This weekend’s readings remind me of a provocative saying by Dorothy Day, an American journalist and social activist. She was known for saying,

We love God as much as the person we love least.

That must cause an abrupt pause and invite us to take stock of our relationships. The Book of Sirach is firm that we recognize our love for God through our relationships:

Forgive your neighbor’s injustice; then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven. Could anyone nourish anger against another and expect healing from the LORD? Could anyone refuse mercy to another like himself, can he seek pardon for his own sins?

Our relationships mirror God’s presence in our lives. God is present in every moment. The way we love, even the least, reveals our sincere love for God. Young people today use a lingo called performative. Being performative means acting or dressing a certain way just to impress an audience or signal the “right” values, rather than being genuine. No one can stand before God and be performative. He sees the heart, bare and naked.

Furthermore, we are exhorted to always strive. The prophet reminds us to keep death before us:

Remember your last days, set enmity aside; remember death and decay, and cease from sin! Think of the commandments, hate not your neighbor;
remember the Most High’s covenant, and overlook faults.

Did you catch that? God overlooks our faults.

Today’s Psalm shows us that God does not treat us based on our faults. That should be a great relief for us who think of God’s only prerogative as being a Divine Judge who keeps score of our failings. Psalm 103 reminds us of who God really is: God governs with justice tempered by mercy and compassion. We ought to be filled with wonder at the greatness of God and should say, “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all within me, his holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and never forget all his benefits.” This command expresses deep personal gratitude. In Hebrew, the word for soul is nephesh, which refers to the inner vital force and energy of life; the psalmist emphasizes this further by adding “and all within me.” The call to praise the LORD with all of one’s being is an acknowledgment of who God is in our lives. Who is God?

God is mercy. In Hebrew, mercy is understood as hesed. This rich Hebrew word describes steadfast, loyal love rooted in a committed relationship. God is committed to us in every storm of life. It is not shaken by disappointment or failure, and yet in disappointment and failure, we are aroused and reawakened to God’s mercy, which is always present. The psalmist is committed to the hesed of God so much so that he describes it in terms of spatial expansiveness:

For as the heavens are high above the earth, so strong his mercy for those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far from us does he remove our transgressions.

Not only is God’s mercy spatially expansive; it is a love that reaches beyond death. Saint Paul tells us that in life and in death we are the Lord’s.

Today, live with the recognition of God’s hesed overflowing in your life. Receive God’s mercy and be merciful to others. Do not cling to the slavery of sin, but graft yourself into the loving heart of Jesus and be loving with the heart of Christ.

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