Reflection
What is a merciful heart? It is a heart on fire for the whole of creation, for humanity, for the birds, for the animals, and for all that exists. By the strong and vehement mercy that grips such a person’s heart, and by such great compassion, the heart is humbled and one cannot bear to hear or to see any injury, slight or sorrow in any in creation. For this reason, such a person prays continually even for the animals, for the enemies of truth, and for those who harm him, that they be protected and receive mercy because of the great compassion that burns without measure in a heart that is in the likeness of God.
St. Isaac of Nineveh
Prayer
Blessed are the merciful for they will obtain mercy.
Action
Consider the polarized world in which we live. Consider our own country. What is the general view of mercy in specific instances? Where is there need for mercy and compassion? What are your own views? How can you work to develop a merciful heart?
Suggested Reading
But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.
Matthew 9:13
The merciful man does good for his own soul, But he who is cruel troubles his own flesh.
Proverbs 11:17.
A little bit of mercy makes the world less cold and more just.
Pope Francis
Two works of mercy set a person free: Forgive and you will be forgiven, and give and you will receive.Saint Augustine
I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.
Abraham Lincoln
You cannot conceive, nor can I, of the appalling strangeness of the mercy of God.
Graham Greene
The most miserable prison In the world Is the prison we make for ourselves when we refuse to show mercy.
Warren Wiersbe
The unmerciful man is most certainly an unblessed man. His sympathies are all dried up; he is afflicted with a chronic jaundice, and lives timidly and darkly in a little, narrow rat-hole of distrust.
E. H. Chapin
Mercy listens — really listens, with interest and concern — then smiles, and reaches out her hand
J. M. DeMatteis
It is mercy, not justice or courage or even heroism, that alone can defeat evil.
Peter Kreeft
Mercy, detached from Justice, grows unmerciful.
C.S. Lewis
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