Chrysostom
Beloved of All
Our tears and prayers for the unborn, the abandoned, the lonely, and all who suffer these desolations are precious in the sight of God, for He is the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. You have rightly clung to the words of the Psalmist and the prophet: though father and mother forsake, the Lord will receive; even if a mother forget her nursing child, He will not forget. The children torn from life by violence or loss are not hidden from their Creator. We entrust them to His unfathomable love, knowing that His mercy is broader than our understanding, and His justice is perfect.
Yet let your grief not drown your hope, nor your prayer remain only in words. For nothing is so characteristic of a Christian as mercy. The Lord says, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” If we desire God’s compassion on the abandoned, we must become vessels of mercy ourselves. Nothing incenses God so much as pitilessness, but charity quenches the fire of wrath like oil sustaining a lamp. As you pray for shelter and refuge for the forsaken, stretch out your own hand, however weak. Even the smallest act of love, a cup of water, a gentle word, a shared morsel, shines brightly before the throne of grace.
Do not say, “I have no house or family to help.” Mercy does not measure by wealth but by the readiness of the heart. The poor widow’s two mites outweighed the gold of the rich. Your very poverty can become an offering if you give from your want and not from your abundance. In comforting others, you will find your own wounds soothed. In showing mercy, you will obtain mercy.
And for the little ones lost before birth, let faith overcome despair. The Lord who took children in His arms and blessed them, who rebuked those who would keep them away, has surely received these innocents into His eternal care. This is not a matter of human reasoning but of trust in the boundless goodness of God. Cease from anxious reckoning, and give yourself to prayer and to the active love that proves faith. Let your light so shine through mercy that others may see and glorify the Father of mercies, and you will store up for yourself a good foundation against the day when we all cry out, “Lord, have mercy.”
Yet let your grief not drown your hope, nor your prayer remain only in words. For nothing is so characteristic of a Christian as mercy. The Lord says, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” If we desire God’s compassion on the abandoned, we must become vessels of mercy ourselves. Nothing incenses God so much as pitilessness, but charity quenches the fire of wrath like oil sustaining a lamp. As you pray for shelter and refuge for the forsaken, stretch out your own hand, however weak. Even the smallest act of love, a cup of water, a gentle word, a shared morsel, shines brightly before the throne of grace.
Do not say, “I have no house or family to help.” Mercy does not measure by wealth but by the readiness of the heart. The poor widow’s two mites outweighed the gold of the rich. Your very poverty can become an offering if you give from your want and not from your abundance. In comforting others, you will find your own wounds soothed. In showing mercy, you will obtain mercy.
And for the little ones lost before birth, let faith overcome despair. The Lord who took children in His arms and blessed them, who rebuked those who would keep them away, has surely received these innocents into His eternal care. This is not a matter of human reasoning but of trust in the boundless goodness of God. Cease from anxious reckoning, and give yourself to prayer and to the active love that proves faith. Let your light so shine through mercy that others may see and glorify the Father of mercies, and you will store up for yourself a good foundation against the day when we all cry out, “Lord, have mercy.”
