The Ol’ Horse-to-Water Axiom and Offering God’s Mercy

It’s a simple concept, especially if you are a horseman, though less likely understood in a growing urban society.  Except, it’s such a good metaphor that it is engrained in our society as a sidle into anything we teachers, leaders, managers have to work to get newer people to comprehend, act upon, and internalize.

Simply put, ‘You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink’.  If the horse doesn’t want the water for whatever reason its horse sense tells it, it’s simply not going to muzzle in and draught down the life-giving, cleansing essential its body needs.  I guess knowing this is why I have so much respect for horse people.  They partner with their animals and pick up on those more sensible things.

One of Pope Francis’s mantras is ‘mercy’.  I’m no one, so who am I to say its commendable of him to preach what is a core thread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Commendable as well is how the faithful leadership has picked up on this mantra and made it their own, all the way down to the ‘deck plates’ of their own ministries.  Mercy is very much a needed component of the understanding of Christianity and acceptance of Truth (yes, a capitol ‘T’).  Here’s where the horse sense comes into play.

Those being offered mercy have to want that mercy.  They have to believe that they need that mercy.  They have to know in their being that this mercy is life giving and has to be ‘ingested’ in order to strengthen and heal their hearts, their minds, their souls.

So, what if they don’t?  What if those who are being offered mercy won’t ‘drink the water’? What if they don’t believe they are in need?  What if they are perfectly content with their choices, even and especially choices contrary to the Gospel?  What happens to the gift of mercy that is offered?

It’s still a gift.  It’s still there, in the well, in the watering hole of the love offered by Christ.  It’s just waiting for them to turn their hearts toward the Word made flesh.

St. Ignatius of Loyola penned a prayer of his asking for Jesus to enter into him fully.  Ignatius was turned toward the well of mercy and taking a full draught of the gift. Here’s his prayer;

ANIMA CHRISTI

Soul of Christ, sanctify me. Body of Christ, save me. Blood of Christ, inebriate me. Water from the side of Christ, wash me. Passion of Christ, strengthen me. O good Jesus, hear me. Within Thy wounds hide me. Separated from Thee let me never be. From the malignant enemy, defend me. At the hour of death, call me. And close to Thee bid me. That with Thy saints I may be Praising Thee, forever and ever. Amen.

Probably the majority of us are familiar with the concept of inebriation from one or more experiences.  I want to consider, though, the next line.  It’s a more imagination driven line from the physical aspect.  Most of us today are likely not familiar, though those in the butchers’ trade and hunters will know this well.

“Water from the side of Christ, wash me.”  Can you imagine?  You are at the foot of the cross, with the three Mary’s and Jesus’ best friend.  The Centurion says, “Make sure he’s dead,” and the soldier is lifting up the spear to pierce Jesus’s side.  Around you all are local and national leaders jeering and mocking what they think is a dead man, cheering even at his demise.  As the spear penetrants, body fluids drip out.  When the spear is removed and the back prongs tear open His torso, water and blood and bile and whatever else the body uses for defenses pours out over top of you and sprays on the others.  You are actually baptized in to the body and blood of Christianity.

We teachers and leaders clean this up of course, most times to our own squeamishness of the whole situation.  Two beautiful and most prominent pictures of Divine Mercy show white and red light shining down from a peaceful resurrected Jesus, opening the top of His cloak with His left hand while blessing us with His right.  We speak of mercy and love as the Hippies of the 1960’s spoke of ‘peace, love, and togetherness’ with a near complete lack of understanding of actual life events. It’s a utopian shadow that lies over the actual need to change the way we think so as to change the things we do.

Image of the original painting commissioned for and approved by Sister Faustina of her vision of the Divine Mercy

This is the offer of mercy, though.  It is volunteering to suffer, by seeing Jesus and his family suffer and watching, even intervening as our own families suffer.  It is to ‘get messy’ by being enveloped in a faith that understands now the necessity of giving up oneself in the promise of resurrection. Our lives or necessarily difficult.  We make mistakes.  However, every day we can start anew, every moment we err we can reverse the choice and live better. And resurrection means to be perfectly in union with the Creator, the Son, and the Spirit.

We can, and we should, preach mercy often.  We should remind the faithful and beyond that Christ’s mercy continues to pour out for them.  We should also, while we wait for others to choose to walk into the outpouring of blood and water that is Christ’s mercy, to drink, and be prepared to live the disciplined path (discipleship) of the Gospel.  From the Pope to the Bishops, to the priests and deacons, to the Lay Ministers who are the foundation of running the Church, all must make this their commitment to present discipleship as the blessing for drinking from the Source.