God’s Greatest Joy

"I desire MERCY, not sacrifice." Matthew 12:7

It's hard to balance disciplining and mercy when it comes to children, employees,

students, anyone who has done something wrong, because we always want to teach a lesson about consequences of their actions.

If they make a mistake, or are dishonest, we want to mete out a justifiable punishment. I sometimes fear if I'm too soft, they won't learn the lesson and they'll do it again. But how about God?

“The wages of sin is death," (Romans 6:3) shows death is what we deserve for sinning! And yet the verse continues, “but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." That is pure mercy, pure grace, and pure sacrifice for us!

And so when deciding on the consequence, it is always best to temper discipline with mercy, to bear witness to the truth of God's own love and unbelievable mercy! 

St. Alphonsus recounts this story: St. Vincent Ferrer once said to a man dying in despair: “Why will you ruin yourself when Jesus Christ wishes to save you?" And he answered, that in spite of Christ he would be damned. The saint replied: "And you, in spite of yourself, shall be saved." He began to pray with the persons of the house, and behold, the sick man asked to make his confession, made it weeping, and then died.

We must remember it is God’s greatest joy to pardon sinners, and to be like our Father, we should make haste to do the same to those we need to forgive.