“The quality of mercy is not strain’d
It droppeth as the gentle
rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath:
it is twice bless’d;
It blesseth him that gives and
him that takes…”
Shakespeare said it all, hundreds of years before Pope Francis issued his Bull of Induction of the Extraordinary Year of Mercy, whose message began by saying, “Jesus Christ is the face of the Father’s mercy.” These words might well sum up the mystery of Christian faith. Indeed, God revealed His name to Moses as “a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness”.
Saint Thomas Aquinas defined mercy as “the compassion in our hearts for another person’s misery, a compassion that drives us to help him.” It makes one effectively help others in need. As Pope Benedict XVI reflected on the parable of the Good Samaritan (in his book, Jesus of Nazareth), the Samaritan’s heart is “wrenched open”, and touches his soul. “He had compassion…struck in his soul by the lightning flash of mercy, he himself now becomes a neighbor…the issue is no longer which other person is a neighbor to me or not. The question is about me. I have to become the neighbor, and when I do, the other person counts for me as ‘myself.’”
The Extraordinary Year of Mercy, which began on December 8, 2015, will end on November 20 this year. How have we connected with this in the past 12 months? How have we expressed it in acts of mercy, especially for the poor and the marginalized…the “excluded”. Unfortunately, global policy has espoused such actions that continue to threaten the poor and excluded, among which are indifference to the natural environment (e.g., deforestation, pollution, water contamination, etc.). This has upset entire communities from their ecosystem and created new forms of poverty and new situations of injustice, “often with dire consequences for security and peace,” as the Holy
Father has said.
The works of mercy offer us a way of expressing compassion with concrete deeds—charitable actions by which we come to the aid of our neighbor in his spiritual and bodily necessities. Catholic teaching sums up the corporal works of mercy as follows: feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned and burying the dead. Among all these, giving alms to the poor is one of the chief witnesses to fraternal charity; it is also a work of justice pleasing to God. In keeping with the new commandment of charity given us by Christ, the Church has always shown a special love for the poor, the sick, the helpless, the destitute…as in the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus shows us that our charity extends to the whole human race.
Other than the corporal works of mercy, we must also consider that acts of love for our neighbor, are not confined to material donations, however necessary such donations may be.
The pope laments that “the worst discrimination, which the poor suffer, is the lack of spiritual care.” These spiritual works of mercy are to counsel the doubtful, instruct the ignorant, admonish sinners, comfort the afflicted, forgive offences, bear patiently those who do us ill and pray for the living and the dead. These spiritual works of mercy are indispensable in these times when so many people are suffering from loneliness, misunderstanding, persecution, spite and slander, or are mired in doubt, not knowing the path which leads to heaven.
As Francis has put it, “this is a time for mercy…our era is a kairos of mercy,” an opportune time for mercy when the Church (and that includes all of us) must show more of its maternal side since there are so many men and women who are wounded and are in need of immediate healing.
Humanity, which is also inflicting wounds to one another, needs God’s mercy too. And for this, we can go to Mary, who is the Mother of mercy, who gave us Jesus, the very face of divine mercy. Mary is the Mother of God who forgives, and so we can rightly call her the Mother of forgiveness. If, until now, just nine days before the Extraordinary Year of Mercy closes, we have failed to observe the message of mercy, let us “wrench open” our hearts to our neighbor, indeed be the neighbor, so that, with compassion, solidarity and mercy, we may overcome the “globalization of indifference” that
characterizes our times.
merci.suleik@gmail.com