When Mercy Is Ugly

Fellow Labourers-

The perceptions and realities that confront us from day to day can cause us to see mercy as ugly. To be merciful is not always the easiest thing to do. We all know of cases where we would not have mercy and hence we say hang them high. In the same Merchant of Venice from which the author of the attached article quoted, Gratiano speaking to Antonio said "You look not well, Siginor Antonio, You have too much respect upon the world: They lose it that do buy it with much care, Believe me you are marvelously changed," to which Antonio replied "I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano - A stage, where every man must play a part, And mine a sad one."

In one case one is saying you ought not to see the world in the light you are viewing it, and the other is saying because of my view of the world I have chosen a certain posture. How we view situations and how they impact us can have us moving from beautiful mercy to ugly mercy.

Here are three quotes from Jewish wisdom-

1. "He who has mercy on the cruel will in the end behave cruelly to the merciful."
2. "He who asks mercy for another, while he himself is in need, will be answered first."
3. "The mercy of the wicked is cruel."

Here is a true story of mercy. "One night in 1935, Fiorello H. La Guardia, mayor of New York, showed up in a night court in the poorest ward of the city. He dismissed the judge for the evening and took over the bench. One case involved an elderly woman who was caught stealing bread to feed her grandchildren. La Guardia said, "I've got to punish you ten dollars or ten days in jail." As he spoke, he threw ten dollars into his hat. He then fined everyone in the court fifty cents for living in a city "where a person has to steal bread so that her grandchildren can eat." The hat was passed around and the woman left the courtroom with her fine paid and an additional $47.50."

Are we guilty of living in a city where atrocities no longer affect our consciences? Yes, I see hunger and deprivation around me even in the church and I refuse to live any longer with it. I am ready to move, Are you?

Pax Vobiscum,

Robert A. Stewart