DIOCESE OF NOVALICHES

Commission on Faith & Formation

Social Communications and Media Ministry
Christ The King Parish, Atlas Street, Filinvest 2,
Batasan Hills, Q.C. 1126 * 5145318 / 5145312

4TH WORLD APOSTOLIC CONGRESS ON MERCY (WACOM 4)

CELEBRATION OF THE MOST HOLY EUCHARIST
DAY 2 - JANUARY 17, 2017 - UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS
Transcript of Homily of the
Most Rev. Socrates Villegas, D.D., Archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan
Mercy is the essence of Christianity. When you look at the Eyes of Jesus, those eyes are the Eyes of
Mercy. When you look at the pierced hands of Jesus, those hands are the Hands of Mercy. When you
look at the pierced side of Jesus, that opens us to the Heart of the Mercy of God. And the essence of
the Gospel is mercy.
And yet it is so difficult to find mercy in the world that God has created. We need mercy yet we are
afraid to show mercy. Instead of mercy, there is terror. Instead of mercy, there is anger. Instead of
mercy, there is death penalty. Instead of mercy, there is revenge.
Why? Because we are afraid to look at Mercy in the eyes. And we are afraid that Mercy will challenge
us to be merciful and we are not ready. Can we be afraid of Mercy? Yes, we are afraid of Mercy. And
what are the signs that show that we are a people afraid of Mercy.
First, there is the fear of scarcity. There is the fear of being emptied. There is the fear of nothingness.
There is the fear of being considered nothing. But, brothers and sisters, did not St. Paul teach us that
'He emptied Himself and took the form of a slave being born in the likeness of men'?
When was the Mercy of God shown at its height and in its depth? When the tomb was empty. In the
emptiness of the tomb, in the nothingness of the tomb, the Mercy of God is proclaimed. And yet, we
are afraid to empty ourselves. We are afraid to follow Jesus in His Kenosis.
In this generation that grabs, that accumulates,
we are afraid to have nothing. But it is only when
we have nothing, that we can truly allow the
Gospel of Mercy to really shine through us.
When we are so full of ourselves, when we
become so full of our attachments, when we
come so full of our own dreams and ambitions,
then mercy becomes impossible to live, mercy
becomes impossible to share.

Afraid of emptying. Afraid of nothingness. Afraid of scarcity.

The great obstacle for the world to becoming a merciful world is self mercy--when we think we are the
most deserving of all mercies and we are afraid that mercy will run out when we start to give it. The
second fear that prevents us from being merciful is the fear of being opposed.
The Gospel of Mercy is a sign of contradictions. The Gospel of Mercy will disturb the promoters of the
culture of death. When you fight the enemy, when you fight evil, evil will strike you back. So we
choose to be quiet in the case of our security, in the case of our safety so that people will say nothing
against us.
But, brothers and sisters in Christ, the destiny of people who show mercy is martyrdom. And
martyrdom is the great act of mercy. And if we want to become a world that is capable of showing
mercy, we must be ready to die for one another!
If there is no greater love than to die for your beloved, there is no greater act of mercy than to die for
those who do not even ask for our mercy because that is how God dealt with us. When we were still
sinners, God loved us. When we were most unfaithful, God lied on the Cross for us. Do not be afraid
to be opposed.
Do not be afraid of the Cross. Do not be afraid of being martyrs for Mercy because that is the destiny
of those who follow the Divine Mercy. There is still the fear not just of opposition but there is the fear
of being weak. We associate mercy with weakness.
But believe me, brothers and sisters, God is almighty is because God is merciful and the strength of
God is in being Merciful, is in being Compassionate. We are afraid people will fool around. We are
afraid people will defeat us. And in order to protect ourselves, we withhold mercy.
In order to protect ourselves, we refuse to give mercy because nobody ever dare to call me, 'Foolish'.
But isn't that how Christians are called, 'Fools for Christ'? If we are not ready to be called 'Fools for the
Merciful Christ', then we might be worshipping another God and not the God of Mercy.
Afraid of emptying. Afraid of being nothing. Afraid of being opposed. Afraid of pain and suffering.
Afraid to being too soft. And there is still another fear: the fear of silence.
We always want to do something. And yet
Scriptures are clear, 'Be still and now that I am
God'. The Mercy of God challenges us that the
essence of our Christianity is not in having, is not
in acting, is not in doing, but in being--in being
still. And in the silence, to allow the Language of
God to speak to us. In the midst of the ___ of
noise in the world, the opposing __ lies, let us
choose to be quiet, to be still, and to allow that
Silence to speak to us.

And lastly, the fear of waiting. Mercy challenges us to wait for the Kyros, to wait for the right time, to
wait for God's time. But we say, 'Time is gold', and we say, 'Time is money', and 'Time lost can never be
recovered'. But it is 'The time that you spent with your rose that makes your rose very special'. There
is the 'Time spent in waiting that makes love truly awesome, truly divine'.
Brothers and sisters, the Mercy of God challenges us to wait. Do not be afraid to wait because 'Love is
patient' and 'Love always waits'. Do not be afraid to wait even if it takes forever. Do not be afraid to
keep quiet, to be still and allow the Lord to speak to you. Do not be afraid of tenderness. Do not be
afraid to be soft because only the strong can be merciful. Do not be afraid of being opposed.
Do not be afraid of the Gospel of Mercy, which is the Gospel of Contradiction. It will be opposed by a
world that knows only death. It will be opposed by a world that knows only revenge. It will be
opposed by a society that knows only anger. But stand up nevertheless!
And show to everybody that our best-kept secret and no-longer-a-secret-to-peace is mercy. Do not be
afraid to have nothing. Do not be afraid to be empty.
Brothers and sisters, I dare you. Dare to be merciful! Do not be afraid to be merciful! And it is by the
power of our mercy, patterned after the Mercy of the Almighty, that the world will see the peace, the
freshness, the new life that it has been looking for all these years.
Dare to be merciful. Do not be afraid to be merciful.

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