the power of mercy

People made such a fuss over Les Misérables but I was in no hurry to follow the crowd...then I saw it.

Perhaps I'm the last to have seen it for the first time; if not, I recommend the 2012 movie. If you aren't a fan of musicals, you will miss something truly special.

It is the story of a a man who learns to love and the story of another man who cannot show mercy and tragically cannot accept mercy.

Sex offenders and their families will find much that is familiar--the shame, the unreasoning hate, the lifelong burden of fear--and yet Les Mis is veritably awash in the idea of the power of mercy. Conferring or receiving mercy bestows freedom. Freedom from hate--your hate for your persecutors and their hate for you--is mercy.

Mercy is bestowed by those humble enough to recognize the truth in this:

Deserves it! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.

― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

My husband and I have have received untold gifts of mercy and while there is joy in it, it is also humbling. Mercy received is breathtaking, sacred.