Rich in Mercy
As last Sunday was Divine Mercy Sunday we
might take a look at the 1980 encyclical letter of Pope St. John Paul II,
Dives in Misericordia, or in English, Rich in Mercy.
St. John Paul II says, “The events of Good
Friday and, even before that, in prayer in Gethsemane, introduce a fundamental
change into the whole course of the revelation of love and mercy in the
messianic mission of Christ.” Christ, who really and terribly suffers, prays to
God the Father, the Father of love, but he is not spared from his terrible
suffering. As St. Paul says, “For our sake God made him to be sin who knew no
sin” (2 Cor. 5:21).
The absolute holiness of God is revealed
in the justice required of God’s Son in his passion and death. But precisely
there, God’s extraordinary mercy is revealed because this justice now makes
possible man’s redemption, restoration to the love of God, adoption as children
of God (cf. Jn. 1:12), and participation in the very life of God, Father, Son
and Holy Spirit (cf. 2 Pet. 1:4).
“For he who loves desires to give
himself,” St. John Paul says.
The pope said the cross of Jesus “speaks
and never ceases to speak of God the Father, who is absolutely faithful to his
eternal love for man, since he ‘so loved the world’ – therefore man in the
world – ‘that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not
perish but have eternal life’ (Jn. 3:16). Believing in the crucified Son means
‘seeing the Father’ (cf. Jn 14:9), means believing that love is present in the
world and that this love is more powerful than any kind of evil in which
individuals, humanity, or the world are involved. Believing in this love means believing in
mercy. For mercy is an indispensable
dimension of love; it is as it were love’s second name and, at the same time,
the specific manner in which love is revealed and effected vis-a-vis the
reality of the evil that is in the world, affecting and besieging man.”
Mercy is the specific manner in which we
love others amidst the evil of this world.
Christ also said, “Be merciful, just as
your Father is merciful” (Lk. 6:36).
If we have not experienced mercy
ourselves, then it will be very hard to give mercy others. Instead, we will be
only looking out for our rights and our justice; we’ll be easily offended,
touchy even.
But when we awaken to our own offenses,
our own sins, our own abuses – against God, against others, against our own
selves – then we awaken to our desperate need for mercy, for love, for
forgiveness. Hopefully, with God’s grace, we come to the realization that
Christ’s death was FOR ME. We meet God’s mercy in Jesus Christ, in his heart overflowing
with mercy.
With the gift of grace, we then receive God’s
mercy and forgiveness and everything changes! Now our hearts fill with
gratitude and peace. Now the world becomes wonderful, magical in its wonder and
splendor, beautiful in the souls of others. Joy enters. Peace enters. We become
more and more merciful and forgiving.
We wonder how we ever lived before – it seemed
to have been merely existing. A long wait. But now God’s loving mercy and
incredible generosity make everything new. We never knew life could be this
good!
What will Heaven then be like? A thousand times more incredible! That is our God of merciful love.
Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church is located in California City, CA. Visit our website at ollcalcity.org.
Dibby Allan Green has a BA in Religious Studies (Westmont College, 1978) and MA in Theology (Augustine Institute, 2019), is a lay Catholic hermit, and a parishioner of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish.