Fausto Gomez, OP
Greek philosopher Plato says that the best definition of the virtue of justice is a just person. We know the definition of the virtue of mercy as compassion for the needy. It is a good definition but still – like all definitions – a bit cold and unmoving. The warm and moving definition of the virtue of mercy is the merciful person, and therefore the best definition of mercy is our infinitely merciful God.
God is merciful and compassionate, eternally merciful and sympathetic (Ps 118). He appears to Moses and presents himself thus: “The Lord, the Lord, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity†(Ex 34:6-7). The Lord is merciful: He forgives and heals and feeds and redeems and “renews your youth like an eagle’s†(Ps 103:3-5). He is like a faithful and loving spouse (Is 5:1-7), a father (Is 63:15-16; Ps 103:13), and, above all, a mother, better than the best of mothers: “Can a woman forget her baby, / feel no pity for the child she has borne? / Even if these were to forget, / I shall not forget you†(Is 49:15).
While in the Bible’s Old Testament God is called Father not often, in the New Testament Father is the favorite name to describe God, who is called the Father of Jesus Christ 203 times and the Father of believers 53 times (Theological Historical Commission, Holy Year 2000). “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in his great mercy gave us a new birth to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead†(1 P 1:3). God is “the merciful Father†(2 Cor 1:3), rich in mercy because of his great love for us (Eph 2:4).
God, One God, is love (1 Jn 4: 8, 16) and is Trinity: He is One and Triune; not a solitary God but a loving God. Commenting St. Bonaventure, writes Walter Kasper in his monumental work Mercy: “From eternity God has a beloved and a co-beloved. He is thus God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit,†“Triune Being in love.†He is eternal, almighty, omnipotent and merciful. His mercy, primary divine attribute, is an attribute which especially shows his omnipotence. God is merciful because He loves us with common love as his creatures and with special love as his image and likeness (Gen 1:26), who wishes to be united to us as One and Triune (Jn 14:23). God wants the salvation of all (II Pet 3:9; I Tim 2:4; I Tim 4:10). St Thomas comments: God wants the salvation of all, and therefore He offers sufficient graces to all – all means all!
Jesus is the face of the merciful and compassionate Father. “He who has seen me,†Jesus says to Philip at the Last Supper, “has seen the Father†(Jn 14:9). In Jesus, we know his Father (Jn 14:7). In a true sense, Jesus is Mercy (John Paul II), “Mercy made flesh†(Pope Francis, Opening the Year of Mercy).
In the Gospels, Jesus feels “compassion of the crowd†(Mt 9:36; 14:14; Mk 6:34). Jesus Christ is the Messiah announced by the prophets because he does the works of mercy: “The blind see again, the lame walk, those suffering from virulent skin- diseases are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, the good news is proclaimed to the poor†(Lk 7:22). He is merciful like the Father of the Prodigal Son (Lk 15:11:32), the Good Samaritan (Lk 10:29-37), and the Good Shepherd (Jn 10:11). As the Good Samaritan, He heals the sick, expels demons from the possessed, feeds the hungry, forgives sins and raises the dead to life (Mk 5:21-42). As a Good Shepherd, He goes as far as giving his life for his sheep (Mt 20:28).
The redemptive incarnation of Christ is the supreme work of his merciful and compassionate love. Jesus on the Cross as the way to his Resurrection represents the culmination of the revelation of mercy. According to John Paul II, “the Paschal Christ is the definitive incarnation of mercy.†He is universal mercy: Christ died for all without exception (cf. Mt 18:14; Rom 5:8; in CCC 605-606). How will He save those who do not know him at all: “Grace works in an unseen way†(Vatican II, GS 22; LG 16)
Mary, the Mother of Jesus and our Mother is merciful. Romanus the Melodist (6th century) writes: “Fittingly, the Merciful One has a merciful Mother.†Mary’s Magnificat is a song of praise, gratitude and merciful love, a merciful love that “extends from age to age…†(Lk 1:50). All the saints practiced merciful love.
The Church proclaims Jesus’ mercy. Mercy is the very foundation of the Church: the mercy of God incarnated in Jesus and poignantly manifested in his wounded Sacred Heart (cf. John Paul II, encyclical on mercy Dives in Misericordia 13). The Church is the Church of the Sacraments, in particular the Sacrament of Mercy or Penance, and the Sacrament of merciful love, or the Eucharist. The Church is “called above all to be a credible witness of mercy, professing and living it as the core of the revelation of Jesus Christ†(Pope Francis, MV 25). Pope Francis has often applied to the Church the image of a field hospital after a battle. She is the tender mother who cares for the wounded on the roads of life, principally for the most wounded.
May he Church, the People of God show to our world, in a special way this Jubilee Year of Mercy, the merciful face of Christ, the incarnate Son of God, the Crucified and Risen Lord!
(Also published in O Clarim, Macau February 2016)