God, Be Merciful to Us All

Events of the past week have me thinking of this letter by C. S. Lewis written during the darkest days of World War II in response to a letter from a friend asking about praying with charity for one’s enemies:

The practical problem about charity (in one’s prayer) is very hard work, isn’t it? When you pray for Hitler and Stalin how do you actually teach yourself to make the prayer real? The two things that help me are (a) A continual grasp of the idea that one is only joining one’s feeble little voice to the perpetual intercession of Christ who died for these very men. (b) A recollection, as firm as I can make it, of all one’s own cruelty; which might have blossomed under different conditions into something terrible. You and I are not at bottom so different from these ghastly creatures. – Letter to Dom Bede Griffiths, 16 Apr 1940

One is only (only!) joining one’s feeble little voice to the perpetual intercession of Christ who died for these very men. For Hitler. For Stalin. For Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (the leader of ISIS)?

Joining one’s feeble little voice to the perpetual intercession of Christ who interceded for those who had nailed him to the cross and mocked him as he hung dying, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." (Luke 23:34)

Recollect all one’s own cruelty; which might have blossomed under different conditions into something terrible.

You and I are not at bottom so different from these ghastly creatures.

There is always the temptation to make oneself out as somehow innocent. Or, at least, less guilty than others. There is always the temptation to justify oneself or one's group and point to the fault of others. But that is the way of Adam blaming Eve and Eve blaming the Serpent. It is the way of the Pharisee, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax-collector." (Luke 18:9-14)

But for Christians, all prayer begins with the tax-collector's prayer, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” We recognize that we are inextricably caught in the web of human sin and brokenness. We believe Jesus has come to repair that human web. We look to him for forgiveness for our part in its damage. We hope for healing from it effects.

And when we pray for others – including our enemies, if we are going to pray with charity – our prayer should begin with “God, be merciful to _________.”

God, be merciful to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

God, be merciful to the victims of ISIS.

God, be merciful to Vladimir Putin.

God, be merciful to Christians.

God, be merciful to Muslims.

God, be merciful to Conservatives.

God, be merciful to Liberals

God, be merciful to Barak Obama.

God, be merciful to Sarah Palin.

God be merciful to our own victims.

God, be merciful to us all.

We all need redemption. We all need mercy.

Let us join our feeble little voices to the perpetual intercession of Christ who died for us all.