On The Journey Toward Becoming More Merciful

One day I had two experiences that helped me to understand that being merciful means being nonjudgmental and believing deeply that God is in everyone, everything, all the time, without discrimination or judgment. God sees us as beautiful and able to show mercy as well as broken and in need of mercy. And God does not place a greater value on one or the other. Being merciful and receiving mercy are both paths to experiencing God's love.
On a recent visit to Ukraine, I attended a liturgy in the beautiful new chapel at the Ukrainian Catholic University. The priests, dressed in gold robes, were chanting prayers and incensing the altar to sanctify it. As the incense rose, it caught the light coming through the stained glass windows, and it seemed as if our prayers were rising to heaven and praising God. I thought, How beautiful this is, and how pleased God must be with these prayers!
Later that day, I visited a psychiatric hospital in Lviv. It is an old and desperate place where almost two thousand people live in large wards with no heat, often no mattresses on their beds and only sporadic, cold running water. In one of the wards, under a grimy window, sat two men dressed in torn clothes and looking very tired and sad. They were both smoking, and the rays of light coming through the window highlighted the curling smoke and made it look like incense rising to heaven. I was reminded of the mass earlier in the day, and I thought, Their smoking is giving praise to God, and God is present here, too.
God doesn't think about churches, hospitals, robes or torn clothes. God thinks about people's desire to give and receive mercy; their desire to belong, to love and be loved. And God accepts every gesture, no matter how poor or polished, as an attempt to belong, to love and be loved.

- Joe Vorstermans