLectionary visit us. The psalmist today puts the question of being singled out in another flavour. The people who have clean hands, pure hearts, avoid falseness and do not swear shall stand in the Holy Place of the Lord. Our struggle in life deals with knowing in our minds that misfortune is often vested in circumstances which are not within the control of those affected, but holding in our hearts the resentment of being unjustly done by. The knowledge of the nature of the Divine, which we study and intellectually define, is in conflict with our response in our behaviour. The Presence of Total Love is without the self serving concupiscence and personal gratification that Paul identifies to the Romans and us which struggles with the Spirit of Life in our hearts. FriarJude Winkler states that something within us dies when we move in the direction away from the Life in the Spirit. Jesus ends the parable of the fig tree, which has shown signs of death, with the proclamation of mercy. There is more time. We are doubly grateful for God is Mercy as we struggle with our ongoing presumption of that Mercy.