The theme of today's reading was mercy. The author of the letter was looking for a break from what he calls an "affliction." Pope Gregory II, the person who wrote this letter, begs Charles "the Hammer" Martel for his help against the Lombards from Italy. Martel is best known for his battle against the Muslims.
Pope Gregory II tried as hard as he could to maintain a good relationship with the Lombards. It was pretty difficult for him to do when the Lombards took Cumae. This caused Rome to be cut off from Naples.
Pope Gregory II was afraid that the Lombards were trying to take all of Italy, one region at a time. That was when he appealed to Charles Martel. Unfortunately, Wikipedia says, Martel did not respond to his request.
I think it's interesting that the Lombards completely disregard the Pope. I was under the impression that the national religion is Roman Catholicism, but maybe that came at a later date. Although, this could be a rebel group that didn't necessarily fall under any type of religion.
While reading this, the idea that I had was that it's strange that Martel would engage in a battle against Muslims, but wasn't too keen on helping the Roman Catholics. I could give him the benefit of the doubt and say that maybe he didn't get the letter. Or, perhaps, he was too busy to respond.
However, one could also say that it's just like humans to pick and choose who they are against. In today's Christian culture, we pick homosexuals or fornicators or promiscuous men and women. What about the prideful? The people who tell little white lies? What about the people committing "little" sins? Really, they're all the same to God.
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