Have you ever pondered God's mercy before? It may seem like something only the mystics, such as Saint Teresa of Avila, could do. But I think it is a fitting time for us to do so now, in this Year of Mercy. For God does not limit His mercy just to the saints or clergy. He created all mankind for communion with Him. However, we have fallen due to our free will, choosing the way of sin instead of God. The good news is that Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, was sent to restore our communion with God. "No one comes to the Father except through [Him]" -John 14:6. By knowing Jesus Christ, we come to know the mercy of the Father.
In his homily after opening the Holy Door at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, Pope Francis said, "To pass through the Holy Door means to rediscover the infinite mercy of the Father who welcomes everyone and goes out personally to encounter each of them. It is He who seeks us! It is he who comes to encounter us!" This is the Good News: that Jesus Christ has come to restore our broken relationship with God the Father. He wants to show us His mercy; all we have to do is allow Him to do so. Being a humble God, He does not force Himself upon you; rather, He waits for your "Yes" to let Him in. This famous image shows that there is no doorknob on the outside for Jesus to enter; you have to open yourself to Him.
This past week, I was at a conference led by the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS). The founder of FOCUS, Curtis Martin, described God's mercy to us in a very visual way. He had three chairs sitting up on the stage. As he sat down in one of them, he told us to pretend that He was God the Father. He looked over at where God the Son would be sitting and said, "Son, if you ever were to turn from me, to not love me back, I would forgive you and still love you." Then Curtis Martin sat in God the Son's chair and said, "Father, I am like you. I can never turn from you because I am God, too." Then, Curtis Martin sat in the Holy Spirit's seat and said, "I am also perfect like you two; yet, I would forgive and love you even if you were to turn from me." Curtis Martin concluded by explaining how because the Trinity is a perfect communion in itself, it has no way to show mercy.
Then, man was created. Now, because man is imperfect, God has a way to show His mercy. Curtis Martin explained that God allows us to be broken so that He can be merciful to us. He is the only one who can restore our brokenness fully because He formed us and knows who we are better than we ourselves do. In the same homily I mentioned earlier, Pope Francis notes, "The promised triumph of Christ’s love enfolds everything in the Father’s mercy." Jesus Christ contains everything of the Father's mercy. It is only through Him that we can come to know ourselves better, because in Him, we can know that we are children of God.
The title of this article references Matthew 9:13, "Go and learn the meaning of the words, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.” In this passage, Jesus is talking to the Pharisees who criticized him for eating with the tax collectors and sinners. The pharisees were so concerned with their pious image and the rules of Judaism that they overlooked how Jesus was having mercy on the sinners by renewing their relationship with God through encountering them where they are. It is paramount to realize that Christianity is based around a person, not a bunch of rules.
We must know that God desires to show us His mercy. St. Athanasius said that God became human so that humans may be made like God. By coming in the flesh, God made visible his mercy. Through Jesus, we come to know God as a person. The idea of encountering God is radical. We can know the one who made us and the one who knows the number of hairs on our heads. It may all sound cliche, but the reality of this is expressed through the Church, which has continued to profess this for 2000 years. Although there have been sinful individuals in the Church, the Holy Spirit has continued to encounter, restore, and send billions of people to spread their relationship with God to others. It continues to do so today. He wants to do the same thing in your life too.
From Jesus, we can also learn how to be a merciful person to others. We can come to understand why God desires mercy instead of sacrifice. He wants us to show His mercy to those who do not know it, yet who are still made in His image and likeness. Like Pope Francis mentioned, "Wherever there are people, the Church is called to reach out to them and to bring the joy of the Gospel and the mercy and forgiveness of God."
