Mercy is a reality that all need, and which we are invited to exercise daily. In virtue of the weakness that is in our make-up, through the hour of disfiguration…—as part of who we are, mercy will need to be always our travel companion.

No one is perfect and no one can become completely good. Many times we will not be consistent with what we are and we believe, and end up making mistakes with others and with ourselves.

This is true: The contradiction always will persecute us in our road of life. Therefore, we will be better and more complete not when we do not error more—living with the angels—, but when we learn to add, in the day by day of our vocabulary, the words forgiveness and mercy.

Always we will end up being in error in some thing, and to live with quality, we need daily to ask forgiveness: to God, to others and to ourselves. Without humility that makes us recognize our non-omnipotence before the world, we will never grow, for we become slaves of pride that makes us believe that the problem is always outside of us. (in the exterior).

Constantly we have to cede and to pardon: in the house, in work, in travel, in the midst of the challenges of the family and of marriage. Many times also we need to ask pardon, recognizing that we are not capable of changing and that we need a new chance.

and tell by the way, it is ultimately a form very efficient to understand mercy, for when we can abandon our impotence in his arms, we receive a new chance to happen, we understand the fact that we need his essence.

Whomever needs to be pardoned, making the experience of his own weakness and poverty, will have much more ease to understand and pardon another. And in this aspect the experience of our many sins helps us to understand that we should not be the judges of the weaknesses of others, but we we need constantly to believe in our offering to these a perennial chance to begin.

They are not “perfect” that become great in life—a greatness of these is only apparent—, but that learn to begin again everyday, exercising the mercy in oneself and for and with others.

Whomever does not accept one’s own limits and imperfection never will he be permitted to learn from the teaching portion of the error that can only add, and will ultimately determine the unbearable punishment itself, as an unhappy payment for weakness that manifested itself by destroying the unreal “image “builds itself around you.

We need mercy—of a new chance and believe— and we need to exercise it constantly. This will become our existence less heave and helps us understand life with a beauty of one who always has something to learn.

Let us abandon ourselves to His arms!

Deacon Adriano Zandoná

translated from Portuguese