Blessed Are the Merciful: Embracing Divine and Human Mercy

Blessed Are the Merciful: Embracing Divine and Human Mercy

"Blessed are the merciful; they shall receive mercy." It’s easy to understand how God is merciful. Poor Lazarus was with Abraham while the rich man was across that awful divide (Lk. 16:23). Jesus told the murderer hanging on the cross next to Him, "This day you will be with me in paradise" (Lk. 23:43). That’s divine mercy—swift and magnanimous.

It might not be so obvious how we creatures can be merciful. But we need the virtue when love of neighbor calls. There’s that image of the Samaritan’s tender hands (Lk. 10:25). We can imitate him by holding a door open for someone who is struggling or even letting a speeding car merge in front of us. That’s mercy as real as applying wine and bandages.

Then there’s the merciful mind. A prayer for peace asks God “that the people of Ukraine may be granted peace, and the people of Russia may demand peace.” That’s surely how God likes to think. We might imitate this by stepping in when a friend is being cruelly teased or harshly criticized.

And we all need merciful hearts. We can do little but pray for far-out extremists on either side, but we do need to do that with sincere hearts. Every one of us needs to avoid the trap of perfectionism—the fear among Christians that we’re never going to be good enough. Perfectionism is the Covid-19 of God’s chosen. The vaccine is letting Jesus inject mercy into our bloodstream, which is the way we will be comforted.

By Fr. Joe Tetlow, S.J.