God's mercy is greater than we know

This is the late Rosemary Clooney who died in 2002. I have been reading her autobiography, and it has almost become "spiritual reading". You will see that she is wearing a cross. She came back to the practice of her Catholic faith in later life - not far off her death in fact, although that was not the reason. She never forgot that she was a Catholic and often discussed the difficulties of being a Catholic with others, including Spencer Tracey and Linda Ronstadt. She had her children baptised and found a priest who helped her in some of the most difficult moments of her life - a priest who offered her compassion, not condemnation. This meant a lot to her.


Looking at the complexities, heartaches and dreadful mistakes of her life and knowing, as we do, that Christ never abandoned her reminds us of the need to look on others with compassion and understanding. We have to judge (judging does not mean condemning!) in order to help people - in other words we should not offer false compassion or "cheap grace". Rosemary - Rosie - knew that grace was certainly not cheap. It was somehow in the midst of her sufferings that she saw chinks of light and God came to her help through others - her family, her psychiatrist, her friends (Bing Crosby among them). I Like biographies and I realise that the reason I like them is because they are often about grace and the never-failing mercy of God.