{"id":551,"date":"2023-11-15T01:45:15","date_gmt":"2023-11-15T01:45:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orthoscopy.net\/?p=551"},"modified":"2026-02-20T22:32:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T22:32:17","slug":"mercy-a-gift-for-the-disobedient","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orthoscopy.net\/index.php\/2023\/11\/15\/mercy-a-gift-for-the-disobedient\/","title":{"rendered":"Mercy, a Gift for the Disobedient"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Homily, 11-6-23; Monday of the 21st Week in Ordinary Time:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our first reading from St. Paul\u2019s letter to the Romans is one we hear every other year on Monday of the 31st<\/sup> week of Ordinary Time. So I have been exposed to it many times in the past and, as I look back through my archives, I realize that I have actually preached about it in reference to God\u2019s mercy. But for some reason, as I reflected on the passage for this week\u2019s homily, it struck me that Paul\u2019s proposal sounds a bit convoluted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Basically, Paul is saying that the Gentiles were disobedient to God. But now God is being merciful to them. Why? Because the Jews were disobedient in their unbelief. And the reason the Jews were disobedient was so that after God showed mercy on the Gentiles, He would then show mercy on the Jews as well. The disobedience of the Jews, therefore, brought God\u2019s mercy to both Jews and Gentiles. If the Jews had not been disobedient, then God would not have been merciful to the Gentiles, and in turn would not have been merciful to the Jews. And the conclusion almost seems to be that disobedience is necessary, almost a good thing, because without disobedience there would be no opportunity to experience God\u2019s mercy. Maybe we can never truly understand God\u2019s love until we have failed and have need for His mercy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a hard concept for me to wrap my head around. And I was reminded of the words of St. Peter who wrote: \u201cOur beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, also wrote to you<\/a>, speaking of these things as he does in all his letters. In them there are some things hard to understand\u201d<\/em><\/strong> (2 Pet. 3:15-16).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think in this case St. Paul realizes that his teaching is difficult to understand because he goes on to write: \u201cOh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways!\u201d<\/em><\/strong> And then quotes from Isaiah and from Job and writes: \u201cFor who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor? Or who has given him anything that he may be repaid?\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

God\u2019s ways are not man\u2019s ways. God\u2019s ways are unsearchable with our limited wisdom. And so there are many times we will have lingering questions, issues that we cannot understand and must accept on faith. We can pray for wisdom, but ultimately, when we see God face-to-face, all our questions will be answered.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Homily, 11-6-23; Monday of the 21st Week in Ordinary Time: Our first reading from St. Paul\u2019s letter to the Romans is one we hear every other year on Monday of the 31st week of Ordinary Time. So I have been exposed to it many times in the past and, as I look back through my… Continue reading Mercy, a Gift for the Disobedient<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weekday-homilies","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthoscopy.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthoscopy.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthoscopy.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthoscopy.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthoscopy.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=551"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/orthoscopy.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":552,"href":"https:\/\/orthoscopy.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551\/revisions\/552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthoscopy.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthoscopy.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthoscopy.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}