<h3>The Ring of Saint Edward</h3>
Oct
22
Written by:
Sunday, October 22, 2006
29th Sunday Ordinary Time
October 22, 2006
In one ancient story, Saint Edward the Confessor was out riding on his horse when he dismounted to enter the Church of St. John. There he met a beggar who asked for a few pennies. St Edward didn't have any money with him, so he gave the beggar his royal signet ring! For this reason Saint Edward is often seen with a ring in his hand.
Some years later, two English pilgrims ran into a stranger in the Holy Land who handed the pilgrims a gold ring, saying, "I am Saint John. Take this ring to Edward your King. Ask him if he remembers me from so many years ago. Tell him I will come for him in six months' time."
Saint Edward the Confessor was in this story like Christ in that he was known to have a throne of "grace and mercy" toward his subjects, as Jesus our high priest and king does in today's second reading (Hebrews 4:14-16). Now in this present world Jesus the King comes to us as it were disguised. The offer of his mercy may not seem like much, so many do not take advantage of it. Those who reject the mercy of God will one day face judgment. To receive the mercy of God, then, all we have to do is to ask! Ask, and be merciful to others.
One way that the Lord's mercy is shown to us is through the Sacrament of Confession. There is no sin, however grave, that the Lord will not wash away if only he is asked. The Lord gave the church the power to forgive sins, and this is particularly true of the worst kind: mortal sins.
I remember receiving an emergency call in the middle of the night as a new associate pastor. It was the pastor's turn to be on call, but for some reason his phone was not working and so after trying to reach him for about 30 minutes, I was called. It took me twenty minutes to get out of bed and get over to the hospital they were at, which was not close, and the person died before a priest could get there. Later, his widow told me that the man had not been to confession in thirty years. Jesus wanted so much to be merciful to him in this life, but time finally ran out. I have never forgotten him.
Everything God allows or sends us is mercy and grace when it is seen from the perspective of eternal life. And every single act of kindness and mercy we show to others will, like St. Edward's ring, always be returned to us in the end!
Father Gary