Mercy: A Painful Act of Faith

The word for mercy in Latin is misericordiae. According to Fr. Jacques Philippe in his book Real Mercy, this word comes from two words put together: misery and heart. He writes that mercy comes from the Heart of God looking down on us in our misery and brokenness. He argues that we cannot receive this mercy without four key pieces in our spiritual lives: trust, humility, gratitude, and forgiveness. These keys are just as important in circumstances when we are called to be merciful to others. It can be very difficult to accept them into our lives when the actions of another have caused us great suffering. Before we can truly be merciful to others, we need to take the critical first step in admitting our suffering instead of sweeping it under the rug.

It is no small to task to cope with the emotional battles of suffering while at the same time wrestling with the ideas of mercy and forgiveness. It takes considerable time and effort to acknowledge this and it may seem unrealistic to even considertaking this step. What should we do then when faith in Christ demands us to take it? Bring this anguish to His Cross. Everything God the Father desires to give to us is found in the suffering and death of Christ; the very anguish He experienced Himself is there. He desires to give us the same strength He used to overcome His suffering in death to help us with ours, reminding us always of His immense love for us. Meditating on this fact helps us to see our suffering in a new light and will move us to extend His love and mercy to our transgressors. Spend some time in prayer before an image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (my favorite image and devotion) to see for yourself. After taking this step, we can put the four spiritual keys to use and begin to extend God’s mercy to others.      

Humility: The next step here-- and perhaps the most difficult of the four keys to utilize-- is to admit that we cannot overcome our suffering without God. Just as our existence depends completely on God’s grace, so does our ability to utilize all the spiritual gifts He has given to us, including mercy. God’s mercy cannot work in our lives if we cannot acknowledge that we are in need of it ourselves and that He is its true, original source. Mercy will not flow through us to others if we cannot admit that we cannot receive it without His help, remembering the mercy He has offered us for our own sins. This is humility, not weakness. Humility requires us to come out of ourselves, calling upon the strength of God’s grace to fulfill what He asks of us each day. Being merciful to others is part of His will for our lives. This is a painful process, but God’s love cannot be defeated by even the greatest evil found on earth.

Trust: To accept God’s mercy in the face of our worst sins is an act of great faith. To accept and offer it to those who have gravely hurt us is an even tougher act of faith. Faith and fortitude are needed here because we must acknowledge aspects of Divine Will that we can never fully grasp here on earth. A great deal of trust in the goodness of everything God asks of us is critical. He trusted that we would respond in faith enough to send His only Son to save us from our sinfulness, and we trust in His True Presence every time we go to Mass. Mercy cannot flow through our hearts if we don’t acknowledge that it is a good gift from God and much stronger than our pain. Accepting trust and humility in our lives will help us to release our hearts from its anguish and gives us the grace of perseverance in a mission of mercy.

Gratitude: Because God’s mercy is a gift freely offered to us, we should express our thanks to Him whenever we receive it. This practice will help us to extend that same mercy to those who have sinned against us. This, it seems, is impossible when we look around the world and see nothing but pain and turmoil, especially when it is our own. It may seem counterintuitive to be thankful for anything in such difficult circumstances, but gratitude also gives us the grace to continue towards mercy, even in the most intense suffering. Remember with thanksgiving the mercy God showed you in your sinfulness, and He will help you to cross this tremendously difficult path.  

Forgiveness: Many people think that in order to forgive someone we have to pretend that his or her actions did not hurt us. Nothing is further from the truth as this line of thinking leads into the temptation of sin—being dishonest with ourselves and others—and this leads us further away from God’s grace. Since true forgiveness cannot exist if we are to be led to sin, forgiveness has to be offered even as we admit our suffering. Instead of minimizing our pain, forgiveness moves us to say: “Yes, your actions have hurt me, but I choose not to retaliate against you with a similar or more severe action.” There are many evil sins that can strongly tempt us to retaliate in kind, but true mercy calls us to resist this temptation through an act of faith, grounded in God’s love, remembering that true mercy comes from God alone.  

True mercy, just like everything else in our lives, is rooted in God’s unconditional love for each of us. We could say that it is the ring that holds together the four spiritual keys discussed above. Like those four keys, true love brings us outside of ourselves, and it demands us to selflessly seek the good of another. If it seems like we receive no benefit ourselves in this process it is helpful to remember that love brings us closer to God the Father, and He wills nothing other than what is truly good for us. We are never truly alone, even in the most difficult life circumstances, because we have a God who loves us unconditionally. He will be with us every step of the way as we earnestly strive to extend His mercy to all.