Year of Mercy Reflection

Friday, Dec. 18, 2015

 

I’m in the principal’s office (not because I’m in trouble this time, but because I’m actually the principal), and sitting across from me is a student I’ve seen here many times before. He’s impulsive, subtly defiant and gives me periodic headaches. Should I show him mercy again? How many times should I show him mercy? Seventy times seven? Should I expel him, as three mothers have demanded me to do? 

Not all of us are employed as teachers, but as adults, we instruct young people by our example. We are called to model Jesus, and as such, we should be merciful and patient and forgiving and … easier said than done. As Stephen Sondheim wrote, “Children may not obey, but children will listen.” 

Our examples resonate with children. We all have stories from our youth about adults who humiliated us or bawled us out, who overreacted because that’s the only way they knew how to deal with kids, and whose example we now actively avoid or, unfortunately, imitate.

In a homily, Pope Francis said that God’s power to forgive is greater than the power he used to create the world. He says, “We need to open our hearts so that God can enter with his mercy and forgiveness.”

 Do we forgive other’s mistakes and imitate God’s mercy? If we invite God into our hearts, how could we do otherwise?

When I was in 8th grade, I got in trouble with my principal, Sister Loyola, and she dealt with me mercifully. Had God’s mercy not been in her heart, maybe I would not have become a Catholic school teacher and principal. 

So, what should we do when some young person has frazzled our last nerve?

Whatever we decide, it must be guided by God’s mercy.  

Gary Green

Principal, St. Vincent de Paul School