In Psalm 51 – have mercy, the author asks God for mercy because of God’s steadfast, unfailing love. Some translations say God’s merciful love. What is the nature of this mercy? How do we receive it? Psalm 51 This psalm, attributed to David, begins with a heartfelt cry: “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your […]
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God’s mercy is vast and deep, surpassing our human capacity to understand. One need only read the Psalms to recognize this. What else can we learn about mercy in the Psalms? Mercy in Scripture The word mercy and forms of the word such as mercies and merciful, occurs over 200 times in Scripture. The majority […]
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Biblical economics is not like modern economics. Like the game Monopoly, in biblical economics the slate is wiped clean at the end of each game. It’s about God’s crazy love for us and mercy to all who call upon him. Psalm 136 teaches us about this crazy love and mercy. Playing Monopoly As a kid, […]
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“The quality of mercy is not strained, it falleth like the gentle rain from heaven,” Shakespeare tells us in the Merchant of Venice. But what is the quality of mercy? Is it simply compassion shown to an offender or victim of misfortune as Webster tells us? Or is it something more as we see in […]
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As I’ve been reflecting on Psalm 103, the song from GodSpell based on this psalm, keeps coming back to me, filling my head with music: “O Bless the Lord, my Soul!” (1a, 2a, 22b) There are many reasons to bless the Lord. First among these are God’s mercy and steadfast love, as recounted in Psalm […]
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How deep is God’s love? How far and how wide? Psalm 89 has something to teach us about this. Steadfast Love The Hebrew word which is translated as steadfast love in the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, is mercy and loving kindness in other translations. I personally prefer the term steadfast love to mercy […]
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Ordinary Time – Feast Day of Alphonsus Ligori Alphonsus Ligouri was a learned man, a great lawyer who lost only one case during his eight years of practice, a great confessor and moral theologian. In a time when penitents were treated as criminals who must be punished, he treated all who came to him with kindness, […]
Read MoreBible Study -Week 6 Forgive Us our Sins as We Forgive Those who Sin against Us Penitential Psalms: 6, 25, 32, 38, 50, 51, 102, 106, 130, 143 Forgive us as we forgive. We get a break this week in that we only have ten psalms to read, however the message is a powerful one, […]
Read More“A man’s reach must exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for?” Robert Browning What are you reaching for, hoping for, working for? Perhaps a world at peace? A better world for your children and their children? What are your dreams? Our psalmist for today has a dream of a better social order, a world […]
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