God becomes especially visible in His mercy; He Himself makes it incarnate and personifies it. So then, what can I count on? My own merits? No, my merit is God’s mercy. I am by no means lacking merits as long as He is rich in mercy. If the mercies of the Lord are manifold, I too will abound in merits. This is important: the courage to trust in Jesus’ mercy, to trust in His patience, to seek refuge always in the wounds of His love. -St. Bernard
“God also becomes especially visible in His mercy; that is to say, there is emphasized that attribute of the divinity which the Old Testament, using various concepts and terms, already defined as ‘mercy.’ Christ confers on the whole of the Old Testament tradition about God’s mercy a definitive meaning. Not only does He speak of it and explain it by the use of comparisons and parables, but above all He Himself makes it incarnate and personifies it. He Himself, in a certain sense, is mercy. To the person who sees it in Him – and finds it in Him – God becomes ‘visible’ in a particular way as the Father who is rich in mercy.”13 (JPII, Rich in Mercy)
“For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim 2:5).
Catholic philosopher, Josef Piper, “Being created by God does not suffice, it would seem; the fact of creation needs continuation and perfection by the creative power of human love.”
Catherine of Sienna: “All virtue and all vice come by way of your neighbor…I could easily have created men possessed of all that they should need both for body and soul, but I wish that one should have need of the other, and that they should be My ministers to administer the graces and the gifts that they have received from Me…
“It is true, however, that the acts, unless made through love of Me, profit them nothing so far as grace is concerned. See then, that I have made men My ministers, and placed them in diverse stations and various ranks, in order that they may make use of the virtue of love” (Treatise on Divine Providence).
“What have you got that was not given to you? And if it was given to you, why are you boasting as though it were your own?” (1 Cor 4:7).
“No man can forgive sins, but God only” (Luke 5:21).
“If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you retain anyone’s sins they are retained” (John 20:22-23).
“As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me” (Matt 25:40).
Jesus marveled at the faith of the Roman centurion (Matt 8:10).
The spiritual works of mercy are:
- To instruct the ignorant;
- To counsel the doubtful;
- To admonish sinners;
- To bear wrongs patiently;
- To forgive offences willingly;
- To comfort the afflicted;
- To pray for the living and the dead.
The word alms of course comes from the Greek eleemosyne (mercy).
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” Mt 5:7
God’s “outpouring of mercy cannot penetrate our hearts as long as we have not forgiven those who have trespassed against us. Love … is indivisible; we cannot love the God we can’t see if we do not love the brother or sister we do see.” (CCC 2840)