Lord Have Mercy

What do we do when we have inadvertently wounded someone? Or more specifically, what do I do when I have wounded someone, especially unintentionally? After the shock of the realization, there’s the tendency to try to parse it, to analyze the situation, to make it better somehow. There’s the desire to go back and try to figure out how to say it better, how to do it better.

Instead of trying to justify myself, I simply need to go in humility and ask forgiveness. There is never any guarantee that forgiveness will be offered.

Posturing will not do. Standing rigid will not do. The only possible honest stance is humble confession, to stand bowed as the tax collector and say, “Lord, have mercy on me a sinner.”

Kyrie eleison. Christe eleison. Kyrie eleison.

Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. Lord have mercy.

Matthew 5:23-24

So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.