Movement 5 (Beatitudes)

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 

We have faced our own tragedy, cried out, and through His Presence we have slowly been raised up. We are continuously being healed and strengthened in heart. We walk in the courage of mercy that we have received. And we know that we will continue to receive.

We have now seen ourselves and life on life’s terms and God’s way of love. We have now seen and faced and felt; we are being healed from the tragedy of life. We see through the ego of our false selves how far we humans have gone away from how God made true life to be. Where God intended creation, we once participated in destruction; where hope was made to be realized, we once found despair, even leading others to it; where light was made to show the way, we once sought the blindness of darkness or the dim sight of the shadows; where life was made to flourish, we once were the walking dead, isolated from our own hearts, others’ hearts, and the center of God, His love, His vision, His heart of mercy.

We know that life is tragic, once participating in the void of it; now we know that God is faithful in the midst of this great tragedy — He is the God of creation, hope, light, and life. He is the God of love, the rentlentless pursuer of us. The One who does not rest in His desire to have us back. 

We have received His mercy and are being daily revived, redeemed, restored, recovered, reformed, recreated, and continually replenished in relationship. We know that He is the “re” God, our daily “re” God. Daily, we must refresh ourselves in Him.

Today, out of the mercy we have received, we give mercy to those we see are trapped. We know them. We find them where we once tried to survive, behind masks and when the masks are ripped away. We find them in despair, destruction, darkness and death. Even the ugliness of our pasts is being turned into beauties of hope for others. For if God can do for us and with us what we could not do for ourselves, then God can do for others who are where we were. We do not pronounce so much as simply live our lives that cannot help but bless others.

We no longer judge out of our fears of God being too small. We offer our gifts to those in need who are cursed by existing where we once existed and could again if we reject dependence. As we show mercy, we receive more and more gratitude and awe about God. We receive more than we could ever deserve. Our humility increases as does the recognition of our greatness in Him. 

We also find that others, likewise, who once were trapped no longer judge us; rather, they trust us, which increases the gratitude and awe we experience in the Creator’s detailed design of progressing towards His ends. 

We humbly receive the love as a gift. The gift of mercy does not inflate our egos; rather, it helps us remember that we have been given what we did not deserve and what we once discredited. 

We know the Samaritan in the gospel of Luke 10: 30-35. He gave mercy out of his own healing. He knew gratitude because he had experienced the opposite. He knew wounds, for he had them. He knew care because he had received it. He gave from what he had. He had received because he knew need. He could care because he had gone from darkness, destruction, despair, and death himself. He could bring light, creation, hope, and courage to what he knew could be different.