Christ, in revealing the love – mercy of God, at the same time demanded from people that they also should be guided in their lives by love and mercy. This requirement forms part of the very essence of the messianic message, and constitutes the heart of the Gospel ethos. The Teacher expresses this both through the medium of the commandment which He describes as “the greatest,” and also in the form of a blessing, when in the Sermon on the Mount He proclaims: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” (Dives in Misericrodia, nr 3).
The truth about God’s love for each of us is something we need like air to live and be happy. However, we can be fully happy only when we pass on this experience of our Father’s merciful love, becoming a kind of extension of His mercy in the world. Let us also note that – as the Pope writes – this is not a proposition or an option that we can choose or not. The call to be merciful is the requirement that Jesus places on each of us!
How do we respond to Jesus’ call?
In which situations is it the most difficult for us to be guided by love and mercy in our actions and in relationships with others?
Lets ask God today for the grace to be merciful, “as our Father is merciful” (Lk 6:36).
“My daughter, if I demand through you that people revere My mercy, you should be the first to distinguish yourself by this confidence in My mercy. I demand from you deeds of mercy, which are to arise out of love for me. You are to show mercy to your neighbors always and everywhere. You must not shrink from this or try to excuse or absolve yourself from it. I am giving you three ways of exercising mercy toward your neighbor: the first – by deed, the second – by word, the third – by prayer. In these three degrees is contained the fullness of mercy, and it is an unquestionable proof of love for Me” (Diary 742).
