The Greater The Sinner The Greater Their “Right” To His Mercy

Many Topics Discussed in our Living Jesus Chat Room

No greater sacrifice could God the Father offer than to endure the suffering and death of his Son for us knowing that he could stop it at any time, but he knew he must endure this to truly demonstrate his love for all.

We cannot fathom the unending depth of God’s mercy, but this quote above from one of our chatters beautifully summarizes the redemptive act of Jesus Christ. This was a sacrifice for both God the Father and God the Son. God offers His Son. The Son offers himself.

It is through this sacrifice that God allows us to share in His life through grace; God shows us His Mercy by a choice and act of His will when we don’t deserve His Goodness in justice.

Our sins are our own, and it is up to us to bring them to God so we can truly be free from them.

The chatters in our latest chat installment dive deep into God’s mercy to explore this sublime topic. We will discuss whether Jesus is more important as Savior or Physician, whether we can truly be free from sin, if this short time on earth is unfair in order for us to take advantage of God’s mercy, and how to treasure the time we do have on this earth.

Adam and Eve invited justice into their lives, but God had a plan for His mercy to rein. Come discover the God who prefers mercy over justice.

If you would like to chat with Catholics like yourself, why not check out our Living Jesus Chat Room of the Visitation Sisters. Join us at 7:30 p.m. ET each Sunday! We read a passage of St. Francis de Sales and then gather great insights and sharing!

Physician of Souls

Question: Why is it important to understand Jesus as Savior above Physician?

Caroline: I think we do not always consider all the ways He is Savior.

Bridget: There will come a time when bodily remedies provided by any/all physicians will fail; everyone will die; in fact, even everyone that Jesus healed physically when He was on Earth eventually died; but when healed spiritually, when the soul is healthy and holy, through Jesus the Savior a person will live forever….

Visitation Sister: Even as physician of our souls, He may heal them, but that does not guarantee our salvation, but His saving action does, so much more.

Priscila: Even in today’s Gospel: The sin was the cause of the sickness in the man born blind.

Ben: There comes a time when God calls us to our True Home Heaven!

Caroline: When He heals us, we must still choose to follow.

Ben: Great Blessing to have been with Both my Mom and Dad when they went to Heaven!!!!

Bridget: And sometimes, when we’re not ready spiritually to go Home, a physical healing in desperate situations can be a metanoia call.

Visitation Sister: Should the idea of Physician be ignored altogether?

Visitation Sister: According to your answer, Bridget I would not ignore the idea of Physician.

Caroline: No, we should not forget Physician but honor it correctly.

Priscila: We need to go beyond sickness….to savior because due to sin in our corrupt human body we will always have some malady to deal with here.

Priscila: We need Jesus as Physician and Savior as both sin and sickness are intertwined.

Unescapable Mercy

Question: Is there anything out of reach of God’s mercy?

Cindy: All is within God’s reach; thus, nothing is impossible with God.

Caroline: Nothing is out of reach of God’s mercy.

Bridget: Only thing out of God’s Mercy is what we put out of His merciful reach—e.g., what we don’t want Him to forgive or allow Him to forgive; what we don’t confess or repent over.

Priscila: Sinning against the Holy Spirit?

Bridget: Uh-oh! I was afraid someone would bring that up! I hope it means that we refuse God’s Mercy eternally.

Cindy: Likewise, Bridget.

Visitation Sister: But if we want His Mercy, He will give it, if we are in integrity asking for it and try to sin no more.

Priscila: I think that since the Holy Spirit is the culmination of the Father and Son’s love…refusing God’s love (to love God)?

Visitation Sister: The Holy Spirit is the love between Father and Son.

Cindy: And when we sincerely beg His assistance to grow into integrity, His mercy and grace never tire until He succeeds in doing what He said He would do!

Can We Be Truly Free from Sin?

Question: Since baptism removes original sin, why are we still disposed toward sin?

Ben: God seems to expose to us areas of our life that we have not fully committed to Him, and He allows us to have the freedom to expose that then we must decide whether we will truly confess and repent and move closer to God!!!

Cindy: Amen, Ben! Like layers towards Truth.

Caroline: We are still disposed toward sin due to free will and our own brokenness.

Rebecca: Priscila, in today’s gospel my understanding is that the Pharisees believed the blind man was blind because of his sins or those of his parents, but Jesus said he was born blind in order to glorify God when Jesus healed him.

Bridget: If I understand correctly, Baptism removes the eternal punishment due from original sin, but not the effects of original sin—e.g., we all have weakened wills and diminished “smarts” as far as choosing and differentiating good and evil—which is “funny” considering that telling good from evil is what Adam & Eve thought they were “eating the apple” to be able to do!

Visitation Sister: It is good to bear in mind at this point that the understanding of God's prohibition to not eat of the "tree of knowledge of good and evil" was meant to convey that whoever ate of it is determining what is good and evil. In other words, Adam and Eve attempted, through eating the fruit, to determine for themselves what was right and wrong. This is something only God can do. 

Ben: God is always providing us opportunities to grow and learn from our mistakes!!!!

Visitation Sister: Original sin damaged us in some mysterious way.

Ben: Jesus’s Death and Resurrection Has Healed us in a Miraculous Way!!!!!!

Bridget: And took away those amazing preternatural gifts that maybe we get back in our post-Last Judgment-mysteriously-glorified bodies.

Visitation Sister: Yes- we are not what we were meant to be, but we will regain that being in eternity.

Ben: Amen!!!

Bridget: Cause for rejoicing!

Ben: We must forgive ourselves!!!!! God commands us to!!!!

Enjoying God’s Mercy

Question: How do we take advantage of God’s mercy?

Priscila: Confession. Priscila: And an amended life. And penance: Doing something for the love of God….as He loved us so much and wants us to love Him.

Visitation Sister: Yes, first and best way I think.

Caroline: And praying prayers like the mercy chaplet, receiving Eucharist.

Visitation Sister: Yes, and honoring the divine mercy image.

Cindy: Lately I've been reflecting on how, whatever the circumstances, things are happening “for us,” not “to us,” because nothing happens without God allowing it…the hard stuff is how Our Lord draws us more closely to Him. Seems like maybe that is the reason He allowed the fall and why He allows the lingering effects of sin, only ever to draw us closer!

Visitation Sister: Good insight.

Bridget: Charity by almsgiving will help me “make up” for my sins…What i’ve been hearing and reading this Lent seems to suggest that my charity toward someone covers a multitude of THAT PERSON’S sins—maybe because showing charity toward someone softens my heart & I’m less conscious of or focused on their “sins”—or maybe my charity for someone is like asking for God’s forgiveness for that person– as Jesus did for His executioners??? And so, then God forgives me.

Caroline: You are on to something there, Cindy.

Sherry: Bridget – may I ask – where you read about the connection between our charity and forgiveness of sins for this person? A book?

Bridget: Sherry, I've been doing so much reading and listening to Lenten reflections, that I can’t give a title, but I was struck by how many times that message was being communicated.

Sherry: Thanks, Bridget.

Bridget: I think that message struck me because I have a number of people I need to seriously forgive!

Sherry: May God bless you with courage, Bridget, on the journey of forgiveness.

Bridget: Thank you, Sherry!

Counterbalancing Sin

Question: Consider St. Francis’s words: “You have sinned by thought, word, and deed; you must have recourse to contrary things, contrition, confession, and satisfaction.”)

Priscila: We need charity towards all because God loves each one of us.

Rebecca: Cindy, that is why the FALL is referred to — at least in a hymn — as “O happy fault”. It resulted in God revealing his love for us through his Son who redeemed us.

Ben: Amen!!!!

Cindy: I love your pearls of wisdom, Rebecca!

Caroline: Yes, if Adam and Eve had not fallen, would we be conscious of our need for God?

Bridget: Yes, Rebecca. Like when the Lord told St. Faustina that the greater the sinner the greater the sinner’s “right” to His Mercy.

Priscila: So, we must also love one another.

Ben: No Greater Sacrifice Could God the Father offer than to endure the suffering and Death of His Son for us knowing that He could stop it at any time, but He knew He must endure this to Truly Demonstrate His Love for All!!!!

Sherry: Quick side question – if allowed.. How would you define the difference between mercy and grace? Mercy a response of redemptive love? Undeserved gift?

Priscila: Not just a commandment…..God is love and He loves EACH of us and wants His creatures to love Him in return and because He loves each of His creatures we need to love our brothers and sisters too….because God loves THEM too.

Cindy: I’ve been reflecting on how it says in the first line of today’s Gospel reading, Jesus SAW the blind man… we must take the time to “see” others in order to be available to love them.

Sherry: Interestingly – the Spiritual Gift of MERCY – is described often – as the gift of “seeing” others in need.

Ben: Amen!!!!!

Caroline: I am going to have to meditate on the correlation between sight and mercy.

Priscila: Also having compassion for them.

Sherry: I think compassion starts with looking out, where there could be someone.

Cindy: Wow, Sherry, first time I recall hearing that, thank you.

Ben: The enemy attempts to blind us to the needs of others and Jesus opens our eyes to the needs of all!!!!!!!

Bridget: God allows us to share in His life through Grace; God shows us His Mercy by a choice and act of His Will when we don’t deserve His Goodness in justice.

Ben: Amen, Bridget!!!!

Is God Being Fair?

Question: We speak of God’s endless mercy, but is this short time on this confusing, broken earth a fair chance to discover and take advantage of God’s mercy?

Bridget: I think mercy is akin to meekness (which we tried to define a couple of weeks ago). God’s Mercy puts aside retribution or punishment which He is entitled to mete out, as meekness by humans defers to God’s choice in how to react…So the meek person foregoes seeking punishment or vengeance.

Sherry: I find the wording “take advantage” so misleading somehow. I would rather use – “receive” or “respond to”. Taking advantage of something or someone sounds like I am doing something inconsiderate. At least to me.

Rebecca: Bridget, Today I listened to a long testimony of a priest who had a powerful death experience as a 30-year-old sinner, and in the wake of it, turned into a believer and experienced a call to the priesthood. A visit to Medjugorje was part of the journey after his seemingly miraculous recovery.

Bridget: Praise God!

Sherry: Bridget – mercy and meekness – definitely both have the same root. Namely to let go of some kind of power – for the life of someone else.

Visitation Sister: I think He is merciful to us every day, all day long.

Bridget: So much–so many nuances–to ponder tonight.

Cindy: God’s timing in all things is perfect, so perhaps it is His mercy that makes our time on this earth so fleeting!

Bridget: I like the idea that God calls the soul as its optimum holiness, no matter their age.

Sherry: Back to the question. We need his mercy only here on earth – so it should be enough time.

Priscila: God’s mercy is endless…but we must show our love for God by contrition, confession, and satisfaction for the sins we commit in a positive effort….no matter for how short or long a time we get to do that.

Ben: God offers us a New Life every Day!!!!! Example of His Mercy!!!!!

Caroline: Yes, so while we are still here, we need to keep at it.

Bridget: Compared with the angels who got “one shot” at Heaven (or not), I do believe that in His Justice, Mercy, and Love, God gives us all the time and Grace we need—no matter how short or long our lives are. In fact, living a longer time can be an advantage or a disadvantage—living to 100 may give us more time to do good, but also more time to do evil….

Cindy: We are all, after all, in exile from our true home with Him. He will not keep those who accept His Love in exile forever!

Ben: Amen, Caroline!!!!!! And Pray for Each Other!!!!!!

Treasure the Time You Are Given

Sherry: Bridget – in regard to your last point, my uncle came back to God and Mother Church after several years – decades – of ignoring it. He had a powerful conversion and died the next day in a bicycle accident. I was in awe of God’s mercy – God took him into heaven on the height of his faith and interior purity.

Cindy: What a grace, Sherry!

Priscila: We must make positive steps in charity each day as St. Francis de Sales in his Treatise on the Love of God.

Bridget: Cindy, I love when someone’s “death” is referred to as his or her “Homecoming!”

Caroline: It really is!

Sherry: I agree. What a grace.

Rebecca: Sherry, don’t the souls in purgatory also need his mercy to be able to enter heaven? Isn’t that why we are called to pray for the souls in purgatory?

Bridget: Which reminds me that I heard/read that one root of the word cemetery is dormitory, as in the believers’ bodies are in dormition till the Resurrection of the bodies!

Cindy: Me too, Bridget. I am working as a hospice nurse now and it is such a privilege to witness someone’s rebirthday into eternity!

Sherry: Rebecca, I thought about that too, but it refers in the question “if we would need more time,” and that’s why I wrote what I said. Too complicated to write my thoughts out on that, Rebecca. But I actually agree with what you said.

Bridget: Bravo for you, Cindy!!! I went through hospice volunteer training and had one indelible experience of “mid-wifing” someone into eternal life…Chilling in its sacred awesomeness!

Rebecca: True, Cindy, in a way we are in Exile here, but in a way, it can be such a BEAUTIFUL exile! And with the Mass we have a foretaste of heaven!

Ben: God Bless Your Hospice Ministry, Cindy!!!!!!

Bridget: Your patients are blessed to have you!!!!

Priscila: We have to be prepared either way. My grandmother used to say today is given, tomorrow is not promised.

Sherry: Your grandmother was very wise, Priscila.

Bridget: Amen!

Sherry: That’s why I always eat up all the chocolate at home.

Priscila: Even time is God’s gift to us.

Sherry: Yes, Priscila, YES. Time is a gift for us.

Caroline: Yes, always finish the chocolate, just in case.

Sherry: I knew we are on the same page, Caroline.

Bridget: Sherry, are you planning to be holding a spoon in your casket–as someone whose message was: The best is yet to come (And like you–I hope there’s lots of (dark?) Chocolate.

Sherry: LOLLLL. Love this, Bridget. Will pass that on to my husband. New rule for my will. Spoon in my casket!

Ben: Great Time with All of You Tonight!!!!!! Keep Shining for Jesus!!!!!! God Bless You All!!!!!!

Cindy: A sweet celebration of 13 years of the chat room!

Caroline: It has been that long?

Visitation Sister: Yes, Caroline.

Sherry: Has anyone been here that long? I am sort of a newbie with my 2 years here.

Cindy: Yet SO very appreciated, Sherry!

Cindy: Amen, Rebecca.

Taking a Bit of Earth to Heaven?

Priscila: Here is something to think about: Will we have what we have enjoyed in this life in heaven or what we have sacrificed and done without?

Bridget: A couple of years ago, I fulfilled my longtime desire to be buried in a simple Trappist casket…Asked my family to decorate with holy images and sayings. (Not that I’m in the casket yet…but it’s ordered for when the old body needs it!).

Sherry: Phew, Bridget, you got me worried for a minute.

Bridget: I’m not like the former character on NCIS.

Sherry: LOL. Priscila, I am not sure if I understand your question. I think everything we have done “through” and “with” Christ will be with us in heaven. Everything else will fall away.

Rebecca: Priscila, and even not ALL of today is promised or given until it is lived out.

Caroline: It is so hard to imagine what we will be like.

Sherry: You are right, Caroline, so hard to imagine… sometimes I go to the transfiguration to get a glimpse.

Caroline: Time and space had no meaning for Jesus’ resurrected body.

If you would like to chat with Catholics like yourself, why not check out our Living Jesus Chat Room of the Visitation Sisters. Join us at 7:30 p.m. ET each Sunday! We read a passage of St. Francis de Sales and then gather great insights and sharing!