Our Calling to Be Channels of Divine Mercy
We must have experienced it before in prayer – the silence of God and feeling distant from Him. We pour out prayers to Him, begging Him for things that we believe are in accord with His will for us and yet we feel abandoned and ignored by God.
Could it be that God is inviting us at those moments to be willing channels of His merciful love to others? Could it be that we were being called to more than intercessory prayers at such moments?
How did Jesus merit the mercy of God for us? He hung dying on the cross, crying out to the Father for our sake, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing” (Lk 23:34). All the while, He so experienced the silence and abandonment of His Father that He cried out, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” (Mk 15:34).
If Jesus prayed and suffered for us while enduring the silence of the Father in order to merit for us the mercy of the Father, how in the world can we hope to bring this merciful love to others without praying, suffering evils, and enduring the silence of God? We just cannot bring the mercy of God to others by simply praying for them.
Jesus invited the Canaanite woman in Mt 15:21-28 to become a channel of His merciful love to her daughter. She came to Him pleading for mercy, “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon.” Jesus wanted more than her mere prayers for her daughter’s deliverance.
Jesus’ first response to her request was utter silence, “But Jesus did not say a word in response to her.” She was not discouraged by His silence but continued to cry out to Him, “Lord, help me.”
She also endured rejection from the disciples who were quick to dismiss her as a nuisance. They said to Jesus, “Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.” She experienced isolation and the indifference of others. Despite her anguished prayers, she did not experience any support at all from Jesus’ disciples.
Lastly, she heard the rather belittling response of Jesus, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” She endured this too and attested to her unworthiness and the abundance of gifts that flow from divine goodness, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.”
