Ioannes Paulus PP. II Dives in misericordia 1980.11.30
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Blessing
Venerable Brothers and dear sons
and daughters, greetings
and the apostolic blessing.
I.
HE WHO SEES ME SEES THE FATHER (cf. John 14:9)
1. The Revelation of
Mercy
It is "God, who is rich in mercy" 1 whom Jesus Christ has
revealed to us as Father: it is His very Son who, in Himself, has
manifested Him and made Him known to us.2 Memorable in this regard is
the moment when Philip, one of the twelve Apostles, turned to Christ and
said: "Lord, show us the Father, and we shall be satisfied"; and Jesus
replied: "Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me...?
He who has seen me has seen the Father."3 These words were spoken during
the farewell discourse at the end of the paschal supper, which was
followed by the events of those holy days during which confirmation was
to be given once and for all of the fact that "God, who is rich in
mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were
dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ."4
Following the teaching of the Second Vatican Council and paying close
attention to the special needs of our times, I devoted the encyclical
Redemptor hominis to the truth about man, a truth that is revealed to us
in its fullness and depth in Christ. A no less important need in these
critical and difficult times impels me to draw attention once again in
Christ to the countenance of the "Father of mercies and God of all
comfort."5 We read in the Constitution Gaudium et spes: "Christ the new
Adam...fully reveals man to himself and brings to light his lofty
calling," and does it "in the very revelation of the mystery of the
Father and of his love."6 The words that I have quoted are clear
testimony to the fact that man cannot be manifested in the full dignity
of his nature without reference - not only on the level of concepts but
also in an integrally existential way - to God. Man and man's lofty
calling are revealed in Christ through the revelation of the mystery of
the Father and His love.
For this reason it is now fitting
to reflect on this mystery. It is called for by the varied experiences
of the Church and of contemporary man. It is also demanded by the pleas
of many human hearts, their sufferings and hopes, their anxieties and
expectations. While it is true that every individual human being is, as
I said in my encyclical Redemptor hominis, the way for the Church, at
the same time the Gospel and the whole of Tradition constantly show us
that we must travel this day with every individual just as Christ traced
it out by revealing in Himself the Father and His love.7 In Jesus
Christ, every path to man, as it has been assigned once and for all to
the Church in the changing context of the times, is simultaneously an
approach to the Father and His love. The Second Vatican Council has
confirmed this truth for our time.
The more the Church's mission is
centered upon man-the more it is, so to speak, anthropocentric-the more
it must be confirmed and actualized theocentrically, that is to say, be
directed in Jesus Christ to the Father. While the various currents of
human thought both in the past and at the present have tended and still
tend to separate theocentrism and anthropocentrism, and even to set them
in opposition to each other, the Church, following Christ, seeks to link
them up in human history, in a deep and organic way. And this is also
one of the basic principles, perhaps the most important one, of the
teaching of the last Council. Since, therefore, in the present phase of
the Church's history we put before ourselves as our primary task the
implementation of the doctrine of the great Council, we must act upon
this principle with faith, with an open mind and with all our heart. In
the encyclical already referred to, I have tried to show that the
deepening and the many-faceted enrichment of the Church's consciousness
resulting from the Council must open our minds and our hearts more
widely to Christ. Today I wish to say that openness to Christ, who as
the Redeemer of the world fully reveals man himself," can only be
achieved through an ever more mature reference to the Father and His
love.
2. The Incarnation of Mercy
Although
God "dwells in unapproachable light,"8 He speaks to man he means of the
whole of the universe: "ever since the creation of the world his
invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly
perceived in the things that have been made."9 This indirect and
imperfect knowledge, achieved by the intellect seeking God by means of
creatures through the visible world, falls short of "vision of the
Father." "No one has ever seen God," writes St. John, in order to stress
the truth that "the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has
made him known."10 This "making known" reveals God in the most profound
mystery of His being, one and three, surrounded by "unapproachable
light."11 Nevertheless, through this "making known" by Christ we know
God above all in His relationship of love for man: in His
"philanthropy."12 It is precisely here that "His invisible nature"
becomes in a special way "visible," incomparably more visible than
through all the other "things that have been made": it becomes visible
in Christ and through Christ, through His actions and His words, and
finally through His death on the cross and His resurrection.
In this
way, in Christ and through Christ, God also becomes especially visible
in His mercy; that is to say, there is emphasized that attribute of the
divinity which the Old Testament, using various concepts and terms,
already defined as "mercy." Christ confers on the whole of the Old
Testament tradition about God's mercy a definitive meaning. Not only
does He speak of it and explain it by the use of comparisons and
parables, but above all He Himself makes it incarnate and personifies
it. He Himself, in a certain sense, is mercy. To the person who sees it
in Him - and finds it in Him - God becomes "visible" in a particular way
as the Father who is rich in mercy."13
The present-day mentality, more
perhaps than that of people in the past, seems opposed to a God of
mercy, and in fact tends to exclude from life and to remove from the
human heart the very idea of mercy. The word and the concept of "mercy"
seem to cause uneasiness in man, who, thanks to the enormous development
of science and technology, never before known in history, has become the
master of the earth and has subdued and dominated it.14 This dominion
over the earth, sometimes understood in a one - sided and superficial
way, seems to have no room for mercy. However, in this regard we can
profitably refer to the picture of "man's situation in the world today"
as described at the beginning of the Constitution Gaudium et spes. Here
we read the following sentences: "In the light of the foregoing factors
there appears the dichotomy of a world that is at once powerful and
weak, capable of doing what is noble and what is base, disposed to
freedom and slavery, progress and decline, brotherhood and hatred. Man
is growing conscious that the forces he has unleashed are in his own
hands and that it is up to him to control them or be enslaved by
them."15
The situation of the world today not only displays
transformations that give grounds for hope in a better future for man on
earth, but also reveals a multitude of threats, far surpassing those
known up till now. Without ceasing to point out these threats on various
occasions (as in addresses at UNO, to UNESCO, to FAO and elsewhere), the
Church must at the same time examine them in the light of the truth
received from God.
The truth, revealed in Christ,
about God the "Father of mercies,"16 enables us to "see" Him as
particularly close to man especially when man is suffering, when he is
under threat at the very heart of his existence and dignity. And this is
why, in the situation of the Church and the world today, many
individuals and groups guided by a lively sense of faith are turning, I
would say almost spontaneously, to the mercy of God. They are certainly
being moved to do this by Christ Himself, who through His Spirit works
within human hearts. For the mystery of God the "Father of mercies"
revealed by Christ becomes, in the context of today's threats to man, as
it were a unique appeal addressed to the Church.
In the
present encyclical wish to accept this appeal; I wish to draw from the
eternal and at the same time-for its simplicity and depth- incomparable
language of revelation and faith, in order through this same language to
express once more before God and before humanity the major anxieties of
our time.
In fact, revelation and faith teach us not only to
meditate in the abstract upon the mystery of God as "Father of mercies,"
but also to have recourse to that mercy in the name of Christ and in
union with Him. Did not Christ say that our Father, who "sees in
secret,"17 is always waiting for us to have recourse to Him in every
need and always waiting for us to study His mystery: the mystery of the
Father and His love?18
I therefore wish these
considerations to bring this mystery closer to everyone. At the same
time I wish them to be a heartfelt appeal by the Church to mercy, which
humanity and the modern world need so much. And they need mercy even
though they often do not realize it.
II.
THE MESSIANIC MESSAGE
3. When Christ Began To Do and To
Teach
Before His own townspeople, in Nazareth, Christ refers to
the words of the prophet Isaiah: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent
me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the
blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the
acceptable year of the Lord."19 These phrases, according to Luke, are
His first messianic declaration. They are followed by the actions and
words known through the Gospel. By these actions and words Christ makes
the Father present among men. It is very significant that the people in
question are especially the poor, those without means of subsistence,
those deprived of their freedom, the blind who cannot see the beauty of
creation, those living with broken hearts, or suffering from social
injustice, and finally sinners. It is especially for these last that the
Messiah becomes a particularly clear sign of God who is love, a sign of
the Father. In this visible sign the people of our own time, just like
the people then, can see the Father.
It is significant that, when the
messengers sent by John the Baptist came to Jesus to ask Him: "Are you
he who is to come, or shall we look for another?",20 He answered by
referring to the same testimony with which He had begun His teaching at
Nazareth: "Go and tell John what it is that you have seen and heard: the
blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the
deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to
them." He then ended with the words: "And blessed is he who takes no
offense at me".21
Especially through His lifestyle
and through His actions, Jesus revealed that love is present in the
world in which we live - an effective love, a love that addresses itself
to man and embraces everything that makes up his humanity. This love
makes itself particularly noticed in contact with suffering, injustice
and poverty - in contact with the whole historical "human condition,"
which in various ways manifests man's limitation and frailty, both
physical and moral. It is precisely the mode and sphere in which love
manifests itself that in biblical language is called "mercy."
Christ,
then, reveals God who is Father, who is "love," as St. John will express
it in his first letter22; Christ reveals God as "rich in mercy," as we
read in St. Paul.23 This truth is not just the subject of a teaching; it
is a reality made present to us by Christ. Making the Father present as
love and mercy is, in Christ's own consciousness, the fundamental
touchstone of His mission as the Messiah; this is confirmed by the words
that He uttered first in the synagogue at Nazareth and later in the
presence of His disciples and of John the Baptist's messengers.
On the
basis of this way of manifesting the presence of God who is Father, love
and mercy, Jesus makes mercy one of the principal themes of His
preaching. As is His custom, He first teaches "in parables," since these
express better the very essence of things. It is sufficient to recall
the parable of the prodigal son,24 or the parable of the Good
Samaritan,25 but also - by contrast - the parable of the merciless
servant.26 There are many passages in the teaching of Christ that
manifest love-mercy under some ever-fresh aspect. We need only consider
the Good Shepherd who goes in search of the lost sheep, 27 or the woman
who sweeps the house in search of the lost coin.28 The Gospel writer who
particularly treats of these themes in Christ's teaching is Luke, whose
Gospel has earned the title of "the Gospel of mercy."
When one
speaks of preaching, one encounters a problem of major importance with
reference to the meaning of terms and the content of concepts,
especially the content of the concept of "mercy" (in relationship to the
concept of "love"). A grasp of the content of these concepts is the key
to understanding the very reality of mercy. And this is what is most
important for us. However, before devoting a further part of our
considerations to this subject, that is to say, to establishing the
meaning of the vocabulary and the content proper to the concept of
mercy," we must note that 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,"29 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."30
In this
way, the messianic message about mercy preserves a particular
divine-human dimension. Christ - the very fulfillment of the messianic
prophecy - by becoming the incarnation of the love that is manifested
with particular force with regard to the suffering, the unfortunate and
sinners, makes present and thus more fully reveals the Father, who is
God "rich in mercy." At the same time, by becoming for people a model of
merciful love for others, Christ proclaims by His actions even more than
by His words that call to mercy which is one of the essential elements
of the Gospel ethos. In this instance it is not just a case of
fulfilling a commandment or an obligation of an ethical nature; it is
also a case of satisfying a condition of major importance for God to
reveal Himself in His mercy to man: "The merciful...shall obtain mercy."
III. THE OLD TESTAMENT
4. The Concept of "Mercy" in the
Old Testament
The concept of "mercy" in the Old Testament has a long
and rich history. We have to refer back to it in order that the mercy
revealed by Christ may shine forth more clearly. By revealing that mercy
both through His actions and through His teaching, Christ addressed
Himself to people who not only knew the concept of mercy, but who also,
as the People of God of the Old Covenant, had drawn from their age -
long history a special experience of the mercy of God. This experience
was social and communal, as well as individual and interior.
Israel
was, in fact, the people of the covenant with God, a covenant that it
broke many times. Whenever it became aware of its infidelity - and in
the history of Israel there was no lack of prophets and others who
awakened this awareness-it appealed to mercy. In this regard, the books
of the Old Testament give us very many examples. Among the events and
texts of greater importance one may recall: the beginning of the history
of the Judges,31 the prayer of Solomon at the inauguration of the
Temple,32 part of the prophetic work of Micah,33 the consoling
assurances given by Isaiah,34 the cry of the Jews in exile,35 and the
renewal of the covenant after the return from exile.36
It is
significant that in their preaching the prophets link mercy, which they
often refer to because of the people's sins, with the incisive image of
love on God's part. The Lord loves Israel with the love of a special
choosing, much like the love of a spouse,37 and for this reason He
pardons its sins and even its infidelities and betrayals. When He finds
repentance and true conversion, He brings His people back to grace.38 In
the preaching of the prophets, mercy signifies a special power of love,
which prevails over the sin and infidelity of the chosen people.
In this
broad "social" context, mercy appears as a correlative to the interior
experience of individuals languishing in a state of guilt or enduring
every kind of suffering and misfortune. Both physical evil and moral
evil, namely sin, cause the sons and daughters of Israel to turn to the
Lord and beseech His mercy. In this way David turns to Him, conscious of
the seriousness of his guilt39; Job too, after his rebellion, turns to
Him in his tremendous misfortune40; so also does Esther, knowing the
mortal threat to her own people.41 And we find still other examples in
the books of the Old Testament.42
At the root of this many-sided
conviction, which is both communal and personal, and which is
demonstrated by the whole of the Old Testament down the centuries, is
the basic experience of the chosen people at the Exodus: the Lord saw
the affliction of His people reduced to slavery, heard their cry, knew
their sufferings and decided to deliver them.43 In this act of salvation
by the Lord, the prophet perceived his love and compassion.44 This is
precisely the grounds upon which the people and each of its members
based their certainty of the mercy of God, which can be invoked whenever
tragedy strikes.
Added to this is the fact that sin too constitutes man's
misery. The people of the Old Covenant experienced this misery from the
time of the Exodus, when they set up the golden calf. The Lord Himself
triumphed over this act of breaking the covenant when He solemnly
declared to Moses that He was a "God merciful and gracious, slow to
anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness."45 It is in
this central revelation that the chosen people, and each of its members,
will find, every time that they have sinned, the strength and the motive
for turning to the Lord to remind Him of what He had exactly revealed
about Himself46 and to beseech His forgiveness.
Thus, in
deeds and in words, the Lord revealed His mercy from the very beginnings
of the people which He chose for Himself; and, in the course of its
history, this people continually entrusted itself, both when stricken
with misfortune and when it became aware of its sin, to the God of
mercies. All the subtleties of love become manifest in the Lord's mercy
towards those who are His own: He is their Father,47 for Israel is His
firstborn son48; the Lord is also the bridegroom of her whose new name
the prophet proclaims: Ruhamah, "Beloved" or "she has obtained pity."49
Even when the Lord is exasperated by the infidelity of His people and
thinks of finishing with it, it is still His tenderness and generous
love for those who are His own which overcomes His anger.50 Thus it is
easy to understand why the psalmists, when they desire to sing the
highest praises of the Lord, break forth into hymns to the God of love,
tenderness, mercy and fidelity.51
From all this it follows that
mercy does not pertain only to the notion of God, but it is something
that characterizes the life of the whole people of Israel and each of
its sons and daughters: mercy is the content of intimacy with their
Lord, the content of their dialogue with Him. Under precisely this
aspect, mercy is presented in the individual books of the Old Testament
with a great richness of expression. It may be difficult to find in
these books a purely theoretical answer to the question of what mercy is
in itself. Nevertheless, the terminology that is used is in itself able
to tell us much about this subject.52
The Old Testament proclaims the
mercy of the Lord by the use of many terms with related meanings; they
are differentiated by their particular content, but it could be said
that they all converge from different directions on one single
fundamental content, to express its surpassing richness and at the same
time to bring it close to man under different aspects. The Old Testament
encourages people suffering from misfortune, especially those weighed
down by sin - as also the whole of Israel, which had entered into the
covenant with God - to appeal for mercy, and enables them to count upon
it: it reminds them of His mercy in times of failure and loss of trust.
Subsequently, the Old Testament gives thanks and glory for mercy every
time that mercy is made manifest in the life of the people or in the
lives of individuals.
In this way, mercy is in a
certain sense contrasted with God's justice, and in many cases is shown
to be not only more powerful than that justice but also more profound.
Even the Old Testament teaches that, although justice is an authentic
virtue in man, and in God signifies transcendent perfection nevertheless
love is "greater" than justice: greater in the sense that it is primary
and fundamental. Love, so to speak, conditions justice and, in the final
analysis, justice serves love. The primacy and superiority of love
vis-a-vis justice - this is a mark of the whole of revelation - are
revealed precisely through mercy. This seemed so obvious to the
psalmists and prophets that the very term justice ended up by meaning
the salvation accomplished by the Lord and His mercy.53 Mercy differs
from justice, but is not in opposition to it, if we admit in the history
of man - as the Old Testament precisely does-the presence of God, who
already as Creator has linked Himself to His creature with a particular
love. Love, by its very nature, excludes hatred and ill - will towards
the one to whom He once gave the gift of Himself: Nihil odisti eorum
quae fecisti, "you hold nothing of what you have made in abhorrence."54
These words indicate the profound basis of the relationship between
justice and mercy in God, in His relations with man and the world. They
tell us that we must seek the life-giving roots and intimate reasons for
this relationship by going back to "the beginning," in the very mystery
of creation. They foreshadow in the context of the Old Covenant the full
revelation of God, who is "love."55
Connected with the mystery of
creation is the mystery of the election, which in a special way shaped
the history of the people whose spiritual father is Abraham by virtue of
his faith. Nevertheless, through this people which journeys forward
through the history both of the Old Covenant and of the New, that
mystery of election refers to every man and woman, to the whole great
human family. "I have loved you with an everlasting love, therefore I
have continued my faithfulness to you."56 "For the mountains may
depart...my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of
peace shall not be removed."57 This truth, once proclaimed to Israel,
involves a perspective of the whole history of man, a perspective both
temporal and eschatological.58 Christ reveals the Father within the
framework of the same perspective and on ground already prepared, as
many pages of the Old Testament writings demonstrate. At the end of this
revelation, on the night before He dies, He says to the apostle Philip
these memorable words: "Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not
know me...? He who has seen me has seen the Father."59
IV. THE PARABLE OF THE PRODIGAL
SON
5. An Analogy
At the
very beginning of the New Testament, two voices resound in St. Luke's
Gospel in unique harmony concerning the mercy of God, a harmony which
forcefully echoes the whole Old Testament tradition. They express the
semantic elements linked to the differentiated terminology of the
ancient books. Mary, entering the house of Zechariah, magnifies the Lord
with all her soul for "his mercy," which "from generation to generation"
is bestowed on those who fear Him. A little later, as she recalls the
election of Israel, she proclaims the mercy which He who has chosen her
holds "in remembrance" from all time.60 Afterwards, in the same house,
when John the Baptist is born, his father Zechariah blesses the God of
Israel and glorifies Him for performing the mercy promised to our
fathers and for remembering His holy covenant.61
In the
teaching of Christ Himself, this image inherited from the Old Testament
becomes at the same time simpler and more profound. This is perhaps most
evident in the parable of the prodigal son.62 Although the word "mercy"
does not appear, it nevertheless expresses the essence of the divine
mercy in a particularly clear way. This is due not so much to the
terminology, as in the Old Testament books, as to the analogy that
enables us to understand more fully the very mystery of mercy, as a
profound drama played out between the father's love and the prodigality
and sin of the son.
That son, who receives from the
father the portion of the inheritance that is due to him and leaves home
to squander it in a far country "in loose living," in a certain sense is
the man of every period, beginning with the one who was the first to
lose the inheritance of grace and original justice. The analogy at this
point is very wide- ranging. The parable indirectly touches upon every
breach of the covenant of love, every loss of grace, every sin. In this
analogy there is less emphasis than in the prophetic tradition on the
unfaithfulness of the whole people of Israel, although the analogy of
the prodigal son may extend to this also. "When he had spent
everything," the son "began to be in need," especially as "a great
famine arose in that country" to which he had gone after leaving his
father's house. And in this situation "he would gladly have fed on"
anything, even "the pods that the swine ate," the swine that he herded
for "one of the citizens of that country." But even this was refused
him.
The analogy turns clearly towards man's interior. The
inheritance that the son had received from his father was a quantity of
material goods, but more important than these goods was his dignity as a
son in his father's house. The situation in which he found himself when
he lost the material goods should have made him aware of the loss of
that dignity. He had not thought about it previously, when he had asked
his father to give him the part of the inheritance that was due to him,
in order to go away. He seems not to be conscious of it even now, when
he says to himself: "How many of my father's hired servants have bread
enough and to spare, but I perish here with hunger." He measures himself
by the standard of the goods that he has lost, that he no longer
"possesses," while the hired servants of his father's house "possess"
them. These words express above all his attitude to material goods;
nevertheless under their surface is concealed the tragedy of lost
dignity, the awareness of squandered sonship.
It is at
this point that he makes the decision: "I will arise and go to my
father, and I will say to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and
before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one
of your hired servants.'"63 These are words that reveal more deeply the
essential problem. Through the complex material situation in which the
prodigal son found himself because of his folly, because of sin, the
sense of lost dignity had matured. When he decides to return to his
father's house, to ask his father to be received-no longer by virtue of
his right as a son, but as an employee-at first sight he seems to be
acting by reason of the hunger and poverty that he had fallen into; this
motive, however, is permeated by an awareness of a deeper loss: to be a
hired servant in his own father's house is certainly a great humiliation
and source of shame. Nevertheless, the prodigal son is ready to undergo
that humiliation and shame. He realizes that he no longer has any right
except to be an employee in his father's house. His decision is taken in
full consciousness of what he has deserved and of what he can still have
a right to in accordance with the norms of justice. Precisely this
reasoning demonstrates that, at the center of the prodigal son's
consciousness, the sense of lost dignity is emerging, the sense of that
dignity that springs from the relationship of the son with the father.
And it is with this decision that he sets out.
In the
parable of the prodigal son, the term "justice" is not used even once;
just as in the original text the term "mercy" is not used either.
Nevertheless, the relationship between justice and love, that is
manifested as mercy, is inscribed with great exactness in the content of
the Gospel parable. It becomes more evident that love is transformed
into mercy when it is necessary to go beyond the precise norm of
justice-precise and often too narrow. The prodigal son, having wasted
the property he received from his father, deserves - after his return -
to earn his living by working in his father's house as a hired servant
and possibly, little by little, to build up a certain provision of
material goods, though perhaps never as much as the amount he had
squandered. This would be demanded by the order of justice, especially
as the son had not only squandered the part of the inheritance belonging
to him but had also hurt and offended his father by his whole conduct.
Since this conduct had in his own eyes deprived him of his dignity as a
son, it could not be a matter of indifference to his father. It was
bound to make him suffer. It was also bound to implicate him in some
way. And yet, after all, it was his own son who was involved, and such a
relationship could never be altered or destroyed by any sort of
behavior. The prodigal son is aware of this and it is precisely this
awareness that shows him clearly the dignity which he has lost and which
makes him honestly evaluate the position that he could still expect in
his father's house.
6. Particular Concentration on Human Dignity
This
exact picture of the prodigal son's state of mind enables us to
understand exactly what the mercy of God consists in. There is no doubt
that in this simple but penetrating analogy the figure of the father
reveals to us God as Father. The conduct of the father in the parable
and his whole behavior, which manifests his internal attitude, enables
us to rediscover the individual threads of the Old Testament vision of
mercy in a synthesis which is totally new, full of simplicity and depth.
The father of the prodigal son is faithful to his fatherhood, faithful
to the love that he had always lavished on his son. This fidelity is
expressed in the parable not only by his immediate readiness to welcome
him home when he returns after having squandered his inheritance; it is
expressed even more fully by that joy, that merrymaking for the
squanderer after his return, merrymaking which is so generous that it
provokes the opposition and hatred of the elder brother, who had never
gone far away from his father and had never abandoned the home.
The
father's fidelity to himself - a trait already known by the Old
Testament term hesed - is at the same time expressed in a manner
particularly charged with affection. We read, in fact, that when the
father saw the prodigal son returning home "he had compassion, ran to
meet him, threw his arms around his neck and kissed him."64 He certainly
does this under the influence of a deep affection, and this also
explains his generosity towards his son, that generosity which so angers
the elder son. Nevertheless, the causes of this emotion are to be sought
at a deeper level. Notice, the father is aware that a fundamental good
has been saved: the good of his son's humanity. Although the son has
squandered the inheritance, nevertheless his humanity is saved. Indeed,
it has been, in a way, found again. The father's words to the elder son
reveal this: "It was fitting to make merry and be glad, for this your
brother was dead and is alive; he was lost and is found."65 In the same
chapter fifteen of Luke's Gospel, we read the parable of the sheep that
was found66 and then the parable of the coin that was found.67 Each time
there is an emphasis on the same joy that is present in the case of the
prodigal son. The father's fidelity to himself is totally concentrated
upon the humanity of the lost son, upon his dignity. This explains above
all his joyous emotion at the moment of the son's return home.
Going on,
one can therefore say that the love for the son the love that springs
from the very essence of fatherhood, in a way obliges the father to be
concerned about his son's dignity. This concern is the measure of his
love, the love of which Saint Paul was to write: "Love is patient and
kind.. .love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or
resentful...but rejoices in the right...hopes all things, endures all
things" and "love never ends."68 Mercy - as Christ has presented it in
the parable of the prodigal son - has the interior form of the love that
in the New Testament is called agape. This love is able to reach down to
every prodigal son, to every human misery, and above all to every form
of moral misery, to sin. When this happens, the person who is the object
of mercy does not feel humiliated, but rather found again and "restored
to value." The father first and foremost expresses to him his joy that
he has been "found again" and that he has "returned to life. This joy
indicates a good that has remained intact: even if he is a prodigal, a
son does not cease to be truly his father's son; it also indicates a
good that has been found again, which in the case of the prodigal son
was his return to the truth about himself.
What took
place in the relationship between the father and the son in Christ's
parable is not to be evaluated "from the outside." Our prejudices about
mercy are mostly the result of appraising them only from the outside. At
times it happens that by following this method of evaluation we see in
mercy above all a relationship of inequality between the one offering it
and the one receiving it. And, in consequence, we are quick to deduce
that mercy belittles the receiver, that it offends the dignity of man.
The parable of the prodigal son shows that the reality is different: the
relationship of mercy is based on the common experience of that good
which is man, on the common experience of the dignity that is proper to
him. This common experience makes the prodigal son begin to see himself
and his actions in their full truth (this vision in truth is a genuine
form of humility); on the other hand, for this very reason he becomes a
particular good for his father: the father sees so clearly the good
which has been achieved thanks to a mysterious radiation of truth and
love, that he seems to forget all the evil which the son had committed.
The parable of the prodigal son expresses in a simple but profound way
the reality of conversion. Conversion is the most concrete expression of
the working of love and of the presence of mercy in the human world. The
true and proper meaning of mercy does not consist only in looking,
however penetratingly and compassionately, at moral, physical or
material evil: mercy is manifested in its true and proper aspect when it
restores to value, promotes and draws good from all the forms of evil
existing in the world and in man. Understood in this way, mercy
constitutes the fundamental content of the messianic message of Christ
and the constitutive power of His mission. His disciples and followers
understood and practiced mercy in the same way. Mercy never ceased to
reveal itself, in their hearts and in their actions, as an especially
creative proof of the love which does not allow itself to be "conquered
by evil," but overcomes "evil with good."69 The genuine face of mercy
has to be ever revealed anew. In spite of many prejudices, mercy seems
particularly necessary for our times.
V. THE PASCHAL MYSTERY
7. Mercy
Revealed in the Cross and Resurrection
The messianic message of Christ
and His activity among people end with the cross and resurrection. We
have to penetrate deeply into this final event-which especially in the
language of the Council is defined as the Mysterium Paschale - if we
wish to express in depth the truth about mercy, as it has been revealed
in depth in the history of our salvation. At this point of our
considerations, we shall have to draw closer still to the content of the
encyclical Redemptor hominis. If, in fact, the reality of the
Redemption, in its human dimension, reveals the unheard - of greatness
of man, qui talem ac tantum meruit habere Redemptorem,70 at the same
time the divine dimension of the redemption enables us, I would say, in
the most empirical and "historical" way, to uncover the depth of that
love which does not recoil before the extraordinary sacrifice of the
Son, in order to satisfy the fidelity of the Creator and Father towards
human beings, created in His image and chosen from "the beginning," in
this Son, for grace and glory.
The events of Good Friday and,
even before that, in prayer in Gethsemane, introduce a fundamental
change into the whole course of the revelation of love and mercy in the
messianic mission of Christ. The one who "went about doing good and
healing"71 and "curing every sickness and disease"72 now Himself seems
to merit the greatest mercy and to appeal for mercy, when He is
arrested, abused, condemned, scourged, crowned with thorns, when He is
nailed to the cross and dies amidst agonizing torments.73 It is then
that He particularly deserves mercy from the people to whom He has done
good, and He does not receive it. Even those who are closest to Him
cannot protect Him and snatch Him from the hands of His oppressors. At
this final stage of His messianic activity the words which the prophets,
especially Isaiah, uttered concerning the Servant of Yahweh are
fulfilled in Christ: "Through his stripes we are healed."74
Christ,
as the man who suffers really and in a terrible way in the Garden of
Olives and on Calvary, addresses Himself to the Father- that Father
whose love He has preached to people, to whose mercy He has borne
witness through all of His activity. But He is not spared - not even
He-the terrible suffering of death on the cross: For our sake God made
him to be sin who knew no sin,"75 St. Paul will write, summing up in a
few words the whole depth of the cross and at the same time the divine
dimension of the reality of the Redemption. Indeed this Redemption is
the ultimate and definitive revelation of the holiness of God, who is
the absolute fullness of perfection: fullness of justice and of love,
since justice is based on love, flows from it and tends towards it. In
the passion and death of Christ-in the fact that the Father did not
spare His own Son, but "for our sake made him sin"76 - absolute justice
is expressed, for Christ undergoes the passion and cross because of the
sins of humanity. This constitutes even a "superabundance" of justice,
for the sins of man are "compensated for" by the sacrifice of the
Man-God. Nevertheless, this justice, which is properly justice "to God's
measure," springs completely from love: from the love of the Father and
of the Son, and completely bears fruit in love. Precisely for this
reason the divine justice revealed in the cross of Christ is "to God's
measure," because it springs from love and is accomplished in love,
producing fruits of salvation. The divine dimension of redemption is put
into effect not only by bringing justice to bear upon sin, but also by
restoring to love that creative power in man thanks also which he once
more has access to the fullness of life and holiness that come from God.
In this way, redemption involves the revelation of mercy in its
fullness.
The Paschal Mystery is the culmination of this revealing
and effecting of mercy, which is able to justify man, to restore justice
in the sense of that salvific order which God willed from the beginning
in man and, through man, in the world. The suffering Christ speaks in a
special way to man, and not only to the believer. The non-believer also
will be able to discover in Him the eloquence of solidarity with the
human lot, as also the harmonious fullness of a disinterested dedication
to the cause of man, to truth and to love. And yet the divine dimension
of the Paschal Mystery goes still deeper. The cross on Calvary, the
cross upon which Christ conducts His final dialogue with the Father,
emerges from the very heart of the love that man, created in the image
and likeness of God, has been given as a gift, according to God's
eternal plan. God, as Christ has revealed Him, does not merely remain
closely linked with the world as the Creator and the ultimate source of
existence. He is also Father: He is linked to man, whom He called to
existence in the visible world, by a bond still more intimate than that
of creation. It is love which not only creates the good but also grants
participation in the very life of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. For
he who loves desires to give himself.
The cross of Christ on Calvary
stands beside the path of that admirable commercium, of that wonderful
self-communication of God to man, which also includes the call to man to
share in the divine life by giving himself, and with himself the whole
visible world, to God, and like an adopted son to become a sharer in the
truth and love which is in God and proceeds from God. It is precisely
beside the path of man's eternal election to the dignity of being an
adopted child of God that there stands in history the cross of Christ,
the only - begotten Son, who, as "light from light, true God from true
God,"77 came to give the final witness to the wonderful covenant of God
with humanity, of God with man - every human being This covenant, as old
as man - it goes back to the very mystery of creation - and afterwards
many times renewed with one single chosen people, is equally the new and
definitive covenant, which was established there on Calvary, and is not
limited to a single people, to Israel, but is open to each and every
individual.
What else, then, does the cross of Christ say to us, the
cross that in a sense is the final word of His messianic message and
mission? And yet this is not yet the word of the God of the covenant:
that will be pronounced at the dawn when first the women and then the
Apostles come to the tomb of the crucified Christ, see the tomb empty
and for the first time hear the message: "He is risen." They will repeat
this message to the others and will be witnesses to the risen Christ.
Yet, even in this glorification of the Son of God, the cross remains,
that cross which-through all the messianic testimony of the Man the Son,
who suffered death upon it - speaks and never ceases to speak of God the
Father, who is absolutely faithful to His eternal love for man, since He
"so loved the world" - therefore man in the world-that "he gave his only
Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal
life."78 Believing in the crucified Son means "seeing the Father,"79
means believing that love is present in the world and that this love is
more powerful than any kind of evil in which individuals, humanity, or
the world are involved. Believing in this love means believing in mercy.
For mercy is an indispensable dimension of love; it is as it were love's
second name and, at the same time, the specific manner in which love is
revealed and effected vis-a-vis the reality of the evil that is in the
world, affecting and besieging man, insinuating itself even into his
heart and capable of causing him to "perish in Gehenna."80
8. Love More Powerful Than Death,
More Powerful Than Sin
The cross of Christ on Calvary is
also a witness to the strength of evil against the very Son of God,
against the one who, alone among all the sons of men, was by His nature
absolutely innocent and free from sin, and whose coming into the world
was untainted by the disobedience of Adam and the inheritance of
original sin. And here, precisely in Him, in Christ, justice is done to
sin at the price of His sacrifice, of His obedience "even to death."81
He who was without sin, "God made him sin for our sake."82 Justice is
also brought to bear upon death, which from the beginning of man's
history had been allied to sin. Death has justice done to it at the
price of the death of the one who was without sin and who alone was
able-by means of his own death-to inflict death upon death.83 In this
way the cross of Christ, on which the Son, consubstantial with the
Father, renders full justice to God, is also a radical revelation of
mercy, or rather of the love that goes against what constitutes the very
root of evil in the history of man: against sin and death.
The cross
is the most profound condescension of God to man and to what
man-especially in difficult and painful moments-looks on as his unhappy
destiny. The cross is like a touch of eternal love upon the most painful
wounds of man's earthly existence; it is the total fulfillment of the
messianic program that Christ once formulated in the synagogue at
Nazareth 84 and then repeated to the messengers sent by John the
Baptist.85 According to the words once written in the prophecy of
Isaiah,86 this program consisted in the revelation of merciful love for
the poor, the suffering and prisoners, for the blind, the oppressed and
sinners. In the paschal mystery the limits of the many sided evil in
which man becomes a sharer during his earthly existence are surpassed:
the cross of Christ, in fact, makes us understand the deepest roots of
evil, which are fixed in sin and death; thus the cross becomes an
eschatological sign. Only in the eschatological fulfillment and
definitive renewal of the world will love conquer, in all the elect, the
deepest sources of evil, bringing as its fully mature fruit the kingdom
of life and holiness and glorious immortality. The foundation of this
eschatological fulfillment is already contained in the cross of Christ
and in His death. The fact that Christ "was raised the third day"87
constitutes the final sign of the messianic mission, a sign that
perfects the entire revelation of merciful love in a world that is
subject to evil. At the same time it constitutes the sign that foretells
"a new heaven and a new earth,"88 when God "will wipe away every tear
from their eyes, there will be no more death, or mourning no crying, nor
pain, for the former things have passed away."89
In the
eschatological fulfillment mercy will be revealed as love, while in the
temporal phase, in human history, which is at the same time the history
of sin and death, love must be revealed above all as mercy and must also
be actualized as mercy. Christ's messianic program, the program of
mercy, becomes the program of His people, the program of the Church. At
its very center there is always the cross, for it is in the cross that
the revelation of merciful love attains its culmination. Until "the
former things pass away,"90 the cross will remain the point of reference
for other words too of the Revelation of John: "Behold, I stand at the
door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come
in and eat with him and he with me."91 In a special way, God also
reveals His mercy when He invites man to have "mercy" on His only Son,
the crucified one.
Christ, precisely as the
crucified one, is the Word that does not pass away,92 and He is the one
who stands at the door and knocks at the heart of every man,93 without
restricting his freedom, but instead seeking to draw from this very
freedom love, which is not only an act of solidarity with the suffering
Son of man, but also a kind of "mercy" shown by each one of us to the
Son of the eternal Father. In the whole of this messianic program of
Christ, in the whole revelation of mercy through the cross, could man's
dignity be more highly respected and ennobled, for, in obtaining mercy,
He is in a sense the one who at the same time "shows mercy"? In a word,
is not this the position of Christ with regard to man when He says: "As
you did it to one of the least of these...you did it to me"?94 Do not
the words of the Sermon on the Mount: "Blessed are the merciful, for
they shall obtain mercy,"95 constitute, in a certain sense, a synthesis
of the whole of the Good News, of the whole of the "wonderful exchange"
(admirable commercium) contained therein? This exchange is a law of the
very plan of salvation, a law which is simple, strong and at the same
time "easy." Demonstrating from the very start what the "human heart" is
capable of ("to be merciful"), do not these words from the Sermon on the
Mount reveal in the same perspective the deep mystery of God: that
inscrutable unity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in which love,
containing justice, sets in motion mercy, which in its turn reveals the
perfection of justice?
The Paschal Mystery is Christ at
the summit of the revelation of the inscrutable mystery of God. It is
precisely then that the words pronounced in the Upper Room are
completely fulfilled: "He who has seen me has seen the Father."96 In
fact, Christ, whom the Father "did not spare"97 for the sake of man and
who in His passion and in the torment of the cross did not obtain human
mercy, has revealed in His resurrection the fullness of the love that
the Father has for Him and, in Him, for all people. "He is not God of
the dead, but of the living."98 In His resurrection Christ has revealed
the God of merciful love, precisely because He accepted the cross as the
way to the resurrection. And it is for this reason that-when we recall
the cross of Christ, His passion and death-our faith and hope are
centered on the Risen One: on that Christ who "on the evening of that
day, the first day of the week, . . .stood among them" in the upper
Room, "where the disciples were, ...breathed on them, and said to them:
'Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are
forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.'"99
Here is
the Son of God, who in His resurrection experienced in a radical way
mercy shown to Himself, that is to say the love of the Father which is
more powerful than death. And it is also the same Christ, the Son of
God, who at the end of His messianic mission - and, in a certain sense,
even beyond the end - reveals Himself as the inexhaustible source of
mercy, of the same love that, in a subsequent perspective of the history
of salvation in the Church, is to be everlastingly confirmed as more
powerful than sin. The paschal Christ is the definitive incarnation of
mercy, its living sign in salvation history and in eschatology. In the
same spirit, the liturgy of Eastertide places on our lips the words of
the Psalm: Misericordias Domini in aeternum cantabo.100
9. Mother of Mercy
These
words of the Church at Easter re-echo in the fullness of their prophetic
content the words that Mary uttered during her visit to Elizabeth, the
wife of Zechariah: "His mercy is...from generation to generation."101 At
the very moment of the Incarnation, these words open up a new
perspective of salvation history. After the resurrection of Christ, this
perspective is new on both the historical and the eschatological level.
From that time onwards there is a succession of new generations of
individuals in the immense human family, in ever-increasing dimensions;
there is also a succession of new generations of the People of God,
marked with the Sign of the Cross and of the resurrection and
"sealed"102 with the sign of the Paschal Mystery of Christ, the absolute
revelation of the mercy that Mary proclaimed on the threshold of her
kinswoman's house: "His mercy is...from generation to generation."103
Mary is also the one who obtained mercy in a particular and exceptional
way, as no other person has. At the same time, still in an exceptional
way, she made possible with the sacrifice of her heart her own sharing
in revealing God's mercy. This sacrifice is intimately linked with the
cross of her Son, at the foot of which she was to stand on Calvary. Her
sacrifice is a unique sharing in the revelation of mercy, that is, a
sharing in the absolute fidelity of God to His own love, to the covenant
that He willed from eternity and that He entered into in time with man,
with the people, with humanity; it is a sharing in that revelation that
was definitively fulfilled through the cross. No one has experienced, to
the same degree as the Mother of the crucified One, the mystery of the
cross, the overwhelming encounter of divine transcendent justice with
love: that "kiss" given by mercy to justice.104 No one has received into
his heart, as much as Mary did, that mystery, that truly divine
dimension of the redemption effected on Calvary by means of the death of
the Son, together with the sacrifice of her maternal heart, together
with her definitive "fiat."
Mary, then, is the one who has
the deepest knowledge of the mystery of God's mercy. She knows its
price, she knows how great it is. In this sense, we call her the Mother
of mercy: our Lady of mercy, or Mother of divine mercy; in each one of
these titles there is a deep theological meaning, for they express the
special preparation of her soul, of her whole personality, so that she
was able to perceive, through the complex events, first of Israel, then
of every individual and of the whole of humanity, that mercy of which
"from generation to generation"105 people become sharers according to
the eternal design of the most Holy Trinity.
The above
titles which we attribute to the Mother of God speak of her principally,
however, as the Mother of the crucified and risen One; as the One who,
having obtained mercy in an exceptional way, in an equally exceptional
way "merits" that mercy throughout her earthly life and, particularly,
at the foot of the cross of her Son; and finally as the one who, through
her hidden and at the same time incomparable sharing in the messianic
mission of her Son, was called in a special way to bring close to people
that love which He had come to reveal: the love that finds its most
concrete expression vis-a-vis the suffering, the poor, those deprived of
their own freedom, the blind, the oppressed and sinners, just as Christ
spoke of them in the words of the prophecy of Isaiah, first in the
synagogue at Nazareth106 and then in response to the question of the
messengers of John the Baptist.107
It was precisely this "merciful"
love, which is manifested above all in contact with moral and physical
evil, that the heart of her who was the Mother of the crucified and
risen One shared in singularly and exceptionally - that Mary shared in.
In her and through her, this love continues to be revealed in the
history of the Church and of humanity. This revelation is especially
fruitful because in the Mother of God it is based upon the unique tact
of her maternal heart, on her particular sensitivity, on her particular
fitness to reach all those who most easily accept the merciful love of a
mother. This is one of the great life-giving mysteries of Christianity,
a mystery intimately connected with the mystery of the Incarnation.
"The motherhood of Mary in the order of grace," as the Second Vatican
Council explains, "lasts without interruption from the consent which she
faithfully gave at the annunciation and which she sustained without
hesitation under the cross, until the eternal fulfillment of all the
elect. In fact, being assumed into heaven she has not laid aside this
office of salvation but by her manifold intercession she continues to
obtain for us the graces of eternal salvation. By her maternal charity,
she takes care of the brethren of her Son who still journey on earth
surrounded by dangers and difficulties, until they are led into their
blessed home."108
VI. "MERCY...FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION"
10. An Image of Our Generation
We have
every right to believe that our generation too was included in the words
of the Mother of God when she glorified that mercy shared in "from
generation to generation" by those who allow themselves to be guided by
the fear of God. The words of Mary's Magnificat have a prophetic content
that concerns not only the past of Israel but also the whole future of
the People of God on earth. In fact, all of us now living on earth are
the generation that is aware of the approach of the third millennium and
that profoundly feels the change that is occurring in history.
The
present generation knows that it is in a privileged position: progress
provides it with countless possibilities that only a few decades ago
were undreamed of. Man's creative activity, his intelligence and his
work, have brought about profound changes both in the field of science
and technology and in that of social and cultural life. Man has extended
his power over nature and has acquired deeper knowledge of the laws of
social behavior. He has seen the obstacles and distances between
individuals and nations dissolve or shrink through an increased sense of
what is universal, through a clearer awareness of the unity of the human
race, through the acceptance of mutual dependence in authentic
solidarity, and through the desire and possibility of making contact
with one's brothers and sisters beyond artificial geographical divisions
and national or racial limits. Today's young people, especially, know
that the progress of science and technology can produce not only new
material goods but also a wider sharing in knowledge. The extraordinary
progress made in the field of information and data processing, for
instance, will increase man's creative capacity and provide access to
the intellectual and cultural riches of other peoples. New
communications techniques will encourage greater participation in events
and a wider exchange of ideas. The achievements of biological,
psychological and social science will help man to understand better the
riches of his own being. It is true that too often this progress is
still the privilege of the industrialized countries, but it cannot be
denied that the prospect of enabling every people and every country to
benefit from it has long ceased to be a mere utopia when there is a real
political desire for it.
But side by side with all this,
or rather as part of it, there are also the difficulties that appear
whenever there is growth. There is unease and a sense of powerlessness
regarding the profound response that man knows that he must give. The
picture of the world today also contains shadows and imbalances that are
not always merely superficial. The Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et spes
of the Second Vatican Council is certainly not the only document that
deals with the life of this generation, but it is a document of
particular importance. "The dichotomy affecting the modern world," we
read in it, "is,,in fact, a symptom of a deeper dichotomy that is in man
himself. He is the meeting point of many conflicting forces. In his
condition as a created being he is subject to a thousand shortcomings,
but feels untrammelled in his inclinations and destined for a higher
form of life. Torn by a welter of anxieties he is compelled to choose
between them and repudiate some among them. Worse still, feeble and
sinful as he is, he often does the very thing he hates and does not do
what he wants. And so he feels himself divided, and the result is a host
of discords in social life."109
Towards the end of the
introductory exposition we read: ". . .in the face of modern
developments there is a growing body of men who are asking the most
fundamental of all questions or are glimpsing them with a keener
insight: What is man? What is the meaning of suffering, evil, death,
which have not been eliminated by all this progress? What is the purpose
of these achievements, purchased at so high a price?"110
In the
span of the fifteen years since the end of the Second Vatican Council,
has this picture of tensions and threats that mark our epoch become less
disquieting? It seems not. On the contrary, the tensions and threats
that in the Council document seem only to be outlined and not to
manifest in depth all the dangers hidden within them have revealed
themselves more clearly in the space of these years; they have in a
different way confirmed that danger, and do not permit us to cherish the
illusions of the past.
11. Sources of Uneasiness
Thus, in our world the feeling of
being under threat is increasing. There is an increase of that
existential fear connected especially, as I said in the encyclical
Redemptor hominis, with the prospect of a conflict that in view of
today's atomic stockpiles could mean the partial self-destruction of
humanity. But the threat does not merely concern what human beings can
do to human beings through the means provided by military technology; it
also concerns many other dangers produced by a materialistic society
which-in spite of "humanistic" declarations-accepts the primacy of
things over persons. Contemporary man, therefore, fears that by the use
of the means invented by this type of society, individuals and the
environment, communities, societies and nations can fall victim to the
abuse of power by other individuals, environments and societies. The
history of our century offers many examples of this. In spite of all the
declarations on the rights of man in his integral dimension, that is to
say in his bodily and spiritual existence, we cannot say that these
examples belong only to the past.
Man rightly fears falling victim
to an oppression that will deprive him of his interior freedom, of the
possibility of expressing the truth of which he is convinced, of the
faith that he professes, of the ability to obey the voice of conscience
that tells him the right path to follow. The technical means at the
disposal of modern society conceal within themselves not only the
possibility of self-destruction through military conflict, but also the
possibility of a "peaceful" subjugation of individuals, of environments,
of entire societies and of nations, that for one reason or another might
prove inconvenient for those who possess the necessary means and are
ready to use them without scruple. An instance is the continued
existence of torture, systematically used by authority as a means of
domination and political oppression and practiced by subordinates with
impunity.
Together with awareness of the biological threat,
therefore, there is a growing awareness of yet another threat, even more
destructive of what is essentially human, what is intimately bound up
with the dignity of the person and his or her right to truth and
freedom.
All this is happening against the background of the
gigantic remorse caused by the fact that, side by side with wealthy and
surfeited people and societies, living in plenty and ruled by
consumerism and pleasure, the same human family contains individuals and
groups that are suffering from hunger. There are babies dying of hunger
under their mothers' eyes. In various parts of the world, in various
socio-economic systems, there exist entire areas of poverty, shortage
and underdevelopment. This fact is universally known. The state of
inequality between individuals and between nations not only still
exists; it is increasing. It still happens that side by side with those
who are wealthy and living in plenty there exist those who are living in
want, suffering misery and often actually dying of hunger; and their
number reaches tens, even hundreds of millions. This is why moral
uneasiness is destined to become even more acute. It is obvious that a
fundamental defect, or rather a series of defects, indeed a defective
machinery is at the root of contemporary economics and materialistic
civilization, which does not allow the human family to break free from
such radically unjust situations.
This picture of today's world in
which there is so much evil both physical and moral, so as to make of it
a world entangled in contradictions and tensions, and at the same time
full of threats to human freedom, conscience and religion-this picture
explains the uneasiness felt by contemporary man. This uneasiness is
experienced not only by those who are disadvantaged or oppressed, but
also by those who possess the privileges of wealth, progress and power.
And, although there is no lack of people trying to understand the causes
of this uneasiness, or trying to react against it with the temporary
means offered by technology, wealth or power, still in the very depth of
the human spirit this uneasiness is stronger than all temporary means.
This uneasiness concerns-as the analyses of the Second Vatican Council
rightly pointed out-the fundamental problems of all human existence. It
is linked with the very sense of man's existence in the world, and is an
uneasiness for the future of man and all humanity; it demands decisive
solutions, which now seem to be forcing themselves upon the human race.
12. Is
Justice Enough?
It is not difficult to see that in the modern world the
sense of justice has been reawakening on a vast scale; and without doubt
this emphasizes that which goes against justice in relationships between
individuals, social groups and "classes," between individual peoples and
states, and finally between whole political systems, indeed between what
are called "worlds." This deep and varied trend, at the basis of which
the contemporary human conscience has placed justice, gives proof of the
ethical character of the tensions and struggles pervading the world.
The Church shares with the people of our time this profound and ardent
desire for a life which is just in every aspect, nor does she fail to
examine the various aspects of the sort of justice that the life of
people and society demands. This is confirmed by the field of Catholic
social doctrine, greatly developed in the course of the last century. On
the lines of this teaching proceed the education and formation of human
consciences in the spirit of justice, and also individual undertakings,
especially in the sphere of the apostolate of the laity, which are
developing in precisely this spirit.
And yet, it would be difficult
not to notice that very often programs which start from the idea of
justice and which ought to assist its fulfillment among individuals,
groups and human societies, in practice suffer from distortions.
Although they continue to appeal to the idea of justice, nevertheless
experience shows that other negative forces have gained the upper hand
over justice, such as spite, hatred and even cruelty. In such cases, the
desire to annihilate the enemy, limit his freedom, or even force him
into total dependence, becomes the fundamental motive for action; and
this contrasts with the essence of justice, which by its nature tends to
establish equality and harmony between the parties in conflict. This
kind of abuse of the idea of justice and the practical distortion of it
show how far human action can deviate from justice itself, even when it
is being undertaken in the name of justice. Not in vain did Christ
challenge His listeners, faithful to the doctrine of the Old Testament,
for their attitude which was manifested in the words: An eye for an eye
and a tooth for a tooth."111 This was the form of distortion of justice
at that time; and today's forms continue to be modeled on it. It is
obvious, in fact, that in the name of an alleged justice (for example,
historical justice or class justice) the neighbor is sometimes
destroyed, killed, deprived of liberty or stripped of fundamental human
rights. The experience of the past and of our own time demonstrates that
justice alone is not enough, that it can even lead to the negation and
destruction of itself, if that deeper power, which is love, is not
allowed to shape human life in its various dimensions. It has been
precisely historical experience that, among other things, has led to the
formulation of the saying: summum ius, summa iniuria. This statement
does not detract from the value of justice and does not minimize the
significance of the order that is based upon it; it only indicates,
under another aspect, the need to draw from the powers of the spirit
which condition the very order of justice, powers which are still more
profound.
The Church, having before her eyes the picture of the
generation to which we belong, shares the uneasiness of so many of the
people of our time. Moreover, one cannot fail to be worried by the
decline of many fundamental values, which constitute an unquestionable
good not only for Christian morality but simply for human morality, for
moral culture: these values include respect for human life from the
moment of conception, respect for marriage in its indissoluble unity,
and respect for the stability of the family. Moral permissiveness
strikes especially at this most sensitive sphere of life and society.
Hand in hand with this go the crisis of truth in human relationships,
lack of responsibility for what one says, the purely utilitarian
relationship between individual and individual, the loss of a sense of
the authentic common good and the ease with which this good is
alienated. Finally, there is the "desacralization" that often turns into
"dehumanization": the individual and the society for whom nothing is
"sacred" suffer moral decay, in spite of appearances.
VII. THE MERCY OF GOD IN THE
MISSION OF THE CHURCH
In connection with this picture
of our generation, a picture which cannot fail to cause profound
anxiety, there come to mind once more those words which, by reason of
the Incarnation of the Son of God, resounded in Mary's Magnificat, and
which sing of "mercy from generation to generation." The Church of our
time, constantly pondering the eloquence of these inspired words, and
applying them to the sufferings of the great human family, must become
more particularly and profoundly conscious of the need to bear witness
in her whole mission to God's mercy, following in the footsteps of the
tradition of the Old and the New Covenant, and above all of Jesus Christ
Himself and His Apostles. The Church must bear witness to the mercy of
God revealed in Christ, in the whole of His mission as Messiah,
professing it in the first place as a salvific truth of faith and as
necessary for a life in harmony with faith, and then seeking to
introduce it and to make it incarnate in the lives both of her faithful
and as far as possible in the lives of all people of good will. Finally,
the Church-professing mercy and remaining always faithful to it-has the
right and the duty to call upon the mercy of God, imploring it in the
face of all the manifestations of physical and moral evil, before all
the threats that cloud the whole horizon of the life of humanity today.
13. The
Church Professes the Mercy of God and Proclaims It
The
Church must profess and proclaim God's mercy in all its truth, as it has
been handed down to us by revelation. We have sought, in the foregoing
pages of the present document, to give at least an outline of this
truth, which finds such rich expression in the whole of Sacred Scripture
and in Sacred Tradition. In the daily life of the Church the truth about
the mercy of God, expressed in the Bible, resounds as a perennial echo
through the many readings of the Sacred Liturgy. The authentic sense of
faith of the People of God perceives this truth, as is shown by various
expressions of personal and community piety. It would of course be
difficult to give a list or summary of them all, since most of them are
vividly inscribed in the depths of people's hearts and minds. Some
theologians affirm that mercy is the greatest of the attributes and
perfections of God, and the Bible, Tradition and the whole faith life of
the People of God provide particular proofs of this. It is not a
question here of the perfection of the inscrutable essence of God in the
mystery of the divinity itself, but of the perfection and attribute
whereby man, in the intimate truth of his existence, encounters the
living God particularly closely and particularly often. In harmony with
Christ's words to Philip,112 the "vision of the Father"-a vision of God
through faith finds precisely in the encounter with His mercy a unique
moment of interior simplicity and truth, similar to that which we
discover in the parable of the prodigal son.
"He who
has seen me has seen the Father."113 The Church professes the mercy of
God, the Church lives by it in her wide experience of faith and also in
her teaching, constantly contemplating Christ, concentrating on Him, on
His life and on His Gospel, on His cross and resurrection, on His whole
mystery. Everything that forms the "vision" of Christ in the Church's
living faith and teaching brings us nearer to the "vision of the Father"
in the holiness of His mercy. The Church seems in a particular way to
profess the mercy of God and to venerate it when she directs herself to
the Heart of Christ. In fact, it is precisely this drawing close to
Christ in the mystery of His Heart which enables us to dwell on this
point-a point in a sense central and also most accessible on the human
level-of the revelation of the merciful love of the Father, a revelation
which constituted the central content of the messianic mission of the
Son of Man.
The Church lives an authentic life when she professes and
proclaims mercy-the most stupendous attribute of the Creator and of the
Redeemer-and when she brings people close to the sources of the Savior's
mercy, of which she is the trustee and dispenser. Of great significance
in this area is constant meditation on the Word of God, and above all
conscious and mature participation in the Eucharist and in the sacrament
of Penance or Reconciliation. The Eucharist brings us ever nearer to
that love which is more powerful than death: "For as often as we eat
this bread and drink this cup," we proclaim not only the death of the
Redeemer but also His resurrection, "until he comes" in glory.114 The
same Eucharistic rite, celebrated in memory of Him who in His messianic
mission revealed the Father to us by means of His words and His cross,
attests to the inexhaustible love by virtue of which He desires always
to be united with us and present in our midst, coming to meet every
human heart. It is the sacrament of Penance or Reconciliation that
prepares the way for each individual, even those weighed down with great
faults. In this sacrament each person can experience mercy in a unique
way, that is, the love which is more powerful than sin. This has already
been spoken of in the encyclical Redemptor hominis; but it will be
fitting to return once more to this fundamental theme.
It is
precisely because sin exists in the world, which "God so loved...that he
gave his only Son,"115 that God, who "is love,"116 cannot reveal Himself
otherwise than as mercy. This corresponds not only to the most profound
truth of that love which God is, but also to the whole interior truth of
man and of the world which is man's temporary homeland.
Mercy in
itself, as a perfection of the infinite God, is also infinite. Also
infinite therefore and inexhaustible is the Father's readiness to
receive the prodigal children who return to His home. Infinite are the
readiness and power of forgiveness which flow continually from the
marvelous value of the sacrifice of the Son. No human sin can prevail
over this power or even limit it. On the part of man only a lack of good
will can limit it, a lack of readiness to be converted and to repent, in
other words persistence in obstinacy, opposing grace and truth,
especially in the face of the witness of the cross and resurrection of
Christ.
Therefore, the Church professes and proclaims conversion.
Conversion to God always consists in discovering His mercy, that is, in
discovering that love which is patient and kind117 as only the Creator
and Father can be; the love to which the "God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ"118 is faithful to the uttermost consequences in the
history of His covenant with man; even to the cross and to the death and
resurrection of the Son. Conversion to God is always the fruit of
the"rediscovery of this Father, who is rich in mercy.
Authentic
knowledge of the God of mercy, the God of tender love, is a constant and
inexhaustible source of conversion, not only as a momentary interior act
but also as a permanent attitude, as a state of mind. Those who come to
know God in this way, who "see" Him in this way, can live only in a
state of being continually converted to Him. They live, therefore, in
statu conversionis; and it is this state of conversion which marks out
the most profound element of the pilgrimage of every man and woman on
earth in statu viatoris. It is obvious that the Church professes the
mercy of God, revealed in the crucified and risen Christ, not only by
the word of her teaching but above all through the deepest pulsation of
the life of the whole People of God. By means of this testimony of life,
the Church fulfills the mission proper to the People of God, the mission
which is a sharing in and, in a sense, a continuation of the messianic
mission of Christ Himself.
The contemporary Church is
profoundly conscious that only on the basis of the mercy of God will she
be able to carry out the tasks that derive from the teaching of the
Second Vatican Council, and, in the first place, the ecumenical task
which aims at uniting all those who confess Christ. As she makes many
efforts in this direction, the Church confesses with humility that only
that love which is more powerful than the weakness of human divisions
can definitively bring about that unity which Christ implored from the
Father and which the Spirit never ceases to beseech for us "with sighs
too deep for words."119
14. The Church Seeks To Put Mercy into Practice
Jesus
Christ taught that man not only receives and experiences the mercy of
God, but that he is also called "to practice mercy" towards others:
"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy."120 The Church
sees in these words a call to action, and she tries to practice mercy.
All the beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount indicate the way of
conversion and of reform of life, but the one referring to those who are
merciful is particularly eloquent in this regard. Man attains to the
merciful love of God, His mercy, to the extent that he himself is
interiorly transformed in the spirit of that love towards his neighbor.
This authentically evangelical process is not just a spiritual
transformation realized once and for all: it is a whole lifestyle, an
essential and continuous characteristic of the Christian vocation. It
consists in the constant discovery and persevering practice of love as a
unifying and also elevating power despite all difficulties of a
psychological or social nature: it is a question, in fact, of a merciful
love which, by its essence, is a creative love. In reciprocal
relationships between persons merciful love is never a unilateral act or
process. Even in the cases in which everything would seem to indicate
that only one party is giving and offering, and the other only receiving
and taking (for example, in the case of a physician giving treatment, a
teacher teaching, parents supporting and bringing up their children, a
benefactor helping the needy), in reality the one who gives is always
also a beneficiary. In any case, he too can easily find himself in the
position of the one who receives, who obtains a benefit, who experiences
merciful love; he too can find himself the object of mercy.
In this
sense Christ crucified is for us the loftiest model, inspiration and
encouragement. When we base ourselves on this disquieting model, we are
able with all humility to show mercy to others, knowing that Christ
accepts it as if it were shown to Himself.121 On the basis of this
model, we must also continually purify all our actions and all our
intentions in which mercy is understood and practiced in a unilateral
way, as a good done to others. An act of merciful love is only really
such when we are deeply convinced at the moment that we perform it that
we are at the same time receiving mercy from the people who are
accepting it from us. If this bilateral and reciprocal quality is
absent, our actions are not yet true acts of mercy, nor has there yet
been fully completed in us that conversion to which Christ has shown us
the way by His words and example, even to the cross, nor are we yet
sharing fully in the magnificent source of merciful love that has been
revealed to us by Him.
Thus, the way which Christ showed
to us in the Sermon on the Mount with the beatitude regarding those who
are merciful is much richer than what we sometimes find in ordinary
human opinions about mercy. These opinions see mercy as a unilateral act
or process, presupposing and maintaining a certain distance between the
one practicing mercy and the one benefitting from it, between the one
who does good and the one who receives it. Hence the attempt to free
interpersonal and social relationships from mercy and to base them
solely on justice. However, such opinions about mercy fail to see the
fundamental link between mercy and justice spoken of by the whole
biblical tradition, and above all by the messianic mission of Jesus
Christ. True mercy is, so to speak, the most profound source of justice.
If justice is in itself suitable for "arbitration" between people
concerning the reciprocal distribution of objective goods in an
equitable manner, love and only love (including that kindly love that we
call "mercy") is capable of restoring man to Himself.
Mercy
that is truly Christian is also, in a certain sense, the most perfect
incarnation of "equality" between people, and therefore also the most
perfect incarnation of justice as well, insofar as justice aims at the
same result in its own sphere. However, the equality brought by justice
is limited to the realm of objective and extrinsic goods, while love and
mercy bring it about that people meet one another in that value which is
man himself, with the dignity that is proper to him. At the same time,
"equality" of people through "patient and kind" love122 does not take
away differences: the person who gives becomes more generous when he
feels at the same time benefitted by the person accepting his gift; and
vice versa, the person who accepts the gift with the awareness that, in
accepting it, he too is doing good is in his own way serving the great
cause of the dignity of the person; and this contributes to uniting
people in a more profound manner.
Thus, mercy becomes an
indispensable element for shaping mutual relationships between people,
in a spirit of deepest respect for what is human, and in a spirit of
mutual brotherhood. It is impossible to establish this bond between
people, if they wish to regulate their mutual relationships solely
according to the measure of justice. In every sphere of interpersonal
relationships justice must, so to speak, be "corrected " to a
considerable extent by that love which, as St. Paul proclaims, "is
patient and kind" or, in other words, possesses the characteristics of
that merciful love which is so much of the essence of the Gospel and
Christianity. Let us remember, furthermore, that merciful love also
means the cordial tenderness and sensitivity so eloquently spoken of in
the parable of the prodigal son,123 and also in the parables of the lost
sheep and the lost coin.124 Consequently, merciful love is supremely
indispensable between those who are closest to one another: between
husbands and wives, between parents and children, between friends; and
it is indispensable in education and in pastoral work.
Its
sphere of action, however, is not limited to this. If Paul VI more than
once indicated the civilization of love"125 as the goal towards which
all efforts in the cultural and social fields as well as in the economic
and political fields should tend. it must be added that this good will
never be reached if in our thinking and acting concerning the vast and
complex spheres of human society we stop at the criterion of "an eye for
an eye, a tooth for a tooth"126 and do not try to transform it in its
essence, by complementing it with another spirit. Certainly, the Second
Vatican Council also leads us in this direction, when it speaks
repeatedly of the need to make the world more human,127 and says that
the realization of this task is precisely the mission of the Church in
the modern world. Society can become ever more human only if we
introduce into the many-sided setting of interpersonal and social
relationships, not merely justice, but also that "merciful love" which
constitutes the messianic message of the Gospel.
Society
can become "ever more human" only when we introduce into all the mutual
relationships which form its moral aspect the moment of forgiveness,
which is so much of the essence of the Gospel. Forgiveness demonstrates
the presence in the world of the love which is more powerful than sin.
Forgiveness is also the fundamental condition for reconciliation, not
only in the relationship of God with man, but also in relationships
between people. A world from which forgiveness was eliminated would be
nothing but a world of cold and unfeeling justice, in the name of which
each person would claim his or her own rights vis-a- vis others; the
various kinds of selfishness latent in man would transform life and
human society into a system of oppression of the weak by the strong, or
into an arena of permanent strife between one group and another.
For this
reason, the Church must consider it one of her principal duties-at every
stage of history and especially in our modern age-to proclaim and to
introduce into life the mystery of mercy, supremely revealed in Jesus
Christ. Not only for the Church herself as the community of believers
but also in a certain sense for all humanity, this mystery is the source
of a life different from the life which can be built by man, who is
exposed to the oppressive forces of the threefold concupiscence active
within him.128 It is precisely in the name of this mystery that Christ
teaches us to forgive always. How often we repeat the words of the
prayer which He Himself taught us, asking "forgive us our trespasses as
we forgive those who trespass against us," which means those who are
guilty of something in our regard129 It is indeed difficult to express
the profound value of the attitude which these words describe and
inculcate. How many things these words say to every individual about
others and also about himself. The consciousness of being trespassers
against each other goes hand in hand with the call to fraternal
solidarity, which St. Paul expressed in his concise exhortation to
"forbear one another in love."130 What a lesson of humility is to be
found here with regard to man, with regard both to one's neighbor and to
oneself What a school of good will for daily living, in the various
conditions of our existence If we were to ignore this lesson, what would
remain of any "humanist" program of life and education?
Christ
emphasizes so insistently the need to forgive others that when Peter
asked Him how many times he should forgive his neighbor He answered with
the symbolic number of "seventy times seven,"131 meaning that he must be
able to forgive everyone every time. It is obvious that such a generous
requirement of forgiveness does not cancel out the objective
requirements of justice. Properly understood, justice constitutes, so to
speak, the goal of forgiveness. In no passage of the Gospel message does
forgiveness, or mercy as its source, mean indulgence towards evil,
towards scandals, towards injury or insult. In any case, reparation for
evil and scandal, compensation for injury, and satisfaction for insult
are conditions for forgiveness.
Thus the fundamental structure of
justice always enters into the sphere of mercy. Mercy, however, has the
power to confer on justice a new content, which is expressed most simply
and fully in forgiveness. Forgiveness, in fact, shows that, over and
above the process of "compensation" and "truce" which is specific to
justice, love is necessary, so that man may affirm himself as man.
Fulfillment of the conditions of justice is especially indispensable in
order that love may reveal its own nature. In analyzing the parable of
the prodigal son, we have already called attention to the fact that he
who forgives and he who is forgiven encounter one another at an
essential point, namely the dignity or essential value of the person, a
point which cannot be lost and the affirmation of which, or its
rediscovery, is a source of the greatest joy.132
The
Church rightly considers it her duty and the purpose of her mission to
guard the authenticity of forgiveness, both in life and behavior and in
educational and pastoral work. She protects it simply by guarding its
source, which is the mystery of the mercy of God Himself as revealed in
Jesus Christ.
The basis of the Church's mission, in all the spheres
spoken of in the numerous pronouncements of the most recent Council and
in the centuries-old experience of the apostolate, is none other than
"drawing from the wells of the Savior"133 this is what provides many
guidelines for the mission of the Church in the lives of individual
Christians, of individual communities, and also of the whole People of
God. This "drawing from the wells of the Savior" can be done only in the
spirit of that poverty to which we are called by the words and example
of the Lord: "You received without pay, give without pay."134 Thus, in
all the ways of the Church's life and ministry-through the evangelical
poverty of her-ministers and stewards and of the whole people which
bears witness to "the mighty works" of its Lord-the God who is "rich in
mercy" has been made still more clearly manifest.
VIII. THE PRAYER OF THE CHURCH IN
OUR TIMES
15. The Church Appeals to the
Mercy of God
The Church proclaims the truth of God's mercy revealed in
the crucified and risen Christ, and she professes it in various ways.
Furthermore, she seeks to practice mercy towards people through people,
and she sees in this an indispensable condition for solicitude for a
better and "more human" world, today and tomorrow. However, at no time
and in no historical period-especially at a moment as critical as our
own-can the Church forget the prayer that is a cry for the mercy of God
amid the many forms of evil which weigh upon humanity and threaten it.
Precisely this is the fundamental right and duty of the Church in Christ
Jesus, her right and duty towards God and towards humanity. The more the
human conscience succumbs to secularization, loses its sense of the very
meaning of the word "mercy," moves away from God and distances itself
from the mystery of mercy, the more the Church has the right and the
duty to appeal to the God of mercy "with loud cries."135 These "loud
cries" should be the mark of the Church of our times, cries uttered to
God to implore His mercy, the certain manifestation of which she
professes and proclaims as having already come in Jesus crucified and
risen, that is, in the Paschal Mystery. It is this mystery which bears
within itself the most complete revelation of mercy, that is, of that
love which is more powerful than death, more powerful than sin and every
evil, the love which lifts man up when he falls into the abyss and frees
him from the greatest threats.
Modern man feels these threats.
What has been said above in this regard is only a rough outline. Modern
man often anxiously wonders about the solution to the terrible tensions
which have built up in the world and which entangle humanity. And if at
times he lacks the courage to utter the word "mercy," or if in his
conscience empty of religious content he does not find the equivalent,
so much greater is the need for the Church to utter his word, not only
in her own name but also in the name of all the men and women of our
time.
Everything that I have said in the present document on
mercy should therefore be continually transformed into an ardent prayer:
into a cry that implores mercy according to the needs of man in the
modern world. May this cry be full of that truth about mercy which has
found such rich expression in Sacred Scripture and in Tradition, as also
in the authentic life of faith of countless generations of the People of
God. With this cry let us, like the sacred writers, call upon the God
who cannot despise anything that He has made,136 the God who is faithful
to Himself, to His fatherhood and His love. And, like the prophets, let
us appeal to that love which has maternal characteristics and which,
like a mother, follows each of her children, each lost sheep, even if
they should number millions, even if in the world evil should prevail
over goodness, even if contemporary humanity should deserve a new
"flood" on account of its sins, as once the generation of Noah did. Let
us have recourse to that fatherly love revealed to us by Christ in His
messianic mission, a love which reached its culmination in His cross, in
His death and resurrection. Let us have recourse to God through Christ,
mindful of the words of Mary's Magnificat, which proclaim mercy "from
generation to generation." Let us implore God's mercy for the present
generation. May the Church which, following the example of Mary, also
seeks to be the spiritual mother of mankind, express in this prayer her
maternal solicitude and at the same time her confident love, that love
from which is born the most burning need for prayer.
Let us
offer up our petitions, directed by the faith, by the hope, and by the
charity which Christ has planted in our hearts. This attitude is
likewise love of God, whom modern man has sometimes separated far from
himself, made extraneous to himself, proclaiming in various ways that
God is "superfluous." This is, therefore, love of God, the insulting
rejection of whom by modern man we feel profoundly, and we are ready to
cry out with Christ on the cross: "Father, forgive them; for they know
not what they do."137 At the same time it is love of people, of all men
and women without any exception or division: without difference of race,
culture, language, or world outlook, without distinction between friends
and enemies. This is love for people-it desires every true good for each
individual and for every human community, every family, every nation,
every social group, for young people, adults, parents, the elderly-a
love for everyone, without exception. This is love, or rather an anxious
solicitude to ensure for each individual every true good and to remove
and drive away every sort of evil.
And, if any of our contemporaries
do not share the faith and hope which lead me, as a servant of Christ
and steward of the mysteries of God,138 to implore God's mercy for
humanity in this hour of history, let them at least try to understand
the reason for my concern. It is dictated by love for man, for all that
is human and which, according to the intuitions of many of our
contemporaries, is threatened by an immense danger. The mystery of
Christ, which reveals to us the great vocation of man and which led me
to emphasize in the encyclical Redemptor hominis his incomparable
dignity, also obliges me to proclaim mercy as God's merciful love,
revealed in that same mystery of Christ. It likewise obliges me to have
recourse to that mercy and to beg for it at this difficult, critical
phase of the history of the Church and of the world, as we approach the
end of the second millennium.
In the name of Jesus Christ
crucified and risen, in the spirit of His messianic mission, enduring in
the history of humanity, we raise our voices and pray that the Love
which is in the Father may once again be revealed at this stage of
history, and that, through the work of the Son and Holy Spirit, it may
be shown to be present in our modern world and to be more powerful than
evil: more powerful than sin and death. We pray for this through the
intercession of her who does not cease to proclaim "mercy...from
generation to generation," and also through the intercession of those
for whom there have been completely fulfilled the words of the Sermon on
the Mount: "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy."139
In
continuing the great task of implementing the Second Vatican Council, in
which we can rightly see a new phase of the self- realization of the
Church-in keeping with the epoch in which it has been our destiny to
live-the Church herself must be constantly guided by the full
consciousness that in this work it is not permissible for her, for any
reason, to withdraw into herself. The reason for her existence is, in
fact, to reveal God, that Father who allows us to "see" Him in
Christ.140 No matter how strong the resistance of human history may be,
no matter how marked the diversity of contemporary civilization, no
matter how great the denial of God in the human world, so much the
greater must be the Church's closeness to that mystery which, hidden for
centuries in God, was then truly shared with man, in time, through Jesus
Christ.
With my apostolic blessing.
Given in
Rome, at St. Peter's, on the thirtieth day of November, the First Sunday
of Advent, in the year 1980, the third of the pontificate.
Click on the Below Image to Hear a sample of the
Chaplet of Divine Mercy in Song Prayer
"Anyone who says it will receive great Mercy at the hour of death. Priests will recommend it to sinners as the last hope. Even the most hardened sinner, if he recites this Chaplet even once, will receive grace from My Infinite Mercy. I want the whole world to know My Infinite Mercy. I want to give unimaginable graces to those who trust in My Mercy...."