Mercy hears

The psalmist today in the texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary tells us “When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears, and rescues them from all their troubles” (Psalm 34:17). We sometimes wish we knew the formula for obtaining rescue. What do we know about being righteous? The Second Letter of Paul to Timothy is noted by Friar Jude Winkler to be the last letter of Paul (or one of his disciples) which tells of the faith of Paul that the time has come to stand before God as one who has run the race and given his life as a libation. This is understood by Paul as being righteous. The rescue Paul anticipates is the continued action of God to save him from the attack of evil which will maintain his place in the kingdom of heaven. The evil whichFather Larry Gillick SJ understands inhibits full our participation in life is our ongoing tendency to “dress up” our position before God with false pride and positioning. The Gospel from Luke characteristically throws us a curve as we are told by Jesus that the righteous Pharisee who attends to the detail of the Law and Justice leaves the Temple at a lesser righteousness before God than the tax collector who is aware of his state of need of the mercy of God. Our “troubles” may be rooted in our own pride and self focus. Mercy responses to the cry of the poor and celebrates being who we are.