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IN
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Aaron Lau
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Beth Manibog
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Armand Sol
Saint
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 - PROFILE
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- GENESIS
CATHOLIC COMMUNITY
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- OUR
FAITH
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- Once
there was a mighty king, who was father of four daughters by the name
of Mercy, Truth, Justice and Peace. He also had a son, who was the
exact likeness of his father and shared in the fullness of his glory
and might. In the family was also a servant, upon whom the king had
lavished so many honors and privileges, that his position was almost
no different from that of the children. Like all wise masters in the
world do, the king wanted to test the loyalty and dedication of his
servant. So he said to him, “I will shower upon you even more privileges if you obey my will; if
not, you shall perish miserably.” But the servant was a very
arrogant and haughty person. He went away and immediately transgressed
the given order. Worse! The stiff-necked servant, filled with stupid
pride, tried to justify his misbehavior by making his master
responsible for it. He said, “the
woman you put with me gave me the fruit and I ate it.” (Gen.
3:12). These brutal words made the king even more angry than the
wrongdoing itself. He called four cruel executioners, whose names I
will mention on time, and ordered the first one to throw him in jail,
the second to inflict torture on him, the third one to strangle him
and the last one to behead him.
-
- Then
they started thinking on how to carry out their cruelties. They seized
the unlucky servant, took him away and began punishing him in whatever
manner they could think of.
-
- But
one of the daughters of the king, called Mercy, upon hearing of the
punishment of the servant, ran to the prison. Peeping inside and
seeing how he was delivered to the arbitrariness of the tormentors,
she could not help but feel pity for him, because it is the property
of mercy to feel pity. She tore her garment, struck her hands
together, and let her hair fall loose about the neck. Crying and
shrieking of anxiety she rushed back to her father, fell on her knees
before him and started pleading with an earnest and sorrowful voice, “My
dear father, am I not your daughter Mercy? Was it not you who called
me merciful after you yourself? If you are merciful, have mercy on
your servant. If you will not show mercy on him, you cannot be called
merciful. And if you are not merciful, you cannot have me, Mercy, as
your daughter.”
-
- Still
arguing with her father, her sister Truth came in and asked why Mercy
was crying. The father answered, “Your
sister Mercy pleaded to me and wanted me to have mercy upon that
rebellious and arrogant servant of ours, whom I have delivered to be
punished.” When Truth heard this, she was very angry at her
elder sister, and looking her father straight in the eyes, she said, “Am
I not your daughter Truth? Can it be denied, that you have set
punishment for him and threatened him with death by torment? If you
are true, you will follow what is true; if you do not, you cannot be
true and you cannot have me, Truth, as your daughter.”
-
- The
third sister, Justice, on hearing the fight of words, and moved by the
consternation it caused, began to inquire the case and asked Truth
about it. And Truth, who couldn’t do other but telling the truth
said, “This sister of ours,
Mercy, in disagreement with us, wants our father to have pity on that
wretched servant.” Then Justice, with an angry look, said to her
father, “Am I not your daughter Justice? Are you yourself not just? If you are
just, you will exercise justice on the transgressor; if you do not,
you cannot be just; and if you are not just, you cannot have me as
daughter.”
-
- So
here were Truth and Justice on one side, and Mercy on the other. It
made Peace flee away to a remote country. For where there is
competition and conflict, Peace cannot exist, and the bigger the
conflict, the farther Peace is expelled. Seeing Peace gone, and his
other daughters involved in hot debate, the king found it extremely
hard to decide about what to do or whose side to take on. For if he
would give in to Mercy, he would have Truth and Justice against him;
if he would give in to Truth and Justice, he could not have Mercy any
longer as his daughter. He had to reconcile the requirements of Truth
and Justice with the requirements of Mercy and Truth. But how? He
really was in need of good advice.
-
- So
the father called his wise son and explained the case to him. The son
replied, “Father,
leave it over to me! I will punish the transgressor, as well as return
to you in harmony your four daughters.”
-
- “These
are big promises,”
the father said. “If you can
prove your words and succeed, I will do what you tell me.”
-
- Once
having received the authorization of the king, the son took his sister
mercy with him. After climbing mountains and passing hills, they
arrived at the prison. And looking through the windows and bars, he
saw the servant handcuffed, isolated from the world, devoured by
affliction. From top to toe there was no soundness in him. He saw him
in the power of death, because it was through him that death had
entered the world. He saw him devoured – because once a man is dead,
he is eaten by worms.
-
- Now
is the time to tell you the names of four tormentors. The first to put
him in jail is CAPTIVITY, because present life on earth is in need of
liberation and release. The second one is MISERY after the manifold
sufferings and wretchedness of human life in the world. The third one,
who has him put to death, is DEATH. Nobody escapes him. Finally, the
last tormentor who was charged to devour him is called WORMS.
-
- When
the son saw how powerlessly and mercilessly the servant was delivered
in the hands of these four tormentors, he felt deep mercy in him, for
Mercy was his companion. And bursting into the prison of death, he
conquered Death, bound the strong man, took his goods, distributed the
spoils and set the servants free. He ascended up on high, bringing the
servant back to his country, crowned him with double honor and endued
him with a garment of immortality. When Mercy beheld this, she had no
grounds for complaint. Truth, too, found no cause of discontent
because her father was found true. The servant had paid all his
penalties. So Justice likewise did not complain, as justice had been
executed on the transgressor. Peace, therefore, seeing her sisters in
mutual harmony, came back and joined them again.
-
- God’s
Word had become true: “Mercy and Truth are met together; Justice and
Peace kiss each other.” (Psalm 85:10)
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