The God Of Mercy

If you had to explain who God is to someone who had never heard of Him before, what would you say? What words would you use to describe Him?

Would you say that He is all-powerful? Would you say that, although we cannot see Him, He is everywhere? Would you explain that He has no beginning and no end? Or would you point out how He created the world out of nothing?

All those would be good ways to start talking about God. However, those ideas would not fully capture who the God of Jesus Christ is. To explain God fully, we would have to start by saying that, above all else, He is merciful.

The word, “mercy”, describes love’s response to suffering. We can say that God is merciful because He identifies with those who suffer. He reaches out to those who are hurting, particularly sinners.

When we sin, God’s first thought is not about how much we have offended Him by breaking His commandments. He is not thinking, “How dare they sin against me.” Rather, His first instinct is to feel sorry for us because sin is harmful and separates us from His love. Because of His mercy, God’s first response is not how He is going to punish us but how He is going to save us.

We see God’s merciful love throughout the Bible. When Adam and Eve disobey Him, He promises to send a savior who will defeat the serpent who deceived them. When the devastating flood recedes, He promises Noah that He will not destroy the earth again. When He sees His people suffering under Pharaoh, He sends Moses to bring them to the Promised Land.

Jesus is the shining example of His merciful love. God sent His only Son to show us how far He was willing to go to free us from our sinfulness. By Jesus’ death and resurrection we find not only the forgiveness of our sins but the promise of eternal life. He extends this offer to each of us no matter how many sinful choices we have made in our lives. God is a merciful Father who always welcomes us back.

Today’s reading from the gospel of Saint John illustrates this beautifully. We see the disciples closed up in the upper room in Jerusalem. They are isolated by their fear of the authorities. They are also isolated by doubt, especially the doubt of Thomas who refuses to believe that Jesus is risen unless he can see Him with his own eyes. How does Jesus react to their fear and doubt? Does He keep His distance from them until they get their act together? Does He punish them? No. Instead He reaches out to them. Though the doors are locked because of doubt and fear, He reveals Himself to them -  and to Thomas in particular -  and invites them to believe. So great is Jesus’ mercy that He never fails to seek out the lost, the confused, the suffering and the sinner.

The merciful heart of Jesus should give us great confidence. We will always fall short of the demands of the gospel. In one way or another we will fail to love others as we should. However, no matter how many times we fall, we can always turn to Jesus for forgiveness. He never tires of seeking us out when we are lost and extending His hand in friendship to us. All we have to do is forget our pride and ask for the forgiveness we so desperately need.

Once we have received God’s mercy, it is then up to us to show mercy to others. If God has forgiven us, we must then forgive those who have hurt us. If God has so generously blessed us with material goods, we must then share them with others.

We see this in today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles. The first believers were so moved by God’s love that they shared it freely with one another. They prayed together and shared their money, food and homes with each other. Recognizing that all they had comes from God, they were willing to give it away with the confidence that God in his mercy would continue to provide for them.

That is God’s dream for this parish community, that we receive His mercy and share it with others. He wants us to be so generous with what we have that there is no needy person among us. Then it will be clear how Jesus’ death and resurrection are making a difference in our world. Then God’s mercy will pour itself out from this altar and reach out to our larger community, extending the blessings of our Heavenly Father’s love.

On the first Sunday after Easter, we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday. This beautiful feast is in response to a request which Jesus Himself made to Saint Faustina, a young Polish nun to whom He appeared in the early twentieth century. He desired that, on this day, we reflect on His infinite mercy and run to Him in our weakness and need.

In her diary, she records these words of Jesus:                                                        

My daughter, tell the whole world about My inconceivable mercy. I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners. On that day the very depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the Fount of My mercy. The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. … Let no soul fear to draw near to Me. (Diary, no. 699)

On this day, Jesus stretches out His arms to us. He begs us to return to Him to experience His tender forgiveness and to be forever changed by Him. Once we do, we can then extend the same mercy to others. Let us take advantage of the offer God makes to us this day so that we will know Him intimately as the Father of Mercy.