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Why
do we say, Kýrie, eléison—“Lord, have
mercy”? Doesn’t this mean that God will overlook our
sins?
 hen most of us say, “Lord,
have mercy,” we are really thinking, “Lord, go easy on me because
I’m lazy, and I’m too arrogant and too self-indulgent to be willing
to surrender myself completely to Your love.”
Psychologically, most of us are
lazy and arrogant because, as a result of growing up in families that manipulate
us into obedience to arbitrary authority through game-playing and emotional
dishonesty, some dark part of us believes we
are worthless and don’t deserve the purity
of genuine love. That
proud, hard heart, however, is just a hollow shell
covering up our inner fear.
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What is it everyone
fears? We’re all afraid that if we really change our lives and witness
the truth, our families will reject us. We’re afraid that our husbands
or wives will divorce us and we will lose a nice, comfortable life. We’re
afraid that our co-workers and friends will criticize us. We’re afraid
that our social prestige will suffer. We’re afraid that our careers
will be threatened. In short, we’re afraid of what we might
lose. |
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Now, in its psychological sense,
mercy means to withhold some—or all—of the punishment demanded
by justice, if the guilty person shows deep sorrow for his or her behavior
and is willing to set aside his or her fears and trust completely in
God.
In its additional theological
implications, mercy can also involve showing kindness to others in
the hope that they might overcome their fear and, feeling sorrow for their
sins, turn to God’s mercy. This follows from
the compassionate example of Christ Himself who sat with sinners, not to
wink at their sins, but to call them to
repentance.
And so, if you understand your
theology, you will see that God is always offering His mercy, despite
our arrogance. All we have to do is accept His mercy, despite our
fears.
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 I do not want to punish
aching mankind, but I desire to heal it, pressing it to My Merciful Heart.
I use punishment when they themselves force me to do so; my hand is reluctant
to take hold of the sword of Justice. Before the Day of Justice I am sending
the Day of Mercy. . . .
I cannot punish
even the greatest sinner if he makes an appeal to My compassion, but on the
contrary, I justify him in My unfathomable and inscrutable
mercy. . . .
Tell sinners
that no one shall escape My hand; if they run away from My Merciful Heart,
they will fall into My Just Hands. |
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—told to Saint
Faustina by Jesus,
Diary (1588, 1146, 1728) |
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The problem, then, is that in
our proud, hardened hearts we refuse to accept
the mercy so graciously offered to us. In trying to defend our self-esteem
from the emotional wounds of family dysfunction,
we try to convince ourselves that we are self-sufficient, and we end up believing
that begging for mercy is just another game—like all family games—that
will lead to more humiliation.
And we often, like
Jonah, begrudge God’s gift of mercy to
others.
For to make
heretical claims, as many do today—saying
that hell does not exist, and that
sin is an outdated concept irrelevant to today’s
world, and that everyone will go to heaven “because God loves
us”—only serves as a psychological
defense against the terror of human
brokenness. And, like all heresies, such claims
injure others because they deny to others the truth that they need in order
to repent their sins and turn to divine
mercy.
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To trust in The
Divine Mercy is to believe in the reality of sin
and to tremble before the Divine Justice that punishes all unrepentant
sin. |
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Therefore, to say, “Lord,
have mercy” in full spiritual honesty means that you are begging God
not to be easy on you but to give you the life experiences that will break
you and humble you—not humiliate you—and
crack open your hardened heart. Then, in that crack of
contrition, maybe true
love will begin to take root and grow, and spread and transform the hardness
into life.
And divine mercy does not stop
there, with pure contrition—that is, when a soul sees and realizes the
gravity of its sins. Even humble, repentant souls striving for holiness need
to adore Christ’s mercy.
True Christian life, therefore,
is not just a matter of the initial
repentance; it requires a constant
struggle to provide a good return on the investment
of graces that God makes in us (Matthew 25:14-30). And we can do this only
by detaching ourselves from the
illusions of this world and trusting completely
in God—adoring God’s mercy for our own good, and performing works
of mercy for the good of others.
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Blessed are the
merciful, for they will be shown mercy. |
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— Matthew 5:7 |
What the
Catechism of the Catholic Church says:
2447 The
works of mercy are charitable actions by which we come to the aid
of our neighbor in his spiritual and bodily necessities. Instructing, advising,
consoling, comforting are spiritual works of mercy, as are forgiving and
bearing wrongs patiently. The corporal works of mercy consist especially
in feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, clothing the naked, visiting
the sick and imprisoned, and burying the dead. Among all these, giving alms
to the poor is one of the chief witnesses to fraternal charity: it is also
a work of justice pleasing to God.
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Read
an excerpt from the writings of Saint Catherine of Genoa
