12/17/2025
A PLACE FOR SANCTUARY. DAILY DOSE.
On a busy Saturday morning, Dad and his five-year-old son Martin made a bargain: If Martin behaved himself while Dad ran some errands at the home improvement store, Dad would take Martin to a movie.
Deal!
But the deal quickly fell apart. Martin began to pout and whine as soon as he and Dad walked into the store, making it impossible for Dad to get anything done.
“I don’t think you’re holding up your end of the bargain, buddy,” Dad said. “We had a deal. Remember?”
The little boy nodded tearfully.
Dad noticed that Martin’s shoelaces had come undone, and knelt down to tie them. Martin sniffled and grasped the sleeve of his father’s sweatshirt, holding on. While Dad was still on his knees, he noticed the chaos around them: Shoppers nudged and pushed one another in an effort to get through the aisles; a hysterical mother called out for a lost child; a display of boxed items tumbled to the floor because a distracted customer wheeled a cart into it. And poor Martin kept getting hit in the shoulders and head with purses and bags as people brushed passed him.
From this vantage point, Dad realized how overwhelming and terrifying all of this chaos was to a five-year-old. He felt badly for not having been more sympathetic to his son’s plight and realized that Martin had been a champ in trying to brave his way through it all.
Shoes tied, Dad lifted up Martin and placed him on his shoulders. “Hey, buddy, what do you say we get out of here and do this shopping some other time?”
“Are you sure, Daddy?” Martin asked, trying to gauge why the plan was changing.
“Yup. Positive. Let’s go to that movie.”
(Adapted from Seeds of Greatness, by Denis Waitley)
And yes. Life can be overwhelming and alarming. And we do are darndest to not show it. These are just the times and places, where we could use—and show—a little mercy.
"A little bit of mercy makes the world less cold and more just." Pope Francis reminded us. And as I write this, I am remembering with gratitude the words spoken at his funeral in April of this year. In his homily, Cardinal Giovanni Re said, “Pope Francis always placed the Gospel of mercy at the center.”
Francis’ papal motto says it all; “Miserando atque eligendo” (meaning, “He looked with mercy and chose”—the words referring to the Gospel story about the calling of Matthew, the tax collector.)
“He (Francis) often used the image of the Church as a ‘field hospital’ after a battle in which many were wounded; a Church determined to take care of the problems of people and the great anxieties that tear the contemporary world apart; a Church capable of bending down to every person, regardless of their beliefs or condition, and healing their wounds.” Cardinal Re said.
Yes, and Amen. Francis, a voice of mercy, for the wounded and the marginalized—inviting the compassionate treatment of those in need (even and especially when it’s within one’s power to harm or “punish” them).
And this I know my friends: We live in an emotionally and spiritually de-hydrated world, thirsty for the sustaining balm of mercy—and may we spill gifts of mercy today, including a bit of mercy to our own hearts.
And if you can, please join me January 23 – 25. Mercy Center in Auburn, California. Our subject: Soul Gardening. I’ll see some of you there.
Prayer for our week...
Light One Candle
Light one candle for the Maccabee children
With thanks that their light didn't die
Light one candle for the pain they endured
When their right to exist was denied
Light one candle for the terrible sacrifice
Justice and freedom demand
But light one candle for the wisdom to know
When the peacemaker's time is at hand
Don't let the light go out
It's lasted for so many years
Don't let the light go out
Let it shine through our love and our tears
Light one candle for the strength that we need
To never become our own foe
And light one candle for those who are suffering
Pain we learned so long ago
Light one candle for all we believe in
Let anger not tear us apart
And light one candle to bind us together
With peace as the song in our heart
What is the memory that's valued so highly
That we keep it alive in that flame?
What's the commitment to those who have died
When we cry out they've not died in vain?
We have come this far, always believing
That justice will somehow prevail
Oh, this is the burden, this is the promise
This why we will not fail!
Peter Paul and Mary
Photo... "Terry, From an American who’s busily 'traveled' the daily needs of those around… now allowing my soul to catch up with my body on the Caribbean… ah, the grace of Advent," Susie Hahn... Thank you Susie... And thank you for your photos, please send them to [email protected]
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