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FOOTNOTES
1. Eph. 2:4.
2. Cf. Jn. 1:18;
Heb. 1:1f.
3. Jn. 14:8-9.
4. Eph. 2:4-5.
5. 2 Cor. 1:3.
6. Pastoral
Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium
et spes, no. 22: AAS 58 (1966), p. 1042.
7. Cf. ibid
8. 1 Tm. 6:16.
9. Rom. 1:20.
10. Jn. 1:18.
11. 1 Tm. 6:16.
12. Ti. 3:4.
13. Eph. 2:4.
14. Cf. Gn. 1:28.
15. Pastoral
Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium
et spes, no. 9: AAS 58 (1966), p. 1032.
16. 2 Cor. 1:3.
17. Mt. 6:4, 6, 18.
18. Cf. Eph. 3:18;
also Lk. 11:5-13.
19. Lk. 4:18-19.
20. Lk. 7:19.
21. Lk. 7:22-23.
22. 1 Jn. 4:16
23. Eph. 2:4.
24. Lk. 15:11-32.
25. Lk. 10:30-37.
26. Mt. 18:23-35.
27. Mt. 18:12-14; Lk. 15:3-7.
28. Lk. 15:8-10.
29. Mt. 22:38.
30. Mt. 5:7.
31. Cf. Jgs. 3:7-9.
32. Cf. 1 Kgs. 8:22-53.
33. Cf. Mi. 7:18-20.
34. Cf. Is. 1:18;
51:4-16.
35. Cf. Bar. 2:11-3,
8.
36. Cf. Neh. 9.
37. Cf. e.g. Hos.
2:21-25 and 15;Is. 54:6-8.
38. Cf. Jer. 31:20; Lz. 39:25-29.
39. Cf. 2 Sm. 11;
12; 24:10.
40. Job passim.
41. Est.. 4:17k ff.
42. Cf. e.g. Neh.
9:30-32; Tb. 3:2-3, 11-12; 8:16-17; 1 Mc. 4:24.
43. Cf. Ex. 3:7f.
44. Cf. Is. 63:9.
45. Ex. 34:6.
46. Cf. Nm. 14:18; 2
Chr. 30:9; Neh. 9:17; Ps. 86(85); Wis. 15:1; Sir. 2:11; Jl. 2:13.
47. Cf. Is. 63:16.
48. Cf. Ex. 4:22.
49. Cf. Hos. 2:3.
50. Cf. Hos. 11:7-9;
Jer. 31:20; Is. 54:7f.
51. Cf. Ps. 103(102)
and 145(144).
52. In describing
mercy, the books of the Old Testament use two expressions in particular, each
having a different semantic nuance. First there is the term hesed, which indicates a profound attitude of
"goodness." When this is established between two individuals, they
do not just wish each other well; they are also faithful to each other by
virtue of an interior commitment, and therefore also by virtue of a faithfulness
to themselves. Since hesed also means
"grace" or "love," this occurs precisely on the basis of
this fidelity. The fact that the commitment in question has not only a moral
character but almost a juridical one makes no difference. When in the Old
Testament the word hesed is used of the Lord, this
always occurs in connection with the covenant that God established with
Israel. This covenant was, on God's part, a gift and a grace for Israel.
Nevertheless, since, in harmony with the covenant entered into, God had made
a commitment to respect it, hesed also acquired in
a certain sense a legal content. The juridical commitment on God's part
ceased to oblige whenever Israel broke the covenant and did not respect its
conditions. But precisely at this point, hesed, in
ceasing to be a juridical obligation, revealed its deeper aspect: it showed
itself as what it was at the beginning, that is, as love that gives, love
more powerful than betrayal, grace stronger than sin.
This fidelity vis-a-vis
the unfaithful "daughter of my people"(cf. Lam. 4:3, 6) is, in
brief, on God's part, fidelity to Himself. This becomes obvious in the
frequent recurrence together of the two terms hesed
we'e met (= grace and fidelity), which could be
considered a case of hendiadys (cf. e.g. Ex. 34:6; 2 Sm. 2:6; 15:20; Ps.
25[24]:10; 40[39]:11-12; 85[84]:11; 138[137]:2; Mi. 7:20). "It is not
for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of
my holy name" (Ez. 36:22). Therefore Israel, although burdened with guilt
for having broken the covenant, cannot lay claim to God's hesed
on the basis of (legal) justice; yet it can and must go on hoping and
trusting to obtain it, since the God of the covenant is really
"responsible for his love." The fruits of this love are forgiveness
and restoration to grace, the reestablishment of the interior covenant.
The second word which in the terminology of the Old Testament serves to
define mercy is rahamim. This has a different
nuance from that of hesed. While hesed highlights the marks of fidelity to self and of
"responsibility for one's own love" (which are in a certain sense
masculine characteristics), rahamim, in its very
root, denotes the love of a mother (rehem =
mother's womb). From the deep and original bond-indeed the unity-that links a
mother to her child there springs a particular relationship to the child, a
particular love. Of this love one can say that it is completely gratuitous,
not merited, and that in this aspect it constitutes an interior necessity: an
exigency of the heart. It is, as it were, a "feminine" variation of
the masculine fidelity to self expressed by hesed. Against this psychological background, rahamim generates a whole range of feelings, including
goodness and tenderness, patience and understanding, that is, readiness to
forgive.
The Old Testament attributes to the Lord precisely these characteristics when
it uses the term rahamim in speaking of Him. We
read in Isaiah: "Can a woman forget her suckling child, that she should
have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will
not forget you" (Is. 49:15). This love, faithful and invincible thanks
to the mysterious power of motherhood, is expressed in the Old Testament
texts in various ways: as salvation from dangers, especially from enemies;
also as forgiveness of sins-of individuals and also of the whole of Israel;
and finally in readiness to fulfill the (eschatological) promise and hope, in
spite of human infidelity, as we read in Hosea: "I will heal their
faithlessness, I will love them freely" (Hos. 14:5).
In the terminology of the Old Testament we also find other expressions,
referring in different ways to the same basic content. But the two terms
mentioned above deserve special attention. They clearly show their original
anthropomorphic aspect: in describing God's mercy, the biblical authors use
terms that correspond to the consciousness and experience of their
contemporaries. The Greek terminology in the Septuagint translation does not
show as great a wealth as the Hebrew: therefore it does not offer all the
semantic nuances proper to the original text. At any rate, the New Testament
builds upon the wealth and depth that already marked the Old.
In this way, we have inherited from the Old Testament-as it were in a special
synthesis-not only the wealth of expressions used by those books in order to
define God's mercy, but also a specific and obviously anthropomorphic
"psychology" of God: the image of His anxious love, which in
contact with evil, and in particular with the sin of the individual and of
the people, is manifested as mercy. This image is made up not only of the
rather general content of the verb hanan but also
of the content of hesed and rahamim.
The term hanan expresses a wider concept: it means
in fact the manifestation of grace, which involves, so to speak, a constant
predisposition to be generous, benevolent and merciful. In addition to these
basic semantic elements, the Old Testament concept of mercy is also made up
of what is included in the verb hamal, which literally
means "to spare" (a defeated enemy) but also "to show mercy
and compassion," and in consequence forgiveness and remission of guilt.
There is also the term hus, which expresses pity
and compassion, but especially in the affective sense. These terms appear
more rarely in the biblical texts to denote mercy. In addition, one must note
the word 'emet already mentioned: it means
primarily "solidity, security" (in the Greek of the Septuagint:
"truth") and then "fidelity," land in this way it seems
to link up with the semantic content proper to the term hesed.
53. Ps. 40(39):11;
98(97):2f.; Is. 45:21; 51:5, 8; 56:1.
54. Wis. 11:24.
55. 1 Jn. 4:16.
56. Jer. 31:3.
57. Is. 54:10.
58. Jon. 4:2, 11;
Ps. 145(144):9; Sir. 18:8-14; Wis. 11:23-12:1.
59. Jn. 14:9.
60. In both places
it is a case of hesed, i..e., the fidelity that God manifests to His own love for
the people, fidelity to he promises that will find their definitive
fulfillment precisely in the motherhood of the Mother of God (cf. Lk. 1:49-54).
61. Cf. Lk. 1:72. Here too it is a case of mercy in the meaning
of hesed, insofar as in the following sentences, in
which Zechariah speaks of the "tender mercy of our God," there is
clearly expressed the second meaning, namely, rahamim
(Latin translation: viscera misericordiae), which
rather identifies God's mercy with a mother's love.
62. Cf. Lk. 15:14-32.
63. Lk. 15:18-19.
64. Lk. 15:20.
65. Lk. 15:32.
66. Cf. Lk. 15:3-6.
67. Cf. Lk. 15:8-9.
68. 1 Cor. 13:4-8.
69. Cf. Rom. 12:21.
70. Cf. the liturgy
of the Easter Vigil: the Exsultet.
71. Acts 10:38.
72. Mt. 9:35.
73. Cf. Mk. 15:37;
Jn. 19:30.
74. Is. 53:5
75. 2 Cor. 5:21.
76. Ibid.
77. The
Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed.
78. Jn. 3:16.
79. Cf. Jn. 14:9.
80. Mt. 10:28.
81. Phil. 2:8.
82. 2 Cor. 5:21.
83. Cf. 1 Cor.
15:54-55.
84. Cf. Lk. 4:18-21.
85. Cf. Lk. 7:20-23.
86. Cf. Is. 35:5;
61:1-3.
87. 1 Cor. 15:4.
88. Rv. 21:1.
89. Rv. 21:4.
90. Cf. Rv. 21:4.
91. Rv. 3:20.
92. Cf. Mt. 24:35.
93. Cf. Rv. 3:20.
94. Mt. 25:40.
95. Mt. 5:7.
96. Jn. 14:9.
97. Rom. 8:32.
98. Mk. 12:27.
99. Jn. 20:19-23.
100. Ps. 89(88):2.
101. Lk. 1:50.
102. Cf. 2 Cor.
1:21-22.
103. Lk. 1:50.
104. Cf. Ps..85(84):11.
105. Lk. 1:50.
106. Cf. Lk. 4:18.
107. Cf. Lk. 7:22.
108. Dogmatic
Constitution on the Church Lumen gentium,
no. 62: AAS 57 1965), p. 63.
109. Pastoral
Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium
et spes, no. 10: AAS 58 (1966), p. 1032.
110. Ibid
111. Mt. 5:38.
112. Cf. Jn. 14:9-10.
113. Jn. 14:9.
114. Cf. 1 Cor.
11:26; acclamation in the Roman Missal.
115. Jn. 3:16.
116. 1 Jn. 4:8.
117. Cf. 1 Cor. 13:4.
118. 2 Cor. 1:3.
119. Rom. 8:26.
120. Mt. 5:7.
121. Cf. Mt.
25:34-40.
122. Cf. 1 Cor. 13:4.
123. Cf. Lk. 15:11-32.
124. Cf. Lk. 15:1-10.
125. Cf. Insegnamenti di Paolo VI, XIII (1975), p.
1568 (close of the Holy Year, December 25, 1975).
126. Mt. 5:38.
127. Cf. Pastoral
Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium
et spes, no. 40 AAS 58 (1966), pp.1057-1059;
Pope Paul VI: Apostolic Exhortation Paterna
cum benevolentia, in particular nos. 1-6: AAS
67 (1975), pp. 7-9, 17-23.
128. Cf. 1 Jn. 2:16.
129. Mt. 6:12.
130. Eph. 4:2; cf.
Gal. 6:2.
131. Mt. 18:22.
132. Cf. Lk. 15:32.
133. Cf. Is. 12:3.
134. Mt. 10:8.
135. Cf. Heb. 5:7.
136. Cf. Wis. 11:24;
Ps. 145(144):9; Gn. 1:31.
137. Lk. 23:34.
138. Cf. 1 Cor. 4:1.
139. Mt. 5:7.
140. Cf. Jn. 14:9.
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