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MERCY
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. BIBLE . Diary . Rich in Mercy [ I ] [ II ] [ III ] [ IV ] [ V ] [ VI ] [ VII ] [ VIII ]
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IOANNES PAULUS PP. II |
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VII.
THE MERCY OF GOD IN THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH In
connection with this picture of our generation, a picture which cannot fail
to cause profound anxiety, there come to mind once more those words which, by
reason of the Incarnation of the Son of God, resounded in Mary's Magnificat, and which sing of "mercy from generation
to generation." The Church of our time, constantly pondering the
eloquence of these inspired words, and applying them to the sufferings of the
great human family, must become more particularly and profoundly conscious of
the need to bear witness in her whole mission to God's mercy, following in
the footsteps of the tradition of the Old and the New Covenant, and above all
of Jesus Christ Himself and His Apostles. The Church must bear witness to the
mercy of God revealed in Christ, in the whole of His mission as Messiah,
professing it in the first place as a salvific truth of faith and as
necessary for a life in harmony with faith, and then seeking to introduce it
and to make it incarnate in the lives both of her faithful and as far as possible
in the lives of all people of good will. Finally, the Church-professing mercy
and remaining always faithful to it-has the right and the duty to call upon
the mercy of God, imploring it in the face of all the manifestations of
physical and moral evil, before all the threats that cloud the whole horizon
of the life of humanity today. |
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13. The Church Professes the Mercy of God and
Proclaims It The
Church must profess and proclaim God's mercy in all its truth, as it has been
handed down to us by revelation. We have sought, in the foregoing pages of
the present document, to give at least an outline of this truth, which finds
such rich expression in the whole of Sacred Scripture and in Sacred
Tradition. In the daily life of the Church the truth about the mercy of God,
expressed in the Bible, resounds as a perennial echo through the many
readings of the Sacred Liturgy. The authentic sense of faith of the People of
God perceives this truth, as is shown by various expressions of personal and
community piety. It would of course be difficult to give a list or summary of
them all, since most of them are vividly inscribed in the depths of people's
hearts and minds. Some theologians affirm that mercy is the greatest of the
attributes and perfections of God, and the Bible, Tradition and the whole
faith life of the People of God provide particular proofs of this. It is not
a question here of the perfection of the inscrutable essence of God in the
mystery of the divinity itself, but of the perfection and attribute whereby
man, in the intimate truth of his existence, encounters the living God
particularly closely and particularly often. In harmony with Christ's words
to Philip,112 the "vision of the
Father"-a vision of God through faith finds precisely in the encounter
with His mercy a unique moment of interior simplicity and truth, similar to
that which we discover in the parable of the prodigal son. "He
who has seen me has seen the Father."113 The Church professes the mercy of
God, the Church lives by it in her wide experience of faith and also in her
teaching, constantly contemplating Christ, concentrating on Him, on His life
and on His Gospel, on His cross and resurrection, on His whole mystery.
Everything that forms the "vision" of Christ in the Church's living
faith and teaching brings us nearer to the "vision of the Father"
in the holiness of His mercy. The Church seems in a particular way to profess
the mercy of God and to venerate it when she directs herself to the Heart of
Christ. In fact, it is precisely this drawing close to Christ in the mystery
of His Heart which enables us to dwell on this point-a point in a sense
central and also most accessible on the human level-of the revelation of the
merciful love of the Father, a revelation which constituted the central
content of the messianic mission of the Son of Man. The
Church lives an authentic life when she professes and proclaims mercy-the
most stupendous attribute of the Creator and of the Redeemer-and when she
brings people close to the sources of the Savior's mercy, of which she is the
trustee and dispenser. Of great significance in this area is constant
meditation on the Word of God, and above all conscious and mature
participation in the Eucharist and in the sacrament of Penance or
Reconciliation. The Eucharist brings us ever nearer to that love which is
more powerful than death: "For as often as we eat this bread and drink
this cup," we proclaim not only the death of the Redeemer but also His
resurrection, "until he comes" in glory.114 The same Eucharistic rite,
celebrated in memory of Him who in His messianic mission revealed the Father
to us by means of His words and His cross, attests to the inexhaustible love
by virtue of which He desires always to be united with us and present in our
midst, coming to meet every human heart. It is the sacrament of Penance or
Reconciliation that prepares the way for each individual, even those weighed
down with great faults. In this sacrament each person can experience mercy in
a unique way, that is, the love which is more powerful than sin. This has
already been spoken of in the encyclical Redemptor hominis; but it will be fitting to return once more to
this fundamental theme. It
is precisely because sin exists in the world, which "God so loved...that
he gave his only Son,"115 that God, who "is love,"116 cannot reveal Himself otherwise than
as mercy. This corresponds not only to the most profound truth of that love
which God is, but also to the whole interior truth of man and of the world
which is man's temporary homeland. Mercy
in itself, as a perfection of the infinite God, is also infinite. Also
infinite therefore and inexhaustible is the Father's readiness to receive the
prodigal children who return to His home. Infinite are the readiness and
power of forgiveness which flow continually from the marvelous value of the
sacrifice of the Son. No human sin can prevail over this power or even limit
it. On the part of man only a lack of good will can limit it, a lack of
readiness to be converted and to repent, in other words persistence in
obstinacy, opposing grace and truth, especially in the face of the witness of
the cross and resurrection of Christ. Therefore,
the Church professes and proclaims conversion. Conversion to God always
consists in discovering His mercy, that is, in discovering that love which is
patient and kind117 as only the Creator and Father can
be; the love to which the "God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ"118 is faithful to the uttermost
consequences in the history of His covenant with man; even to the cross and
to the death and resurrection of the Son. Conversion to God is always the
fruit of the"rediscovery of this Father, who
is rich in mercy. Authentic
knowledge of the God of mercy, the God of tender love, is a constant and
inexhaustible source of conversion, not only as a momentary interior act but
also as a permanent attitude, as a state of mind. Those who come to know God
in this way, who "see" Him in this way,
can live only in a state of being continually converted to Him. They live,
therefore, in statu conversionis;
and it is this state of conversion which marks out the most profound element
of the pilgrimage of every man and woman on earth in statu
viatoris. It is obvious that the Church professes
the mercy of God, revealed in the crucified and risen Christ, not only by the
word of her teaching but above all through the deepest pulsation of the life
of the whole People of God. By means of this testimony of life, the Church
fulfills the mission proper to the People of God, the mission which is a sharing
in and, in a sense, a continuation of the messianic mission of Christ
Himself. The
contemporary Church is profoundly conscious that only on the basis of the
mercy of God will she be able to carry out the tasks that derive from the
teaching of the Second Vatican Council, and, in the first place, the
ecumenical task which aims at uniting all those who confess Christ. As she
makes many efforts in this direction, the Church confesses with humility that
only that love which is more powerful than the weakness of human divisions
can definitively bring about that unity which Christ implored from the Father
and which the Spirit never ceases to beseech for us "with sighs too deep
for words."119 |
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14. The Church Seeks To Put Mercy into Practice Jesus
Christ taught that man not only receives and experiences the mercy of God,
but that he is also called "to practice mercy" towards others:
"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy."120 The Church sees in these words a
call to action, and she tries to practice mercy. All the beatitudes of the
Sermon on the Mount indicate the way of conversion and of reform of life, but
the one referring to those who are merciful is particularly eloquent in this
regard. Man attains to the merciful love of God, His mercy, to the extent
that he himself is interiorly transformed in the spirit of that love towards
his neighbor. This
authentically evangelical process is not just a spiritual transformation
realized once and for all: it is a whole lifestyle, an essential and
continuous characteristic of the Christian vocation. It consists in the
constant discovery and persevering practice of love as a unifying and also
elevating power despite all difficulties of a psychological or social nature:
it is a question, in fact, of a merciful love which, by its essence, is a
creative love. In reciprocal relationships between persons merciful love is
never a unilateral act or process. Even in the cases in which everything
would seem to indicate that only one party is giving and offering, and the
other only receiving and taking (for example, in the case of a physician
giving treatment, a teacher teaching, parents supporting and bringing up
their children, a benefactor helping the needy), in reality the one who gives
is always also a beneficiary. In any case, he too can easily find himself in
the position of the one who receives, who obtains a benefit, who experiences
merciful love; he too can find himself the object of mercy. In
this sense Christ crucified is for us the loftiest model, inspiration and
encouragement. When we base ourselves on this disquieting model, we are able
with all humility to show mercy to others, knowing that Christ accepts it as
if it were shown to Himself.121 On the basis of this model, we must
also continually purify all our actions and all our intentions in which mercy
is understood and practiced in a unilateral way, as a good done to others. An
act of merciful love is only really such when we are deeply convinced at the
moment that we perform it that we are at the same time receiving mercy from
the people who are accepting it from us. If this bilateral and reciprocal
quality is absent, our actions are not yet true acts of mercy, nor has there
yet been fully completed in us that conversion to which Christ has shown us
the way by His words and example, even to the cross, nor are we yet sharing
fully in the magnificent source of merciful love that has been revealed to us
by Him. Thus,
the way which Christ showed to us in the Sermon on the Mount with the
beatitude regarding those who are merciful is much richer than what we
sometimes find in ordinary human opinions about mercy. These opinions see
mercy as a unilateral act or process, presupposing and maintaining a certain
distance between the one practicing mercy and the one benefitting from it, between
the one who does good and the one who receives it.
Hence the attempt to free interpersonal and social relationships from mercy
and to base them solely on justice. However, such opinions about mercy fail
to see the fundamental link between mercy and justice spoken of by the whole
biblical tradition, and above all by the messianic mission of Jesus Christ.
True mercy is, so to speak, the most profound source of justice. If justice
is in itself suitable for "arbitration" between people concerning
the reciprocal distribution of objective goods in an equitable manner, love
and only love (including that kindly love that we call "mercy") is
capable of restoring man to Himself. Mercy
that is truly Christian is also, in a certain sense, the most perfect
incarnation of "equality" between people, and therefore also the
most perfect incarnation of justice as well, insofar as justice aims at the
same result in its own sphere. However, the equality brought by justice is
limited to the realm of objective and extrinsic goods, while love and mercy
bring it about that people meet one another in that value which is man
himself, with the dignity that is proper to him. At the same time,
"equality" of people through "patient and kind" love122 does not take away differences: the
person who gives becomes more generous when he feels at the same time
benefitted by the person accepting his gift; and vice versa, the person who
accepts the gift with the awareness that, in accepting it, he too is doing
good is in his own way serving the great cause of the dignity of the person;
and this contributes to uniting people in a more profound manner. Thus,
mercy becomes an indispensable element for shaping mutual relationships
between people, in a spirit of deepest respect for what is human, and in a
spirit of mutual brotherhood. It is impossible to establish this bond between
people, if they wish to regulate their mutual relationships solely according
to the measure of justice. In every sphere of interpersonal relationships
justice must, so to speak, be "corrected " to a considerable extent
by that love which, as St. Paul proclaims, "is patient and kind"
or, in other words, possesses the characteristics of that merciful love which
is so much of the essence of the Gospel and Christianity. Let us remember,
furthermore, that merciful love also means the cordial tenderness and
sensitivity so eloquently spoken of in the parable of the prodigal son,123 and also in the parables of the lost
sheep and the lost coin.124 Consequently, merciful love is
supremely indispensable between those who are closest to one another: between
husbands and wives, between parents and children, between friends; and it is
indispensable in education and in pastoral work. Its
sphere of action, however, is not limited to this. If Paul VI more than once
indicated the civilization of love"125 as the goal towards which all
efforts in the cultural and social fields as well as in the economic and
political fields should tend. it must be added that this good will never be
reached if in our thinking and acting concerning the vast and complex spheres
of human society we stop at the criterion of "an eye for an eye, a tooth
for a tooth"126 and do not try to transform it in
its essence, by complementing it with another spirit. Certainly, the Second
Vatican Council also leads us in this direction, when it speaks repeatedly of
the need to make the world more human,127 and says that the realization of
this task is precisely the mission of the Church in the modern world. Society
can become ever more human only if we introduce into the many-sided setting
of interpersonal and social relationships, not merely justice, but also that
"merciful love" which constitutes the messianic message of the
Gospel. Society
can become "ever more human" only when we introduce into all the
mutual relationships which form its moral aspect the moment of forgiveness,
which is so much of the essence of the Gospel. Forgiveness demonstrates the
presence in the world of the love which is more powerful than sin.
Forgiveness is also the fundamental condition for reconciliation, not only in
the relationship of God with man, but also in relationships between people. A
world from which forgiveness was eliminated would be nothing but a world of
cold and unfeeling justice, in the name of which each person would claim his
or her own rights vis-a- vis
others; the various kinds of selfishness latent in man would transform life
and human society into a system of oppression of the weak by the strong, or
into an arena of permanent strife between one group and another. For
this reason, the Church must consider it one of her principal duties-at every
stage of history and especially in our modern age-to proclaim and to
introduce into life the mystery of mercy, supremely revealed in Jesus Christ.
Not only for the Church herself as the community of believers but also in a
certain sense for all humanity, this mystery is the source of a life
different from the life which can be built by man, who is exposed to the
oppressive forces of the threefold concupiscence active within him.128 It is precisely in the name of this
mystery that Christ teaches us to forgive always. How often we repeat the
words of the prayer which He Himself taught us, asking "forgive us our
trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us," which means
those who are guilty of something in our regard129 It is indeed difficult to express
the profound value of the attitude which these words describe and inculcate.
How many things these words say to every individual about others and also
about himself. The consciousness of being trespassers against each other goes
hand in hand with the call to fraternal solidarity, which St. Paul expressed
in his concise exhortation to "forbear one another in love."130 What a lesson of humility is to be
found here with regard to man, with regard both to one's neighbor and to
oneself What a school of good will for daily living, in the various
conditions of our existence If we were to ignore this lesson, what would
remain of any "humanist" program of life and education? Christ
emphasizes so insistently the need to forgive others that when Peter asked
Him how many times he should forgive his neighbor He answered with the
symbolic number of "seventy times seven,"131 meaning that he must be able to
forgive everyone every time. It is obvious that such a generous requirement of
forgiveness does not cancel out the objective requirements of justice.
Properly understood, justice constitutes, so to speak, the goal of
forgiveness. In no passage of the Gospel message does forgiveness, or mercy
as its source, mean indulgence towards evil, towards scandals, towards injury
or insult. In any case, reparation for evil and scandal, compensation for
injury, and satisfaction for insult are conditions for forgiveness. Thus
the fundamental structure of justice always enters into the sphere of mercy.
Mercy, however, has the power to confer on justice a new content, which is
expressed most simply and fully in forgiveness. Forgiveness, in fact, shows
that, over and above the process of "compensation" and
"truce" which is specific to justice, love is necessary, so that
man may affirm himself as man. Fulfillment of the conditions of justice is
especially indispensable in order that love may reveal its own nature. In
analyzing the parable of the prodigal son, we have already called attention
to the fact that he who forgives and he who is forgiven encounter one another
at an essential point, namely the dignity or essential value of the person, a
point which cannot be lost and the affirmation of which, or its rediscovery,
is a source of the greatest joy.132 The
Church rightly considers it her duty and the purpose of her mission to guard
the authenticity of forgiveness, both in life and behavior and in educational
and pastoral work. She protects it simply by guarding its source, which is
the mystery of the mercy of God Himself as revealed in Jesus Christ. The
basis of the Church's mission, in all the spheres spoken of in the numerous
pronouncements of the most recent Council and in the centuries-old experience
of the apostolate, is none other than "drawing from the wells of the
Savior"133 this is what provides many
guidelines for the mission of the Church in the lives of individual
Christians, of individual communities, and also of the whole People of God.
This "drawing from the wells of the Savior" can be done only in the
spirit of that poverty to which we are called by the words and example of the
Lord: "You received without pay, give without pay."134 Thus, in all the ways of the
Church's life and ministry-through the evangelical poverty of her-ministers
and stewards and of the whole people which bears witness to "the mighty
works" of its Lord-the God who is "rich in mercy" has been
made still more clearly manifest. |
I. HE WHO SEES ME
SEES THE FATHER
IV. THE PARABLE
OF THE PRODIGAL SON
VI.
"MERCY...FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION"
VII. THE MERCY
OF GOD IN THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH
VIII. THE
PRAYER OF THE CHURCH IN OUR TIMES
>>DIVINE MERCY APOSTOLATE
Diary Come Back To Me Rich in Mercy
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