On mercy and flickering light. Merry Christmas!

"For you will go before the Lord to prepare His ways,

to give knowledge of His salvation to His people 

by the forgiveness of their sins" 

Luke, 1:77-78

A friend told me yesterday that he had written a sonnet in which he expressed his sadness over the world that rejects Christ. I nodded in silent recognition - yes I know: a sore sadness over some stupid wrongdoing, some stubborn blindness, some pointless conflict... A truly universal feeling, I am sure everyone knows it.

And I thought: let this sadness be not only for the world, but on behalf of the world; and let it always be lifted up to the Lord by a plea for mercy, for "they know not what they do". All this kicking and shrieking, all this rejection and unwillingness to receive God are symptoms of the disease the world is suffering from...

Only mercy, only patient, gentle understanding of the deep distress of those very people who kick, shriek, bite a giving hand and otherwise "trespass against" can bring about a fully authentic, healing forgiveness, and therefore, knowledge of God's salvation; only patient, firm and consistent refusal to cease channeling God's love to the world, however lost in tantrums of denial, can bring peace to the confusion and tumult of our lives.

This plea for mercy was Christ's response to violence and rejection, as He was hanging on the cross. I want it to be mine, as I look at the center of my being today, discovering, amazed, that beyond weakness and confusion of my own heart, beyond inconsistency, violence and cruelty of the world Christ is born there again - a voice crying for mercy, a desire to bring God's love to the world, a refusal to hate, judge and deliver a blow for a blow.

This is the common ground we are standing on. This is the source to which we are and will always be free to return, grateful to perceive the light that shines in the darkness, and confident that the darkness will not overcome it. Not a cold mechanical neon light, nor a fierce bonfire - a flickering flame dancing within, always in danger of extinction. But here it is, suddenly bright and clear; and whereas so many things remain obscure, subject to doubts and hesitations, one thing I know today : here I am, to welcome, protect and share with others the life of Christ who is born today to share and restore mine.