A Bruised Reed: The Mercy of God
Saturday, July 18th Readings Reflection: Saturday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time
In today’s Gospel, we hear Isaias’s prophecy regarding Our Lord and His mercy: “The bruised reed [H]e shall not break: and smoking flax [H]e shall not extinguish: till [H]e send forth judgment unto victory” (Mt 12:20 DRB). In his commentary on this Gospel passage, St. John Chrysostom writes that Christ sought to heal and convert the Jews by His mildness, even when they rejected, persecuted, and ultimately killed Him (Catena aurea).
St. John Chrysostom continues by pointing out that Christ possessed—and indeed still does possess—the ability to break those bruised reeds, quenching their “rage with all readiness” (Catena aurea). However, He did not, and He continues to permit the bruised reeds of sinful souls to persist in their errors in this earthly life. Why? Many saints and spiritual writers have written volumes about this question, but in short, God has given man free will in order to love Him more fully. God is more glorified when we choose to love Him with our free wills, because such a choice engages our rational intellect whereby we recognize God as the ultimate Good to be attained.
St. Thomas Aquinas says that our free will “is the subject of grace” (ST, I, q. 83, a. 2). By grace, we are able to recognize God as the supreme Good and freely choose to love and obey Him. God desires for each one of us to use our free wills in this way, for He desires union with each of our souls. For this reason, He does not break the bruised reeds of our souls, even when we fall and disobey Him, but instead gives us every opportunity to rise again by His grace and return to His loving embrace.
St. Thomas Aquinas writes that God’s mercy precedes His justice, and we can see this in today’s Gospel. God does not break the bruised reed of sinful souls or extinguish the smoking flax, until “[H]e send[s] forth judgment unto victory” (Mt 12:20). In the end, God’s justice will prevail over all evil. He gives us our entire lifetimes on earth to repent and return to Him, but if we persist in our wickedness and refuse His grace, we will face His just punishments. If we die unrepentant without the state of grace, we will experience an eternity of the worst possible suffering for any creature: eternal separation from God.
Our time on earth is but an instant in light of eternity. We do not know when we will stand before our God at our particular judgments, but that day will eventually come for each of us. The saints have often said that if we put off our pursuit of sanctity and virtue until “tomorrow,” we will end up never responding to the graces that God mercifully offers us, to the detriment of our souls. May we resolve today to no longer delay in pursuing union with God. May we spend the rest of our lives responding readily to the graces He mercifully bestows on us each day, using the gift of our free wills to choose Him above all else in our lives and seeking nothing else than to rest for all eternity in His Sacred Heart.
Amen! Beautifully said!!!!