Consideration XVI - THE MERCY OF GOD

"Superexaltat autem misericordia iudicium" (James 2:13).

Point I

Goodness is by its nature diffusive — that is, inclined to communicate its goods to others. Now God, who by nature is infinite Goodness ("Deus cuius natura bonitas," St. Leo), has a supreme desire to communicate to us His happiness; and therefore His inclination is not to punish but to show mercy to all. To punish, says Isaiah, is a work foreign to the inclination of God: "Irascetur, ut faciat opus suum, alienum opus eius... peregrinum est opus eius ab eo" (Is. 28:21). And when the Lord punishes in this life, He punishes in order to show mercy in the next. "Deus iratus est, et misertus est nobis" (Ps. 59:3). He shows Himself angry so that we may come to our senses and detest our sins: "Ostendisti populo tuo dura, potasti nos vino compunctionis" (ibid. 5). And if He sends us some punishment, He does it because He loves us, to deliver us from eternal punishment: "Dedisti metuentibus te significationem, ut fugiant a facie arcus, ut liberentur dilecti tui" (ibid. 6). And who can ever sufficiently admire and praise the mercy God shows to sinners in waiting for them, in calling them, and in welcoming them when they return? And first of all, oh, what great patience God has in waiting for you to repent! My brother, when you were offending God, could He not have struck you dead? And God waited for you; and instead of punishing you, He did you good, preserved your life, and provided for you. He pretended not to see your sins, so that you might come to your senses. "Dissimulans peccata hominum propter poenitentiam" (Wis. 11:24). But how, Lord — You cannot look upon a single sin, and yet You see so many and remain silent? "Respicere ad iniquitatem non poteris; quare respicis super iniquitates, et taces?" (Hab. 1:11). You watch that impure man, that vengeful man, that blasphemer, who day by day multiplies his offenses against You, and You do not punish him? And why such patience? "Propterea exspectat Dominus, ut misereatur vestri" (Is. 30:18). God waits for the sinner so that he may amend, and so He may pardon and save him.

St. Thomas says that all creatures — fire, earth, air, water — by their natural instinct would wish to punish the sinner, to avenge the injuries done to their Creator: "Omnis creatura, tibi factori deserviens, excandescit adversus iniustos." But God holds them back by His mercy. But, Lord, You wait for these wicked ones to amend, and You do not see that the ungrateful ones use Your mercy to offend You all the more? "Indulsisti, Domine, indulsisti genti, nunquid glorificatus es?" (Is. 26:15). And why such patience? Because God does not wish the death of the sinner, but that he be converted and saved.

"Nolo mortem impii, sed ut convertatur, et vivat" (Ezek. 33:11). O patience of God! St. Augustine goes so far as to say that if God were not God, He would be unjust, in view of the too great patience He uses with sinners: "Deus, Deus meus, pace tua dicam, nisi quia Deus esses, iniustus esses." To wait for one who uses patience as an occasion for greater insolence seems to be an injustice to the divine honor. "We sin," the Saint continues, "inhaeremus peccato" — some make peace with sin, sleeping in sin for months and years — "gaudemus de peccato" — others go so far as to boast of their wickedness — "et tu placatus es! Te nos provocamus ad iram, tu nos ad misericordiam." It seems we compete with God: we to provoke Him to punish us, and He to invite us to pardon.

Affections and Prayers

Ah, my Lord, I understand that at this hour I ought to be in hell. "Infernus domus mea est." But now, by Your mercy, I do not find myself in hell, but in this place at Your feet, and I hear You commanding me to love You: "Diliges Dominum Deum tuum." And You are telling me that You wish to pardon me, if I repent of the injuries I have done You. Yes, my God, since You wish to be loved even by me, a wretched rebel against Your majesty, I love You with all my heart, and I repent of having outraged You, more than for any evil I could have suffered. Ah, enlighten me, O infinite Goodness; make me know the wrong I have done You. No, I will resist Your calls no longer. I will no longer displease a God who has loved me so much and so many times and with so much love has pardoned me. Ah, would that I had never offended You, O my Jesus! Pardon me, and grant that from this day forward I may love no one but You; that I may live only for You, who died for me; that I may suffer for love of You, since You have suffered so much for love of me. You have loved me from eternity; grant that I may burn eternally with Your love. I hope for everything, my Savior, through Your merits.

And in you too I trust, O Mary; by your intercession you must save me.

Point II

Consider furthermore the mercy God uses in calling the sinner to repentance. When Adam rebelled against the Lord and then hid from His face, behold, God, having lost Adam, goes seeking him and, almost weeping, calls him: "Adam, ubi es?" (Gen. 3:9). "These are the words of a Father seeking his lost son," comments Father Pereira. The same thing God has done so many times with you, my brother. You fled from God, and God went on calling you — now with inspirations, now with remorse of conscience, now with sermons, now with tribulations, now with the death of your friends. It seems that Jesus Christ says, speaking of you: "Laboravi clamans, raucae factae sunt fauces meae" (Ps. 68:4). My son, I have almost lost My voice calling you. Take heed, O sinners, says St. Teresa, that He who is calling you is the Lord who one day must judge you.

My Christian, how many times have you played deaf to God who was calling you? You deserved that He should call you no more. But no — your God has not ceased to keep calling you, because He wished to make peace with you and save you. O God, who was it that was calling you? A God of infinite majesty. And who were you, if not a miserable and foul-smelling worm? And why was He calling you? For no other reason than to restore to you the life of grace that you had lost: "Revertimini, et vivite" (Ezek. 18:32). For anyone to be able to acquire divine grace, it would be little if he lived in a desert his whole life; but God urged you to receive His grace in a moment, if you wished, by an act of repentance — and you refused it. And God despite all this did not abandon you; He went after you almost weeping and saying: My son, why do you wish to be damned? "Et quare moriemini, domus Israel?" (Ezek. 18:31).

When man commits a mortal sin, he drives God from his soul. "Impii dicebant Deo: Recede a nobis" (Job 21:14). But what does God do? He places Himself at the door of that ungrateful heart: "Ecce sto ad ostium, et pulso" (Rev. 3:20). And He seems to beg the soul to give Him entrance: "Aperi mihi, soror mea" (Song 5:2). And He labors in His pleading: "Laboravi rogans" (Jer. 15:6). Yes, says St. Dionysius the Areopagite, God goes after sinners like a spurned lover, begging them not to be lost: "Deus etiam a se aversos amatorie sequitur, et deprecatur ne pereant." And this is precisely what St. Paul meant when he wrote to his disciples: "Obsecramus pro Christo, reconciliamini Deo" (2 Cor. 5:20). Beautiful is the reflection that St. John Chrysostom makes on this passage: "Ipse Christus vos obsecrat. Quid autem obsecrat? reconciliamini Deo; non enim Ipse inimicus gerit, sed vos." The Saint means that it is not the sinner who must struggle to move God to make peace with him, but he himself who must resolve to make peace with God, since it is he, not God, who flees from peace.

Ah, this good Lord goes all day long after so many sinners, saying to them: Ungrateful ones, flee from Me no more; tell Me, why do you flee? I love your good, and I desire nothing but to make you happy — why do you wish to ruin yourselves? But, Lord, what are You doing? Why such patience and such love toward these rebels? What good do You hope from them? It is beneath Your honor to let Yourself be seen so passionate toward these wretched worms who flee from You. "Quid est homo, quia magnificas eum? Aut quid apponis erga eum cor tuum?" (Job 7:17).

Affections and Prayers

Behold, Lord, at Your feet the ungrateful one who begs Your mercy: "Pater, dimitte." I call You Father, because You wish me to call You so. My Father, pardon me. I do not deserve compassion, since the better You have been to me, the more ungrateful I have been to You. Ah, by that goodness which restrained You, my God, from abandoning me when I was fleeing from You, by this same goodness receive me now that I return to You. Give me, my Jesus, great sorrow for the offenses I have done You, and give me the kiss of peace. I repent above every evil of the injuries I have done You; I detest them, I abhor them, and I unite this abhorrence of mine with that which You, my Redeemer, had in the Garden of Gethsemane. Ah, pardon me through the merits of that blood You shed for me in that garden. I firmly promise You never to depart from You again, and to drive from my heart every affection that is not for You. My Jesus, my Love, I love You above all things, and I wish to love You always, and You alone I wish to love. But give me the strength to carry it out; make me entirely Yours.

O Mary, my hope, you are the Mother of mercy; pray to God for me, and have pity on me.

Point III

The princes of this earth disdain even to look upon rebellious subjects who come to seek their pardon; but God does not act so with us. "Non avertet faciem suam a vobis, si reversi fueritis ad eum" (2 Chron. 30:9). God cannot turn His face from one who returns to His feet; no, for He Himself invites him and promises to receive him as soon as he comes: "Revertere ad me, et suscipiam te" (Jer. 3:1). "Convertimini ad me, convertar ad vos, ait Dominus" (Zech. 1:3). Oh, the love and tenderness with which God embraces a sinner who returns to Him! This is precisely what Jesus Christ wished to make us understand by the parable of the lost sheep, which the shepherd, having found, presses to his shoulders: "Imponit in humeros suos gaudens" (Luke 15). And he calls his friends to rejoice with him: "Congratulamini mihi, quia inveni ovem meam, quae perierat" (ibid. 6). And then St. Luke adds: "Gaudium erit in coelo super uno peccatore poenitentiam agente." This the Redeemer signified even more clearly by the parable of the Prodigal Son, saying that He is that Father who, seeing his lost son returning, runs to meet him; and before the son speaks, embraces and kisses him, and in embracing him almost faints with tenderness for the consolation he feels: "Accurrens cecidit super collum eius, et osculatus est eum" (Luke 15:20).

The Lord goes so far as to say that if the sinner repents, He will forget his sins, as if he had never offended Him: "Si impius egerit poenitentiam... vita vivet; omnium iniquitatum eius non recordabor" (Ezek. 18:21). He even says: "Venite, et arguite me (dicit Dominus), si fuerint peccata vestra ut coccinum, quasi nix dealbabuntur" (Is. 1:18). As if to say: Come, sinners (venite, et arguite me), and if I do not pardon you, reprove Me and treat Me as unfaithful. But no — God cannot despise a heart that humbles itself and repents. "Cor contritum et humiliatum, Deus, non despicies" (Ps. 50).

The Lord glories in showing mercy and in pardoning sinners. "Exaltabitur parcens vobis" (Is. 30:18). And how long does He take to pardon? At once. "Plorans nequaquam plorabis, miserans miserabitur tui" (Is. 30:10). Sinner, says the prophet, you do not have to weep long; at the first tear the Lord will be moved to pity for you. "Ad vocem clamoris tui, statim ut audierit, respondebit tibi" (ibid.). God does not act with us as we act with God. God calls us, and we play deaf. Not so God: "statim ut audierit respondebit tibi" — as soon as you repent and ask Him for pardon, God immediately responds and pardons you.

Affections and Prayers

O my God, and with whom have I contended? With You, who are so good, who created me and died for me? And who have borne with me so patiently after so many betrayals? Ah, merely seeing the patience You have had with me, this alone should make me live always burning with Your love. And who would ever have borne so long with the injuries I have done You, as You have borne with me? Woe to me, if from this day forward I were to return to offending You and be damned! These mercies You have shown me would be — O God — a hell more painful for me than all of hell. No, my Redeemer, do not permit me to turn my back on You again. Let me die first. I already see that Your mercy can bear with me no longer. I repent, O supreme Good, of having offended You. I love You with all my heart, and I am resolved to give entirely to You the life that remains to me. Hear me, Eternal Father, for the merits of Jesus Christ; give me holy perseverance and Your holy love. Hear me, my Jesus, for the blood You have shed for me. "Te ergo, quaesumus, tuis famulis subveni, quos pretioso sanguine redemisti."

O Mary, my Mother, look upon me; "illos tuos misericordes oculos ad nos converte," and draw me entirely to God.