Good Day Supporters and Lurkers! Since I passed on a morning religious ramble I thought I would share one with you mid-day. As a whole Christians do not believe in karma as a life leveling reality. But we do believe that like often attracts like and the company you keep often determines your experience. Today's Gospel at Mass is about as close as we get to karma and it is something that God's administers rather than being at work in the world of its own free will.

Give, and there will be gifts for you: a full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be poured into your lap; because the amount you measure out is the amount you will be given back.

That passage follows an invitation to be merciful so that you might receive mercy. Not the same as karma, but the passage informs us that we will get what we give measured back to us. God is never outdone in mercy & forgiveness, and at the same time is profoundly aware of the motivations and desires of individuals. There is no bullshitting the Almighty. God sees through every pretense. The Judgement will be more about our ability to be honest with ourselves or if we keep believing the lies we tell ourselves to keep our warped world view intact. The inability to be contrite will certainly hurt us The distortions of the diabolical are seductive to any who grow accustomed to self-deception.

Mercy and our cultivating of it does mean we have to pretend that life is all hunky-dory when in fact life is a fractured mess and sleep-walking humanity is more dangerous than any wild animal. Mercy is often about the temptation to define our life by our wounds & misfortunes. We cultivate a sense on injured victimhood that become the defining narrative of our personal life. In our inability to forgive (not the same as reconciliation) the past and its injuries become a toxic wound in our hearts. It may not ooze out its bitterness all the time, but whenever the memory reoccurs the poison get reintroduced to our person.

Reconciliation takes a mutual awareness of the involved parties. One side forgiving the offense, the other side knowing the offense and being sorry for it. Statements like "I am sorry for everything" are some of the most worthless statements a person can make. Everything might as well mean nothing, because if you can't name it, chances are you aren't sufficiently aware of what you did. Ugly acts of the past find healing in the concreteness of us being able to name them. 12 Steppers know this and people who do the hard work of self-awareness and personal narrative exploration in an effort to make sense of their story. You can't know or accept yourself without knowing the difficult chapters in a new light.

One of the best things about being adult is the ability to hold contrary feelings without fracturing. I can be very hurt over past wrongs done to me and yet be grateful for what I learned from them. Eventually the hurt gives way to acceptance and peace, never ignoring the reality but seeing it in a new light and broader perspective.

One day it leads us to pray for our persecutors since we realize the burden they carry in their broken life. One can hope they are contrite and aware enough to accept the wrong or evil they have done, and repent and make amends where possible, if not they will be a prisoner of it for a lifetime and perhaps beyond.