Yesterday I talked about trying to express to folks who are in Hennepin County Jail something about why we might be happy-- have joy-- at Christmas even when circumstances don't give us the opportunity for the kind of happiness our socialization causes us to seek. Folks in jail aren't getting presents, or having parties (no, there's no special meal for the holiday), or seeing family and friends. In jail or prison, sadly, Christmas is just another day. So, what is there to celebrate? I suggested first of all that Christmas-- the Incarnation-- might give us joy whatever our circumstances because it establishes without doubt our human dignity. God became a human, after all. The second thing we might think about, I told the folks at the jail, is mercy. Because of the Incarnation, we know that Jesus fully understands our struggles, and for that reason is in a perfect position to feel, and deliver, mercy when we need it. All those things that can trouble us, tempt us, depress us, cause us to doubt-- Jesus experienced all of them. On the cross, He asked the Father why He had been abandoned. He was betrayed with a kiss. He was surrounded by people who fled when things got tough, and who, even as Jesus was ascending to heaven, doubted (see Matthew 28:17-- "they worshipped but they doubted"). He experienced the death of loved ones, the anger of those abusing religion, the joy of meals with friends. He was tempted with the possibility of power and earthly pleasures. He knows how difficult it is to resist. All this because He became human. So whatever our circumstances we can know, and have real joy in the fact, that when we talk about a merciful God, that mercy isn't just founded on an abstraction. Jesus can be merciful-- wants to be merciful-- because He knows at His core how much we-- all of us humans-- need it. Sure, I said that to folks in jail, but they don't need mercy any more than people who aren't in jail. Maybe they even need it less. Or maybe it doesn't even make sense to talk about mercy in "more or less" terms. Sin is sin, and mercy is mercy, and perhaps that's all we need to say, except to remind ourselves that mercy flows especially from the Incarnation.