“Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.”
A merciful heart is a precious thing. It purifies the understanding and the spiritual senses, that you may have an eye of mercy in all circumstances. Thus, the bride says in the Canticle of Canticles: “A bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me, he shall abide between my breasts” (Song 1:12). Keeping His merciful love before you at all times purifies your heart, and this will in turn cleanse the veins of your life, filling you with the same merciful love. Having this heart then expresses itself in many ways. The extension of forgiveness for every wrong done to you is an invitation to another act of love. Thus, to be wronged on all sides gives you that many more opportunities to love: “Surrounding me they compassed me about: and in the name of the Lord I have been revenged on them” (Psalm 117:11) by overcoming their hatred, negligence, or ignorance with love. It can also refer to the outward apostolate of caring for the poor: “Is not this rather the fast that I have chosen? …Deal thy bread to the hungry” (Isaias 58:6-7). Thirdly, it can mean looking being compassionate with the faults of others, realizing that the expressions of love between two different people is as different as their faces. Thus, St. Paul exhorts you: “Bear ye one another’s burdens; and so you shall fulfil the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2). The more you open yourself to being a vessel of merciful love, the more the waters of this love will pour through your heart, for the Lord sees the good with which you use His graces and will entrust you with more: “For he that hath, to him shall be given, and he shall abound” (Matthew 13:12). Now merciful love is the greatest gift that can be given, for love given when it is undeserved is the greatest love one can give. Thus, God’s gift of mercy to you is something that cannot be repaid and is extended to you without measure. He found you in a poor, sinful state and has loved you that you may love Him: “And passing by thee, I saw that thou was trodden under foot in thy own blood… And I passed by thee, and saw thee: and behold thy time was the time of lovers: and I spread my garment over thee, and covered thy ignominy. And I swore to thee, and I entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God: and thou becamest mine” (Ezechiel 16:6-8). So likewise, does it become you to love Him without measure, and your neighbor in turn. Give to those that are without love, plant love where there is no love, that you may bring forth the beautiful flowers of love: “Thy plants are a paradise of pomegranates with the fruits of the orchard” (Song 4:13). Jesus seeks out the most unlovable and cherishes them, transforming the lowly and the outcast into magnificent expressions of love, and so it becomes you to love the hateful in the same manner: “for if you love them that love you, what reward shall you have? Do not even the publicans this?” Matthew 5:46). “Why doth your master eat and drink with publicans and sinners?” (Mark 2:16): To LOVE them. Let nothing come between you and love, let nothing direct your life in such a way that you cannot leave everyone you encounter leaving happier and more loved than when you found them. Though this has the promise of the gift of the eternal enjoyment of merciful love, you will also be given more of this same love in your life that you may love all the more radically now. Eternal life begins at baptism, and you have this time on earth to put merciful love in your every task and interaction. “Let all your things be done in love” (1 Corinthians 16:14), and when this is difficult, o the sheer grace! For God has issued this decree of our fallen state: “In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children” (Genesis 3:16), and this is no different with spiritual children. You may now “rejoice in my sufferings for you” (Colossians 1:24), that you may bear the cross of love with your crucified Beloved! Overcome your natural inclination away from difficult love, take up the cross of love, and follow in the footsteps of your merciful Savior, who suffered so much in bringing you to life, that you may participate in bringing forth of spiritual life to others: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (Matthew 16:24).