Reflections on Haiti: Mercy

When Fr. Brad asked me to go to Haiti, I honestly had no idea what I was in store
for. In many ways, I chose to stay as naïve as possible. I wanted no pre-conceived
notions of what we were about to do. I understood as much as possible about our
goals while there, but I didn’t Google search images. I didn’t brush up on my very,
very broken French.

I felt like there are many times that we are genuinely called to simply have an
honest experience. I felt like Haiti was one of those times.

Something that I have been working on, my whole life, is honest and present
worship. Being so present that praise and worship is the only thought on our mind
and words on our lips. Our new friends truly worship. Watching three different
services in French-Creole was probably one of the most fascinating experiences of
my life. Especially when you consider that I only know VERY broken French, and
not even close to conversational. The services were identical in structure to ours,
but the way the congregants paid attention was different. At home, in that heat, we
would have all been miserable. Instead, they raised their hands in adoration of the
God that we were all there to serve. But, it didn’t end after the service. There was
so many times in daily conversation that I heard someone say “Thank to God”. They
are grateful people.

After our return, I participated in my first centering prayer exercise. The word that
kept coming forth in my mind was “mercy”. It occurred to me, a few weeks later,
that that was my purpose on our trip. I was there to learn another way to show
mercy to everyone that I encounter. After all, every week or every day, we worship
a God who is so merciful that he sent his only son to forgive our sins. Showing
mercy is as easy as not being quick to judge, smiling at a stranger, being sincere
when asking someone how his or her day is going. We are called to show merciful
love. Mercy is what makes our hearts able to show the world around us God’s
amazing and merciful love.