Joining In God's Great Flow of Mercy

Photo by Suzanne Fitzmaurice, OSB

On November 11, 1863 — 160 years ago — seven Benedictine sisters who became the founders of Mount St. Scholastica arrived in Atchison, Kansas. My great-great-grandfather, Lambert Halling, who was employed by the monks of St. Benedict’s Abbey as a carpenter, met them at the ferry with his co-worker, James Kennedy, and escorted them to their newly built convent. Not all people in this frontier town welcomed Catholics, however, and the wharfmaster had heard of threats to burn down the house if Catholic sisters took up residence. Therefore, these two carpenters paced in front of the building until morning, lanterns in hand, to ward off potential intruders.

At a compline prayer service on November 10 commemorating this event, we heard this reading from Sirach: 

Now bless the God of all
    who everywhere does great things,
    who raises us up from our birth
    and deals mercifully with us.
May God give us gladness in our hearts,
   and may there be peace in our time,
    in Israel as in times past.

May God grant us his mercy,

    and may God rescue us in our lifetime.

In 1863, my great-great-grandfather listened to the call to protect this small band of vulnerable sisters; he happened to be present at a time of need and he responded, and in doing so, he became an agent of God’s mercy.

Like him and so many others, we who are present today when others are in need can join in God’s great flow of mercy. We can stand up for those in our own time who are misunderstood or oppressed. We can provide spiritual and physical sustenance for those who need food and housing and for those who are hungry to know God. And in extending God’s mercy to others, we come to see how God deals mercifully with each of us in our own time of need, our own time of brokenness, our own times when we need rescue. In being agents of God’s mercy by serving others, we learn gratitude and humility. And so may we extend God’s light to others, that God may give us gladness in our hearts and peace in our times.