Mercy Saves Humanity
When we look around at the world, the culture, and human beings, there is little room for doubt that something needs to be fixed. Our daily experience proves to us that relationships and the rhythm of life are fractured and broken. Yet, we fool ourselves if we think that we can create the solution to the problem. More efficient and effective legal justice, along with more technichal and governmental oversight, will probably only serve to illuminate more and deeper troubles.
Something else is needed to save individuals, social groups, and the collective culture from its clear and present woes. And, that something must come from outside of the same individuals, groups, and culture. That something must come from the Divine Source of all created life. That something is mercy.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church provides a simple definition of mercy: "the loving kindness, compassion, or forbearance shown to one who offends" (Glossary of the 2nd Edition). This definition could apply in any situation: between spouses, between parents and children, between co-workers, between social groups or nations. We know, however, that it is most applicable to our individual and communal relationship with God.
God has revealed Himself as a merciful Father throughout all of salvation history. Following the original sin, the Lord showed forbearance toward the first offenders by promising to fix the problem that they created (Gen. 3:15). This trend continued throughout the history of God's chosen people, especially as Israel begged for food and water in the desert; as they crafted idols to other gods and engaged in pagan worship by which they were defiled; as they chose wretched leaders who would not honor and follow God, time and again. God gave His chosen people additional chances to return to His loving plan, even after they were exiled from the Promised Land. The Lord continually saved His people simply because of the covenant that He made with them, and because of His kindness.
King David, Isreal's greatest leader, knew this all too well, personally and nationally. He knew his successor as a derelict king, and he knew himself as an adulterous murderer. So, he expressed his experience of mercy in Hebrew poetry, those texts that we know as the Psalms. The psalms are replete with words and phrases that recognize God's mercy and its effect. Beyond that, the psalms express great gratitude for the mercy that God extended, without which David would have merited grave punishment.
As the centuries progressed, Israel and her faithful children never forgot the promise of God's mercy and the ways that it came to them. The Gospel of Luke provides ample evidence, especially concerning the period during which the Jews awaited the Messiah. In the Benedictus (Canticle of Zechariah; Lk. 1:68-79), the priest Zechariah exclaims, "He promised to show mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant" (v. 72, NAB). A few sentences later, he continues by stating that a prophet will prepare the way of the Lord by telling God's people that their sins will be forgiven by the "tender compassion of our God" (v. 78, NAB). On behalf of his nation, this priest expressed the communal belief that they would be saved by the mercy of the Lord.
Also recorded in the Gospel of Luke, Mary made a profound connection between God's mercy and the salvation of his people. When she received news that she would give birth to the Messiah, she proclaimed that the Almighty had remembered the "promise of mercy" that he made to Abraham and the other patriarchs and prophets (Lk. 1:54, NAB). Still, there is a statement that resonates even to our own century: "He has mercy on those who fear him in every generation" (Lk. 1:50, NAB). Mary tells the truth that God's promise of mercy, which has been present from the dawn of human history, will remain in effect for all time. Of course, we know that the promise was fulfilled in the Incarnation, Passion, death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
After that Paschal event, all people in every age of history will have access to the promise and the fullness of God's mercy. This is precisely the mission of the Church. God sends His chosen people into the fractured and broken world, and to individuals within the world, to offer a fix to the problem; to offer salvation from sin. This is God's "loving kindness, compassion, and forbearance" extended throughout time. So, with St. Augustine and during this Year of Mercy, we accurately say to the Heavenly Father, "All my hope is naught save in Thy great mercy" (Confessions, Book X, Ch. 29; F. Sheed translation). Mercy is the only way that we will be saved.
Something else is needed to save individuals, social groups, and the collective culture from its clear and present woes. And, that something must come from outside of the same individuals, groups, and culture. That something must come from the Divine Source of all created life. That something is mercy.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church provides a simple definition of mercy: "the loving kindness, compassion, or forbearance shown to one who offends" (Glossary of the 2nd Edition). This definition could apply in any situation: between spouses, between parents and children, between co-workers, between social groups or nations. We know, however, that it is most applicable to our individual and communal relationship with God.
God has revealed Himself as a merciful Father throughout all of salvation history. Following the original sin, the Lord showed forbearance toward the first offenders by promising to fix the problem that they created (Gen. 3:15). This trend continued throughout the history of God's chosen people, especially as Israel begged for food and water in the desert; as they crafted idols to other gods and engaged in pagan worship by which they were defiled; as they chose wretched leaders who would not honor and follow God, time and again. God gave His chosen people additional chances to return to His loving plan, even after they were exiled from the Promised Land. The Lord continually saved His people simply because of the covenant that He made with them, and because of His kindness.
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| G. van Honthorst, King David Playing the Harp (1622) |
As the centuries progressed, Israel and her faithful children never forgot the promise of God's mercy and the ways that it came to them. The Gospel of Luke provides ample evidence, especially concerning the period during which the Jews awaited the Messiah. In the Benedictus (Canticle of Zechariah; Lk. 1:68-79), the priest Zechariah exclaims, "He promised to show mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant" (v. 72, NAB). A few sentences later, he continues by stating that a prophet will prepare the way of the Lord by telling God's people that their sins will be forgiven by the "tender compassion of our God" (v. 78, NAB). On behalf of his nation, this priest expressed the communal belief that they would be saved by the mercy of the Lord.
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| Ubaldo Gandolfi, The Visitation (1767) |
After that Paschal event, all people in every age of history will have access to the promise and the fullness of God's mercy. This is precisely the mission of the Church. God sends His chosen people into the fractured and broken world, and to individuals within the world, to offer a fix to the problem; to offer salvation from sin. This is God's "loving kindness, compassion, and forbearance" extended throughout time. So, with St. Augustine and during this Year of Mercy, we accurately say to the Heavenly Father, "All my hope is naught save in Thy great mercy" (Confessions, Book X, Ch. 29; F. Sheed translation). Mercy is the only way that we will be saved.
