Jesus Christ is the face of the father’s mercy. Mercy has become the living and visible in Jesus of Nazareth. The father rich in mercy (Eph.2:4) Mercy: the word reveals the very mystery of the Most Holy Trinity. Mercy: the ultimate and supreme act by which God comes to meet us. Mercy: the bridge that connects God and man, opening our hearts to hope of being loved forever despite our sinfulness. His being merciful is concretely demonstrated in his many actions throughout the history of salvation where his goodness prevails over punishment and destruction. In short the mercy of God is not an abstract idea, but a concrete reality through which he reveals his love as that of a father or a mother, moved to the very depths out of love for their child.
The signs he works. Especially in the face of sinners, the poor, the marginalized, the sick, and the suffering, are all meant to teach mercy. Everything in him speaks of mercy, nothing in him is devoid of compassion. Mercy and compassion play an important role in today’s world, everywhere we look, there seems to be too much misery. Somewhere someone is hungry and thirsty. There is someone who is fighting for his life or someone pleads for help.
Both mercy and compassion refer to the concern towards people in need. Compassion it is an empathetic consciousness of other people’s suffering, coupled with the longing to alleviate it. It came from two Latin words, com (with) and pati (to suffer).Literally, it translates to “to suffer with”. It is compassion that compels us to feel the pain of someone else and by doing so, we join their journey. When Jesus was crucified, his mother Mary at the foot of the cross and suffering with her son was the face of compassion.
The face of the merciful and compassionate God seen in Jesus by healing the sick, raising the dead, giving sight to the blind and above all he offered his life for the salvation of us all. When JESUS says, “be merciful as your father is merciful,” (Lk 6:36-42) he is not only telling us what to do but also how to do it. His example and ministry links the internal (what we feel) and the external (our actions) Jesus urges us to forgive our enemies (show mercy) but he also encourage us to love and pray for them (compassion).The catholic tradition introduces the virtue of solidarity. This bridges mercy and compassion. It is not merely the vague feeling of compassion but a compassion that leads one to action. It compels one not just to show mercy and feel compassion but most importantly, to do something that will alleviate the suffering of others.
In the Bible we encounter a God who is compassionate towards his people, he sees and acts. When God sees the people of Israel suffering under Pharaoh in Egypt and He came down to deliver them from the slavery and led them to the promised land (Exodus 3:7). When God sees the suffering humanity from the slavery of sin and comes down in person to deliver us through the life, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The entire ministry of Jesus Christ was marked by mercy, compassion, call to conversion and forgiveness. In His public ministry when he sees people wondering like sheep without a shepherd burden by hunger and sickness, he fed and healed them and quenched their thirst with the Word of God, he taught them and offered restoration. In short, the distinctive character of Jesus Christ was Mercy and compassion that he showed for the people that he encountered more especially, the suffering and marginalized, those in the peripheral of the society.
The true compassion means suffering with someone, feeling as another person. In other words, the deep motivating power of empathy. In this way, compassion can lead to a change of heart, to conversion, repentance and forgiveness.
From the book “Father Luis Amigo the friend of the outcast” we read that” Father Luis was known for his helpfulness and desire to do good for others, sensitive to other people’s needs. On Sundays he visited the sick to the hospital, he attended to their cleanness, taking care of the victims of discrimination, to the prison to console and instructs the prisoners especially those sentenced to life imprisonment. Again during the cholera epidemic in Spain, He narrates “the government of Masamagrell asked me for help from the newly born congregation, of the Capuchin tertiary sisters, to send the sisters to help and attend to the sick afflicted by the pestilence. It was an act of heroism defying dangers and disregarding their own life for love, as the result three youngest sisters died after being contaminated by the disease. In so doing they won the hearts of the people by their action of sacrificing love.”(Fortitude and tenderness pg18) After the epidemic, Father Luis Amigo’ narrates with words that remind us of the good Samaritan,’ many children were left without refuge after having lost their parents, Moved with compassion, I thought that we could take care of them.( OCLA 86)
Biblically, compassion is to show pity, love and mercy as the Lord Jesus says, «I have compassion for these people, they have already been with me for three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way» (Mt. 15:32). The Compassion of God comes first as He has shown in the entire history of our Salvation. In the very mystery of creation is the revelation of our God who is characterized by loving kindness, mercy, compassion and forgiveness. He is a God who is the source of our creation who sustains our very breath and brings it to fulfilment, as witnessed by the very gift of life we have been given freely. The divine omnipotence shows itself clearly in the exercise of divine mercy. Gods’ mercy is abundant and infinite. As Christians, we are called to imitate and reproduce the mercy and compassion of God towards our fellow brothers and sisters. To say that someone is full of mercy is like saying that person’s heart is full of love. In other words, the compassion and mercy of God compels us to act when we see our brothers and sisters in need of support and assistance. Making the best effort to remedy the challenge because eventually it has become our problem. This is the effect of mercy, since making known the presence of God who is the Father, full of love and forgiveness. Jesus makes forgiveness one of the principal theme of his teaching. It is also important to note that in revealing the loving forgiveness of God, Jesus lays bare before us the need that the life of every Christian must be guided by forgiveness.
Forgiveness is the fundamental aspect of Christian faith, as it is emphasized in both old and new testament, God is portrayed as merciful and forgiving, calling us to seek forgiveness and extend it to others., as reminded in the Lord’s prayer. The parable of the unforgiving servant underscores the reciprocal nature of forgiveness. Jesus high lighting the expectation for us to show mercy to others just as we receive from God. Forgiveness is a true path to conversion. The Lord replied to Peter’s question” Lord ,how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive Him? As many as seven times?” “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times” ( Math18: 21-22) , in this we understand that Christ proclaims by his action, even more than by his words that call to mercy and compassion ,forgiveness and eventually conversion are the essential elements of any proclamation of the Gospel.
In other words, Conversion is that process which takes place for a Christian to go back to God after confessing one’s sins to God. This is the process that demands and involves not only the change in actions but also the change of heart. It is important to stress that this process will not be possible without God’s acceptance and forgiveness. It is through the healing and forgiveness of our Lord Jesus Christ that we can be redeemed. In short there is a strong relationship between conversion and forgiveness because conversion is impossible without forgiveness and conversely, without conversion there will never be full process of forgiveness. In the paschal Mystery of Christ, God shows his gratuitous forgiveness and offers universal salvation and each person is called to commit oneself to a personal journey of conversion as a response to God’s invitation (Lk 23:26-56).
A clear example of this is the parable of the prodigal son (Lk 15:11-32) which expresses the essence of the mercy and loving forgiveness of God in the loving drama of the Father’s love and the prodigality and sinfulness of the younger son. The parable touches upon every aspect of the covenant of love, every loss of grace and every sin. The parable shows God’s merciful love for each person and personal attentiveness towards entire humanity. We see in this parable the gracious compassion of the Father overshadowing the sinfulness of the son, as is the remembrance of the Fathers goodness that motives the prodigal son to repentance. What a picture of God’s compassionate love and mercy! God’s heart is full of compassion for us his children. He is always stands ready with open arms to welcome the returning sinner back home with joyous celebration.
In conclusion, the challenge of the mercy of God makes the demand on our generosity which only the purified and love can hope to meet. For every person that appeals for God’s forgiveness is required to move towards God’s side through conversion, and share God’s compassion, understanding the unmeasured mercy, with which God looks on human frailty and sin. So radical and difficult is the Christian call to conversion, repentance and forgiveness especially when there has been real and deep injury to forgive that only takes place through the work of the Spirit, in union with the risen Lord.
Forgiveness is central to the biblical message, promoting reconciliation, compassion and the transformative power of God’s grace. It is not a sign of weakness, instead it is the sign of strength that truly is, as Jesus powerfully demonstrated on the cross.
Our seraphic father saint Francis of Assisi calls us for the same thing by saying” There should be no friar in the whole world who has fallen into sin, no matter how far he has fallen, who will ever fail to find your forgiveness for the asking, if he will only look into your eyes. And if he does not ask forgiveness, you should ask him if he wants it. And should he appear before you again a thousand times, you should love him more than you love me, so that you may draw him to God.
May I also forgive myself and open my heart to those I need to ask forgiveness of. May I be quick to forgive in all circumstance. May forgiveness teach me compassion.
Sr. Diana Kayetan Mhule