God's tenderness and mercy

"Because of the faithful love of our God in which the rising Sun has come from on high to visit us, to give light to those who live in darkness and the shadow dark as death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace" (Lk 1:78-79).

I continue to savor the consoling promise of these words as we celebrate Christmas. In this long period of darkness, may we not forget that God continues to visit us and share our experiences of fear and darkness. As the years pass, I understand more and more that God's power is not all about having a magical solution to my problems or the world's ills. His power is in His presence amongst us that enables us to have the strength, the kindness and the perseverance to find solutions and to learn and become better persons. Christmas is a celebration of this good news. Merry Christmas to you and to your dear ones. May the coming year be filled with experiences of God's mercy and tenderness.

Holding the uncertain

To hold the uncertain with tenderness and grace.

Meekness

Today is the feast of Saint Agnes, a Roman virgin and martyr who paid a high price for her faith. At thirteen years of age she was martyred. Of course it is so impressive to know that a girl of that age, an adolescent, made such a heroic gesture. But what is even more inspiring is that she showed meekness in the  face of persecution.
In a world such as ours, meekness is so much undervalued, nay, even despised. It is considered a sign of weakness. But in reality meekness is strength, for only the truly strong can repay evil with good, turn the other cheek, and assume on oneself violence so as to put a stop to this vicious cycle.
It would be helpful to remind ourselves and the world of the words of Pope Francis, "Do not be afraid of tenderness!".
Tenderness sets us apart from animals.
Tenderness shows that we are human beings.

Just instruments

I am very much touched with the recent events in the Church. From Pope Benedict's humble resignation that rendered all the more clear his humility and only desire to do God's will, to the Church's (and I mean people of all walks of life and not only the hierarchy) journey of understanding God's plans in all these events, to Pope Francis' installation Mass, we saw and felt that indeed, Jesus is the Pastor of his Church. This was repeatedly said on many occasions by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and these days by Pope Francis as well.
Perhaps here in Rome we are caught up in a more special way. More and more I am grateful for the blessing of being here. I wasn't able to go to any of these important functions for various reasons, but I really journeyed and I feel very much the hand of God in everything. I believe that God asks us to grow in responsibility and love for the Church and at the same time to grow in mercy and goodness, in understanding that the Kingdom of God is greater than the Church. In one homily I heard last Sunday (Gospel of the woman caught in adulterty), the priest said that "Jesus is radical but not rigorous".
In our passion for the truth and to bring the values of the Gospel to our society, Jesus first of all calls us to be inwardly converted, to remember that first of all, the call to conversion is addressed to us personally. He calls us to see the many shades of darkness that are still in our lives, and in doing so we will become more merciful, more open and more willing to see the good that is in others, even in people or parties that do not espouse our belief.
I am always reminded by the words of Henri Nouwen, that often Church people are not listened to when they espouse certain causes because their passion leads them to be very domineering. They become angry in their passion to work for peace, which is actually a contradiction, isn't it? Truth has its own inner attraction. It doesn't have to be forced upon anybody. The problem is, we want the easy way out and we think that by forcing people or by frightening people they will adhere to the truth. But this will never do. In our lives we know that this will never have a long-term effect.
Anyway, Pope Francis' words in his installation are a very good reminder. Our greatest contribution to the world is our tenderness and goodness. I think they are the most radical of all the Gospel values because they are totally incomprehensible in a world that is dominated by the criteria of power and control.
Mother Mary teaches us to be humble and to recognize that at every moment of our life we are saved by the mercy of God. In her Magnificat, she proclaims that everything is God's grace. Hence, there is no reason to boast or to think of ourselves as better than others. When we believe this, it will be easier and indeed more natural that we become more tender and kind towards others. Who knows, perhaps our kindness will in the long run win them over to God and to God's cause; but if not, let us remember that we are just instruments of God in saving the world. He is the savior, not us.