Oboedire "Year of Mercy: Flee Corruption" by J. Steven Harper

Oboedire   "Year of Mercy: Flee Corruption" by J. Steven Harper
(19) With courageous specificity, Pope Francis calls on those who knowingly practice corruption to change their ways and be transformed by the grace of God into those who knowingly show mercy. Included in his call are those in criminal organizations (and any others, for that matter) who prey on others and exist due to rampant greed.
Mercenary activity of any kind creates merciless living, depriving others of their dignity, property, feelings--and in some cases, even their lives. The Pope leaves no doubt about it--any person, group or organization that is rooted in making money as an end in itself works against mercy, because accumulation replaces altruism.
This is a hard-hitting segment of the Pope's writing--what might be called the "prophetic" side of the mercy message--the side which confronts every egoic individual or system that blocks the flow of God's mercy.
Pope Francis puts it this way: "To stick to the way of evil will leave one deluded and sad. The way of life is something entirely different." But the Pope does not leave his exhortation there--which would be to withhold the very mercy he is commending.
He goes on, ending this segment ends with an invitation to those who are engaged in corruption to abandon it and choose life, so that they too might become receivers of God's mercy--and, in turn, be agents of mercy to others.
[Note: the numbers at the beginning of each meditation correspond to the section of the Pope's document on which it is based][J. Steven Harper]
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19. May the message of mercy reach everyone, and may no one be indifferent to the call to experience mercy. I direct this invitation to conversion even more fervently to those whose behaviour distances them from the grace of God. I particularly have in mind men and women belonging to criminal organizations of any kind. For their own good, I beg them to change their lives. I ask them this in the name of the Son of God who, though rejecting sin, never rejected the sinner. Do not fall into the terrible trap of thinking that life depends on money and that, in comparison with money, anything else is devoid of value or dignity. This is nothing but an illusion! We cannot take money with us into the life beyond. Money does not bring us happiness. Violence inflicted for the sake of amassing riches soaked in blood makes one neither powerful nor immortal. Everyone, sooner or later, will be subject to God’s judgment, from which no one can escape.

The same invitation is extended to those who either perpetrate or participate in corruption. This festering wound is a grave sin that cries out to heaven for vengeance, because it threatens the very foundations of personal and social life. Corruption prevents us from looking to the future with hope, because its tyrannical greed shatters the plans of the weak and tramples upon the poorest of the poor. It is an evil that embeds itself into the actions of everyday life and spreads, causing great public scandal. Corruption is a sinful hardening of the heart that replaces God with the illusion that money is a form of power. It is a work of darkness, fed by suspicion and intrigue. Corruptio optimi pessima, saint Gregory the Great said with good reason, affirming that no one can think himself immune from this temptation. If we want to drive it out from personal and social life, we need prudence, vigilance, loyalty, transparency, together with the courage to denounce any wrongdoing. If it is not combated openly, sooner or later everyone will become an accomplice to it, and it will end up destroying our very existence.

This is the opportune moment to change our lives! This is the time to allow our hearts to be touched! When faced with evil deeds, even in the face of serious crimes, it is the time to listen to the cry of innocent people who are deprived of their property, their dignity, their feelings, and even their very lives. To stick to the way of evil will only leave one deluded and sad. True life is something entirely different. God never tires of reaching out to us. He is always ready to listen, as I am too, along with my brother bishops and priests. All one needs to do is to accept the invitation to conversion and submit oneself to justice during this special time of mercy offered by the Church. 

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