{"id":5492,"date":"2026-03-09T17:44:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T21:44:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationalaltarguildassociation.org\/?p=5492"},"modified":"2026-03-09T17:53:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T21:53:19","slug":"god-is-endless-mercy-compassion-and-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalaltarguildassociation.org\/?p=5492","title":{"rendered":"God Is Endless Mercy, Compassion and Hope"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Rt. Rev. Dr. Douglas<\/mark><\/strong><\/em> Fisher<\/mark><\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

One of my favorite authors is Greg Boyle. He is a Jesuit priest and has served the last 40 years in Los Angeles doing ministry with gang members. He started Homeboy Industries which employs people coming out of gangs in auto repair, culinary arts, and carpentry. Several years ago President Joe Biden gave him the Medal of Freedom Award. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his books he tells tragic stories (he has buried numerous gang members who have died by violence), inspiring stories, and deep theological and spiritual reflections. And some funny stories. Here is one of those. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greg gets frequent invitations to speak at colleges and churches throughout the country. He often takes some Homeboys with him because many have never been out of Los Angeles. And he wants them to tell their stories. One time when Greg was to preach at a church, there was a Bible passage to be read before he spoke. The Bible passage was on the pulpit and Greg asked the Homeboys if anyone would volunteer to do that reading. One Homeboy enthusiastically said “I’ll do it.” But he never looked at the reading before going to the pulpit and English was his second language. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The passage began with “God is Exalted, God is Exalted.” The Homeboy went to the pulpit and with great confidence declared “God is Exhausted!” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In these troubled times, does it sometimes feel like God might be exhausted? Increasing climate change which leads to flooding and fires. The public health crisis of gun violence. Immigrants being arrested in the streets and torn from their families. A politically deeply divided country. And on and on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yet we believe in a God of abundance. St. Paul says “God, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine.” Let those words sink in. God, working in us can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine. The renowned theologian and preacher Phillips Brooks said “Think of your biggest prayer. And know that no prayer is too big for our God.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bishop Michael Curry has given us a powerful definition of who we are. “We are the Episcopal Branch of the Jesus Movement that is out to change the world from the nightmare it is for so many into the dream that God has for us.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Isn’t that what Jesus is all about \u2014 the Kingdom of God here on earth as it is in heaven. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remember the first time Jesus spoke in the synagogue of his hometown of Nazareth? He read from the prophet Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At first the congregation were “amazed” at him. He reads so well. But then he said “today these things are fulfilled in your hearing.” And then they tried to throw him off a cliff but he escaped. What made them so angry? I have a theory. They thought those amazing words were just church talk. They didn’t think that would really happen in the “real” world. But Jesus knew that God is not exhausted. The world can and will be changed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around the year 100 Saint Cyprian wrote this: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“The world can be a mean and cruel place. But here in Rome there is a small group of people who care about each other. They give whatever it takes to help each other in need. And they are very happy living this way. They call themselves Christian. I think I will join them and try this way for a while.”\u00a0<\/mark><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

May all of our churches give our people that experience. So that, again quoting St. Paul, “Surrounded by the great cloud of witnesses, we might run with endurance the race that is set before us.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God is not exhausted. God is endless mercy, compassion and hope. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Rt. Rev. Dr. Douglas Fisher, 9th Bishop of Western Massachusetts<\/mark><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of my favorite authors is Greg Boyle. He is a Jesuit priest and has served the last 40 years in Los Angeles doing ministry with gang members. He started Homeboy Industries which employs people coming out of gangs in auto repair, culinary arts, and carpentry. Several years ago President Joe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5505,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,8],"tags":[53,128,105,120],"class_list":["post-5492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sacristy","category-liturgy","tag-ministry-2","tag-outreach-2","tag-spirituality","tag-youth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalaltarguildassociation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalaltarguildassociation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalaltarguildassociation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalaltarguildassociation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalaltarguildassociation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5492"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/nationalaltarguildassociation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5504,"href":"https:\/\/nationalaltarguildassociation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5492\/revisions\/5504"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalaltarguildassociation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalaltarguildassociation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalaltarguildassociation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalaltarguildassociation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}